If you want your staff members to work with the same dedication you feel toward your business, start by determining the future you want. Then help your employees imagine their best future. Teach them to think like successful entrepreneurs to bring about the results they desire.
The process starts with you. Do you remember why you started your business? What is it exactly that you want your business to do for you?
Most entrepreneurs give three reasons for going out on their own:
- The economic opportunity was good — they could make money.
- They would gain control over their personal and professional life.
- They would gain time and resources to pursue other personal goals, such as family, friends, and community.
Given those priorities, create a vision of living the life you want, with your business supporting it. Develop a clear vision of what you want from the business, how you will participate in it, and what functions will be handled by your staff.
Your vision of a business that supports your life is essential to building organizational clarity. Without that clarity, you will have to give orders. With clarity, your staff will become your team and will create new and better ways to build the business.
Your employees want what you want — economic opportunity, control over their personal and professional life, and time for other priorities besides work.
Help each one imagine the future. Start by helping them set their goals and desired results. What do they want from the business? What functions will they perform to create economic resources that will help give them their preferred future?
Through that process, their vision of success is built on your vision of success. Team members will find a way to be successful if they know why they are going to work, besides to receive a paycheck.
Your business is the economic engine that supports the lives and families of your staff. They will help your business succeed if you help them have rewarding lives in the workplace.
About the Author
Brent Dees is principal of Focus Four in Charlotte, a firm that helps entrepreneurs work less and earn more. He can be reached at brent@focusfour.com.
