No matter how necessary or innovative your product is, or how great its value for money, the employees you hire to bring it to market can make or break your business. How do you ensure that you employ the best staff doing their best? Short of paying exorbitant salaries (which doesn’t guarantee anything anyway), why not try these nine suggestions; they don’t cost much at all and surprisingly can make more of a difference than throwing money at your employees.

1. Credit where credit is due. Recognition for a job well done is one of the simplest and least expensive ways to improve morale. A few small words of praise may seem insignificant to you, but to your employees it demonstrates that you have noticed their contribution and appreciate that they performed well. When employees don’t feel appreciated, they often begin to resent their job and their boss, bringing morale and productivity down.

2. Slash management. Instead of your staff all working for and reporting to one manager, why not change to a team structure whereby your employees collaborate to get the work done. It’s one thing to turn in sub-standard work to your supervisor, but it’s another thing entirely to let your colleagues down. Employees are often motivated to work harder and more efficiently when they feel they are contributing to, rather than competing with, their co-workers’ performance and wellbeing.

3. Let your employees use their initiative. People hate being told what to do. Rather than dictate to your staff members what they should do and how they should do it, communicate openly about what the end-result is that you’re looking for, and allow your employees to have input into the process. Obviously you will need to oversee and guide the direction your staff take, but where possible encourage them to use their initiative. Employees often have unique insights into problems and solutions due to their closeness to the project.

4. Don’t point fingers. When people make mistakes, they already feel bad. Coming down on an employee like a ton of bricks isn’t going to help matters. No one likes to be responsible for blunders, and when they happen, the one thing that makes it all worse is being criticized or reprimanded. Obviously, you can’t let problems go without attending to them, but you can do it in a way that doesn’t demotivate your employees. First, try an indirect approach. Get your employees to examine what went wrong and what the alternatives were so they can learn from their mistakes. Instead of, “You’re a terrible employee who makes costly mistakes,” try a gentler tactic like, “How could we have approached this issue differently?” and, “What do you think we could do to avoid this problem occurring again?”

This tip comes with the caveat that there are a few ‘bad’ employees out there who won’t respond to this method. So in each situation you will need to decide whether motivation will work, or perhaps the employee needs additional training. In some cases they simply aren’t a good fit with the role and may need to be moved to a different position or let go altogether.

5. Focus on strengths. Everybody has different strengths and weaknesses. By observing your employees you will be able to see who does what well, and point it out to them and the rest of your team. By demonstrating that you value a particular employee’s strength, it will set the bar for others to aim for, and will boost the morale of the high-performer.

Importantly: this does not mean you berate staff by saying, “Why can’t you be more like John?” rather you congratulate John on his achievement. Other employees will have something to strive for without the resentment, and John will have a feeling of pride which will enable him to lead by example.

Mark Colella, CPA specializes in providing accounting and tax services to small business owners and professional practices in New York City, NY. For more information, go here: http://www.procpagroup.com

Mark Colella, CPA specializes in providing accounting and tax services to small business owners and professional practices in New York City, NY. For more information, go here: http://www.procpagroup.com

Author Bio: Mark Colella, CPA specializes in providing accounting and tax services to small business owners and professional practices in New York City, NY. For more information, go here: http://www.procpagroup.com

Category: Advice
Keywords: CPA advice, accounting and tax advice, New York CPA service, tax preparation services