With construction’s skilled labor shortage, retaining good employees has taken center stage. Attracting potential employees to fill the gap is just as important. This takes work from the top down to create a working environment that allows for positive growth. As a leader, you can promote an abundance mentality in the workplace. This helps you and others find creative solutions to problem solving, and is far more motivational for employees and ultimately leads to business growth. How do you do this? Try adopting the following four simple steps in your business:
BECOME A COACH AND MENTOR
Don’t be so quick to criticize members of your team if they get something wrong or fail at a particular task, but rather view it as a coaching opportunity. If you can become more of a coach and mentor instead of a task-oriented leader, you create an opportunity to grow your people and let them learn from their mistakes. This also makes the team of people working for you more self-sufficient and stronger, thus enabling you to focus on other strategic priorities.
SEEK CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
Encourage your people to come up with creative solutions to business issues. This will empower them to discover new and better ways of doing things that can directly impact the bottom line.
ENCOURAGE RISK-TAKING
Encourage your team to take calculated risks and learn from their mistakes. By doing this you send a signal that you want them to think bigger and help to grow the business rather than just sticking with the status-quo. Not only can this deliver results, but it also creates a culture where looking for new and better ways of doing things is not only encouraged but also rewarded. You must remember that the first attempt at doing this may not necessarily result in the best solution, but this approach does encourage outside-the-box thinking rather than worrying about being “right” and playing it safe. Allow time for both the leader and the team to get accustomed to this approach.
GIVE PRAISE AND RECOGNITION
It is amazing how something as simple as giving regular praise and recognition can be so effective as a strategy for growing your business. What is even more amazing is how few organizations do this well!
Bob was the general manager for a large and very successful retail store and he had more than 50 sales people working for him. He maintained that his team was more motivated by winning “Sales Person of the Month” not because of the financial bonus they received, but because of the peer recognition and praise they received from their managers and colleagues. “It is a huge motivator for our team. I am sure that they would like it to be Sales Person of the Week so that they could get more recognition!” he says. “I can’t understand why anyone with a team of people working for them wouldn’t do something like this to recognize their top performers.”
So ask yourself, what you can do to find ways to give genuine praise and recognition to your own people?
These four steps are simple, yet can have a profound effect on your business when you apply them consistently. ■
About The Author: Richard J. Bryan is an international speaker, executive coach, and author of the recently released book, Being Frank: Real Life Lessons to Grow Your Business and Yourself. Through his experiences as the 4th Generation CEO in a family owned business, Richard gained a wealth of knowledge and developed from a micromanager into a confident leader. For more information, visit www.richardjbryan.com.
_________________________________________________________________________
Modern Contractor Solutions, April 2015
Did you enjoy this article?
Subscribe to the FREE Digital Edition of Modern Contractor Solutions magazine.
BUTTON_ClickHere