44 | FEBRUARY 2022 |
Business |
Read online at www . proinstaller . co . uk |
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but can be great employees . If they join you , they will probably be both grateful and very unlikely to leave and steal your clients .
Tip 4 : Praise and correct appropriately
Here are my tips on how to praise and correct staff to get the best out of them :
• Praise your people whenever you can and do it in public
• ALWAYS and only criticise staff in private , never in public . Publicly humiliating people is the single most demotivating thing you can do . It can create sympathy for someone who actually needs a kick up the backside from colleagues to do a better job
• When there is a problem or someone has done a poor job or made a mistake , approach them straight away and in private and with an attitude of trying to help them
• When rebuking people be very straight and unemotional about it and make it totally objective . So don ’ t say things like “ You were an idiot when you …” Instead , pitch it like “ The client wasn ’ t happy with the work and refused to pay . Frankly , I wouldn ’ t have been happy myself , do you see my point ?” then “ What can we do to avoid
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this in the future ?” Criticism does need to be constructive so that they have a chance to improve . You also need to act as the adult and stop any frustration from showing
• If a client has complained , but you believe your staff have done nothing wrong , NEVER dump on them . Show moral courage
‘ Praise your people whenever you can and do it in public
’ Tip 5 : Fire them quickly
If it becomes clear that someone isn ’ t going to make it , try to fire them as quickly as possible .
But always use an employment adviser before letting anyone go . If they take you to an employment tribunal it takes hours of effort and hassle and can cost a lot too .
You must follow a proper process and make sure that you are behaving fairly . Always be incredibly careful what you say . In the worst case it will be repeated back in an employment tribunal . If you wouldn ’ t be comfortable hearing it in front of a judge , don ’ t say it .
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Tip 6 : Pay fairly
Contrary to a lot of belief , salary isn ’ t a big motivator , although a higher salary does make it easier to recruit . But people will become very demotivated if they believe that they are not being paid fairly . And that will happen as soon as a good person discovers a worse employee is paid more than them . That ’ s why it ’ s important not to take too much advantage of an employee who isn ’ t pushy .
Tip 7 : Keep them motivated
Decent people will be motivated when they believe they are being treated fairly and are allowed to take pride in their job and feel that their employer treats its customers right .
Be as flexible as you can , within reason , to fit in with personal circumstances . Letting an employee go to an important funeral at late notice will grow loyalty , while refusing may create resentment that lasts forever .
Never emphasise your own interests . A friend of mine once told his staff in exasperation that “ this is my business ”. That guaranteed they would never treat it like their own which is the opposite of what he wanted .
Talk to your staff . Explain as much as you can about details of the job and your
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priorities . Don ’ t assume that they know . The biggest complaint in most jobs is that “ nobody told me ”.
Emphasise what the business is trying to achieve . People , especially the young , want to work for a business that does the right thing for its customers and behaves ethically .
‘ building a great team is a short cut to building a great company’ Last thoughts
Building a great team is a short cut to building a great company . It ’ s vital to think about your team , recruit the right people and keep them motivated .
Happy people do good work . If you have ever had a boss , remember all of the things that they did that you hated . Then make every effort to not do them yourself . Good luck !
Benjamin Dyer is the CEO of Powered Now . Powered Now aims to take the pain out of admin and paperwork for heating and plumbing engineers as well as other trades .
www . powerednow . com
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