One of the first questions we ask of any client we are about to work with is why did you go into business? The second question is, has it turned out like you thought it would? There are many reasons why people want to have their own business and today, we want to concentrate on one of them.

Many business owners tell us that their reason was: “That they wanted to be their own boss”.

This is generally because they either did not like their current boss or thought that they could do it better.  These sentiments often come from a feeling of being mistreated or unappreciated.
So if this is the main reason you went into business, how is that going for you?  Have you become a better boss than your last employer, or have you fallen into the trap of being a busy boss and forgot about the fundamentals you were going to run your business by?

If you feel like you are not making the difference you wanted, then here are some tips on how you can be a better boss for your employees.

• Set clear expectations Your employees are not mind readers.  Tell them exactly what you want to achieve, how they are meant to do it, and how long they have to do it by.

• Train them well We have heard business owners say, “but if I train them well, they will leave and find a better job”. We say, “What happens if you don’t train them and they stay!”  Make them the best they can be, treat them well and you will have highly trained, appreciative staff for the entire time that they stay with you.

• Communicate, communicate, communicate If you want mushrooms, start a mushroom farm.  If you want staff that can make decisions for themselves and are excited about your business, then communicate your vision, your values, your customer service plan, your expectations, and results of your key performance factors.

• Set Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) Communicate these clearly. Staff want to know that they have contributed.  Working without knowing the score is demotivating.  KPI’s let staff know the score and where they are contributing. 

• Give Praise Often Make sure it is not hollow praise, or too general as your staff won’t appreciate it.  Make it specific.  For instance, “Hey Jane, I really liked the way you dealt with that customer yesterday.  You calmed him down really well, listened and provided a great solution in line with our customer service philosophy.  I got a call from that customer this morning saying how pleased he was.  Well done.”

• Offer a Career Progression This is not set in stone, but if an employee knows that as the business grows and they perform, there will be opportunities to progress, then they are likely to stay with you longer and be loyal.  Retention of good staff in small businesses is often the difference between you and the competitors.

Being a good boss isn’t hard, but staying a good boss takes time, energy and keeping on the track that you wanted to when going into business.

If you need more advice on being the best boss that you can possibly be, then Prime Strategies can help with this.  Contact me now and see how I can help your business.