When running a business you really need to make sure that your employees work to their full potential. To do so you need to build a good relationship with them, starting from the first time you meet. You must make them feel welcome, rather than making them feel like a distraction from your own work.
It is important for you to allow your new employees to work at their own pace. Even if people have experience in the relevant field they will still take time to adjust, as although they may have done a similar role in their previous job, every company does things a little different. Although it is important to set targets, you must give your new employees targets that are easy to reach, and possibly surpass. Once they have learned the ropes you can start setting them more difficult targets; targets that they will really have to push themselves to achieve. If they have high aspirations they will work hard to try to meet these goals.
You must also allow your staff the chance to progress. You should provide training for anyone who wants it, so that they can learn new skills in a bid to move up the ladder. Doing the same thing day in day out can get very stale, and so if people are not given the opportunity to move up, you might soon find them moving on. You wouldn’t want to lose your best employees.
If you fulfil your employee’s aspirations, they should be happy. But you can always make them happier. People often feel like they’re stuck with their colleagues, that they have no say in the matter, which I guess would be true. But if your employees become friends, then they’ll look forward to coming to work, and work will be more fun. You may want to think about organising a staff night out or a team bonding trip. Events like these will always bring people closer together, meaning that when it comes to work, they will work better with each other.
Finally, to get the best out of your employees, you need to treat them as equals. Always listen to what they have to say, and take their opinions into account, because you will probably need them more than they need you.
