The first step to grow your company is to elevate your attention to your employees. The force working behind you is as important as wheels in a car. Your vision does not move an inch without your employees.
If you are a business owner, a company CEO or a department manager, you cannot handle everything on your own. You hire people to spread workloads and responsibilities. They are your mini you to get job done according your goals and vision.
There are, if not there will be, some times where you feel like you hire enough people to help you but you are not delivering results as expected. This is the moment where you need to assess your employees.
Show that you care
Human is a complex being. There is a saying "a harsh word stirs up anger but a gentle word turns away wrath." Something as simple as "hi" can make someone's day. Imagine if you initiate a conversation with them. Get to know who they are outside work. Their challenges. Their habits. Their do's and don't's. Their passion. Your relationship with the employee is a foundation.
Listen to the sound
Employees do the harder and many times the hardest part of the job. They deal with colleagues, vendors and customers. They see everything. Challenges with other departments. Absorbing pressure from difficult clients. Coming up with out of the box solution for the mistakes of coworkers. Dealing with old or broken technology. Keep in mind that they are here to do your job. The more you know their challenges, the faster you can provide solutions. Listen to their sound, so they can do their job effectively and efficiently.
Treat them justly
A manager's job is to maximize profit while minimizing cost. This can be confused by cutting expenditure on the wrong sectors. Minimizing cost means getting better pricing on materials. Getting more efficient transportation for delivery. Cutting cost should not be negotiating the compensation to your employees. Avoid making a mistake of suppressing wages low and conveniently forgetting annual bonus. Recognize every department with the same attention and respect; do not make sales department favorite and forget the rest of the company. Do not fly sales people with business class while construction crew only qualifies for economy flight. It is very easy to bring morale down if employees realize they are treated unjustly.
Your employees are your most precious alliance. Treat them like you would want to be treated. Make yourself available to help. Bless them so they do not have find a company who will.
KFC would not have been able to operate in 140 countries with more than 23,000 restaurants if it were not for the employees.