What do self-motivated, driven, and productive employees all have in common? As leaders and managers, we naturally all want motivated and self-directed employees that can help grow the company and grow themselves at the same time.  

We all want a team that can plan ahead, look around the corner, and self-evaluate their work— to come up with solutions on their own, that can help the company and our customers.  

In a previous blog, we discussed what Mark Miller, one of the leaders at Chic-Fil-A, did to discover the common thread of high-performance employees. Ultimately, they brought in a third-party HR firm to evaluate their best employees and find out a single thing that top performers all had in common. The most motivated individuals were all forward thinking.  

Find Forward Thinking People 

When you’re hiring somebody, and they’re considering coming to work for you, the forward-thinking people will all ask similar questions....

Effective communication is essential in leading your team, and there are various ways on what’s needed to have this type of communication.  

The goal when communicating to your team, is to not only have them understand what you’re asking them to do, but to have them actually act on it— and act on it consistently.  

This requires a single important thing on your part.  

Be Repetitive 

Many leaders have commented, and studies have reported, that repetition is key to lasting communication. It’s believed that it can in some cases take up to eight times for a person to fully absorb something, where they can act on that information in a consistent way. This means that repetition is very important. Let’s break the concept down into a smaller example. 

Think of something you want your team to get done within a single week, or even a day. Imagine how you would already go about it, based on your past experience, if...

As a leader, you should have an idea of the habits or character traits you wish your team members to exhibit. The best way to grow those in your employees, is to mirror that behavior yourself. Show them with your actions, how you want them to approach their work.  

Asking people to behave a certain way without doing so yourself, just won’t work.  

Shaping Your Employees to Become Better People 

In an earlier episode, we covered how to get your team to follow instruction and do what you need them to through clear and simple communication. If you haven’t seen that one, definitely check it out.  

However, sometimes what you need goes a bit further— what if you want to change an employee’s habits? What if you want them to act on the character traits you want them to have? 

Getting your team to fall into positive and productive habits requires you to be the example. The best way is to show them what you want them to...

Episode 32 The Struggle with Employee Management 

There can definitely be some struggles with employees. What’s the biggest one?  

How do you manage your employees in a way that they do what you want them to do… and more importantly, how do you get them to perform those desired actions correctly?  

While this can seem to be an obvious issue, the resolution isn’t always clear, and it can certainly be frustrating when you’re dealing with the problem. You might find yourself wondering if you have the right people on your team after all, as you ask why they aren’t listening, or why don’t they care enough to listen.  

Simple and Clear Communication 

You need to make sure that you communicate clearly, and in a simple way. @EntreLeadership on Instagram recently published a creative infographic about the four must-dos about communicating clearly; 

1. Prepare Beforehand 

1. Understand Who Will Be Receiving...

Leadership Traits 

There are so many people out there searching for great leadership traits- a business owner, boss, manager, or even a parent. Regardless of your role, I’m certain on some level you’re looking how you can lead better… and what you’re finding in your search likely isn’t consistent or cohesive.  

In my opinion, there is one universal thing you can work on that’s sure to improve leadership ability during those tense, stressful, and critical times in your day— and that is curbing your emotions.  

On Donald Miller’s Business Made Simple show, he was quoted saying that “nothing kills your career faster than your inability to control your emotions”. When I look back at some of my biggest mistakes in leadership, they all tend to be the result of letting my emotions control my actions.  

Emotions are great, but you have to be careful how you act on them, especially when you...

Employee Performance 

How do you get your employees to engage? Overall getting workers to do the things you know they need to do to get your business to succeed, is a common universal issue for just about every business.  

When talking to owners and operators, it appears this is a struggle for everyone at some level. My interpretation is that this struggle exists because we’ve got it backwards.  

As leaders and managers, we have the process backwards. After hiring, we expect first for an employee to behave and work as needed, then we expect that employee to develop a liking to the company and their work, so that finally that person will grow into a sense of belonging to the company.  

Unfortunately, that’s not how the human brain works. If we’re to understand how to get our team members to positively engage to support our business goals, then we need to reverse that process and first create a sense of belonging to our...

 A Boss That Cares 

Is your business hiring? Do you ever wonder what attracts the top talent, or “A” player employees, and what keeps them happy in a role?  

An independent study was conducted by Chic-Fil-A after looking at employee research data and finding that crucial information about the desires of top performers wasn’t properly recorded— there was no data.  

So, they conducted their own study in conjunction with global third-party HR companies. Collecting research on all employees, and then segmenting that data based on performance, the “A” players were defined as people with the top metrics of performance with a minimum of three-year period of consistency.  

After looking at this section of the employee population, there was a single common desire among them. They wanted a boss that demonstrated care.  

They wanted somebody that genuinely cared for them, on a personal and individual level....

Finding Your Company’s North Star: Developing A Unified Purpose Your Team Can Rally Around

The following is adapted from The Problem Isn’t Their Paycheck.

Over 50 percent of currently employed people are looking for a new job—not because money is a problem, but because they don’t feel like they’re doing work that matters. 

To motivate and retain your employees, you must show them why their work matters. You do that by creating a unified purpose—a company-wide purpose that your team can rally around and believe in. As an example, the purpose of Stewardship (my mortgage, insurance, and investment management company) is “loving people through finances.”

I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve heard about the importance of purpose. In theory, purpose is easy to understand, but in practice, you may feel a little lost. You might even be thinking, “My company doesn’t have a purpose. We...

How Much Should You Pay Your Employees? 

Another one of the most frequently asked questions among business owners. I always see this topic discussed in Facebook Groups of fellow business owners, and a question that is particularly important when you’re a first-time business owner or you’re looking to attract top quality employees.  

Am I paying enough to attract the best hires? What should I do? 

Naturally, every business and situation is unique to its own industry and geography. However, when you’re calculating payroll there are some things you definitely should not be doing.  

Never ask other business owners what they are paying their own employees of a similar job type or position.  

This might seem a bit counter intuitive, since on the surface it’s logical to base your own payroll on what other companies are offering for a similar role. But there is an integral piece of information that’s missing for the...

Third Time’s the Charm: How I Finally Got One of My Best Employees to Stay

The following is adapted from The Problem Isn’t Their Paycheck.

As a small business owner, you rely on your employees. A single person quitting can be a drastic reduction to your workforce. When that happens, who is usually left picking up the slack? That’s right: you. 

If you can’t retain your employees, owning a business can quickly transform from a joy into a burden. I know this from firsthand experience running Stewardship, my mortgage, insurance, and investment management company. I also know from experience that getting your people to stay is easier said than done. 

In this article, I’ll share the story of how one of my best employees, Mike, quit working for me—twice—and then finally stayed. Ultimately, it turned out that the problem wasn’t Mike at all, but me. The lessons I learned from Mike have led me to fundamentally change the way I...