If you want your business to be successful, it is essential to invest in your employees. When people feel being valued, they work harder and generally, do the best they can. Otherwise, the turnover rate increases, the productivity of your business drops and as a result, the costs increases faster. Therefore, if you want your business to be prosperous, below are some hints to keep your employees motivated and advance their skills.
- Give them autonomy and responsibility: Promote employee empowerment in your company. Let them be accountable for the tasks they work on. Also, if you give them more responsibility, this gives them a reason to learn more and move forward in their careers. When your employees accomplish their responsibilities, take the time to appreciate them. You can write an email or a personal thank you note for their accomplishments.
- Encourage Training: Encourage your employees to learn new skills and go to training sessions. Provide a company-wide training program. E-learning programs are very popular nowadays and it gives the freedom to listen to the training whenever you want. Also, motivate your employees to get professional certifications that will be helpful for their job.
- Set Goals and Provide a Career Path: Employees want to advance in their careers. Therefore, a career path will motivate and help them set goals for promotion. As a business owner or an executive, it is your job to explain them their duties within the organization. Clearly explain what is expected from them and how they can climb the career ladder. This will help the employees have a clear understanding of their role within the company and motivate them to move forward.
- Coach Your Employees: Feedback is great for motivating your employees. Nobody likes to be micro-managed. Instead they prefer someone who will motivate them and lead them towards a goal. If you notice that the performance of one of your employees is weaker than others, give him/her constructive feedback so s/he can also improve her/himself. Let your employees know that you care for them.
- Invest in Technology: You need to give the right tools to your employees if you want them to do their job properly. For example, if you have a sales person who makes presentations in your clients’ offices, then you need to provide him with a tablet or a laptop. If you have a graphic designer, you need to buy him/her the right software programs to do design.