11 Jul 2016
The most valuable asset your practice has is the staff it employs. Keep them happy and motivated with VBJ’s top 10 tips on geting the most out of your team.
John Hinde
Job Title
Every employee is different in terms of his or her abilities and needs. Understanding and respecting this is crucial. Individuals respond to different stimuli when it comes to motivation – it’s not all about money. You need to get to know each member of staff and understand his or her personal situation to get the best out of him or her.
Feedback is as important in business as it is in other walks of life. In the employment relationship, it helps your staff understand what they’ve done wrong or could do better. Equally, positive feedback can boost their confidence and make them feel not only wanted, but appreciated.
There are always going to be fewer chiefs than Indians, so it doesn’t hurt for the tribe to see the chief getting their hands mucky too. It’s very important practice staff can see you are putting in as much energy and time as they are.
While working for financial reward is an evil necessity, not everyone considers money as their ultimate reward. It might be other simple, and not necessarily expensive, gestures could provide more motivation.
Where appropriate, you should delegate responsibility to an individual for a given task. Sure, he or she should be told the goal and offered some guidance on how to accomplish the task, but letting him or her get on with the job without close quarter monitoring can be great for self-esteem and confidence. It’s also a great way to develop talent within the practice and make staff feel trusted and motivated.
It’s all too easy to pick on a person when something has gone wrong. But vilification is not going to get the problem fixed and it’s certainly not going to make a friend out of the person whose head is on a spike.
It’s much better to note the problem, collectively look at the reasons for the failure and find the fix. It’s quite possible the issue may have arisen out of someone else’s – or even your – error.
Rumours and poor communication can be dangerous, especially if you are having a few problems.
Getting staff together regularly to talk about issues, new products or anything else of relevance aids the flow of information. While there will always be commercial confidences you need to keep, if it’s appropriate to share information about the state of the practice then it should be shared.
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow and so, while an employee may be on reception, it doesn’t mean they don’t have loftier ambitions. With a little nurture, flexibility, management support and possibly a financial helping hand, if appropriate, it’s quite possible for you to grow staff internally and organically.
What some employers seem to miss is the need to let someone go because of the disunity and disharmony they bring to the workplace. Don’t be afraid, with the right legal advice, of course, to take action early on, not just for the sake of the practice, but the problem employee too. No one person is bigger than a practice.
Lastly, if you make a commitment to your staff, keep it. Otherwise, you lose credibility and will face lowered morale. When you keep your commitments to your staff, it increases the chances they will reciprocate and keep their commitments to you regarding work delivery.
