How to Turn Your Employees Into Your Company’s Raving Fans
In an October 2014 article I shared a story about Irene, a perky woman in her late 30’s who owns a 12 person health care business. She said to me “Can you do anything about my employees? They just are not on the same page as me.” Maybe you have the same problem as Irene, your personnel march to their own drum, don’t work as a team and have their own itinerary. Her description so reminded me of the “Herding Cats” TV commercial from several years ago. According to Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace Report 70% of employees are not fully engaged and inspired at work. These people have their own agenda and are doing their “own thing”. Does this sound familiar? But take heart, by using these three foundations you can get your staff on board with what you want to do in your business and create a fully “engaged” workforce.
Casting the Vision for Your Company
As I described in the November Newsletter, the first step in “Getting Your Employees On Board” is to regularly share where you want to take your company. We call this your “Vision” and it is the destination or direction of where you want to take your company. It is what a successful and thriving business looks like to you. Many times people are not on board with where you want to take your business because they simply don’t know where you want your business to go. The truth of the situation is, unless you tell them and regularly remind them of the Vision you have for your business they will frame your company, their workplace and what they do on a daily basis from their standpoint. Sharing or casting your Vision is painting a vivid mental picture in words of what your company will look like when it is there. You want to convey this depiction in both formal and informal communications.
Provide a Win/Win Experience
The second ingredient is to create a Win/Win work environment. A Win/Win work environment is one that provides your staff with an experience to which they say, “This a great place to work. I should get my friends a job here”. The term Win/Win comes from the fact you get a productive, engaged workforce and your personnel get just want they want. We are all human – we all want to feel we are going somewhere in life and are making progress towards our goals. Your staff needs to feel there is future in working for your company. This can include many things. For instance:
- A fun, enjoyable workplace
- Adequate compensation
- A team oriented environment
- Being appreciated for their efforts
- Advancement opportunities
- Adequate fringe benefits, perks and amenities
- Working for an engaging and effective manager
- Their input is solicited, valued, and implemented
- Management communicates openly with their employees
- Proper education and training is provided
- Their manager and the business display integrity
How do you know what they want? You can do anonymous surveys, review industry studies or just ask your employees what they value. Also, a good measuring stick is to ask yourself, would you want to work for your business as an employee? Then answer that question completely truthfully by using a 1 to 10 scale. Keep in mind that the items which provide a Win/Win Experience for your employees may already be present in your organization, but you have not painted a positive picture of this or framed it for them.
Making a Difference in Your Customer’s Lives
The third component is it is extremely gratifying to employees to know they are positively impacting your customer’s lives by enabling your customer to achieve their goals in life related to your product. Studies have shown environments that share customer testimonials/feedback and are customer focused have the most engaged and satisfied personnel. It is very important to celebrate the positive impact your company provides to your Customers on a regular basis. This should include providing both individual and group recognition of the difference your personnel have made in your customers’ lives. The bottom line is you want your employees to realize they are making a difference in your customer’s lives. Most people realize they are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, so it is a tremendous encouragement when a person’s job can demonstrably improve someone else’s life. Listed below are three steps you can take to enhance your staff’s connection to your customer:
- Display pictures of people who remind your personnel of the customers they are serving
- Discuss your customer’s needs in a positive, sympathetic way with your staff so they can “feel” your customer’s pain and pleasure
- Periodically enable staff who don’t have regular interaction with your customers to man the front lines so they can fully relate to your customer
If you would like assistance with increasing your employee satisfaction please contact us so we can show you how to use these concepts of employee engagement to turn your employees into your company’s raving fans and take your business where you want it to go. www.FountainheadConsultingGroup.com Office phone: (770) 642-4220
