Next to your product, your employees are the reason that clients purchase from you and in most cases, they are the reason for repeat business. Invest time and energy in your existing staff as well as new recruits, and your company will reap the benefits. Get to know your employees, how they feel, and what makes them tick.
Don’t know how your employees feel?
Ask them. Most people feel valued when asked to share their opinion, yet many employees won’t voice their opinions freely in the workplace for fear of losing their job. A lack of open communication means their frustrations and concerns go unheard. Some dealerships with high staff turnover have employed independent assessors to conduct anonymous staff surveys. Full anonymity was assured, and the employees were given the opportunity to share what they thought about the company honestly. We take our hats off to any organisation open to such feedback. There are lots of organisations that specialise in performance analysis.
Invest in your team
To effectively re-energize your workforce, shift the emphasis from getting more out of people to investing more in them. Investing time, energy, and resources into staff development will help improve performance. It will reduce turnover, improve morale, and engage more people in improvement efforts. Your staff will feel important and respected, which can boost productivity. If you want to know more about conative strengths, and ensuring your employees are reaching their maximum potential, take a look at the Kolbe A Index.
Develop existing staff
Success requires a willingness to trust people. How can you encourage trustworthiness when your company’s money and resources are on the line? Start off by being generous. Try acknowledging achievements, training and development and incentives based on the individual’s values. Feelings of gratitude foster trustworthy behaviour in your staff, and you’ll reap the rewards of their loyalty. Who should be responsible for developing team members? Most employees cannot, or will not, develop themselves. Consider the cost to hire, train, and fire employees. It’s surprising that the responsibility to coach and develop staff is much lower on the list of priorities than documenting and purging the company of poor performers. In most organisations, there are processes for documenting poor performance, and often very little for professional developing. There are loads of consultants out there that can guide you through staff development processes.
Get to know your team
People that are passionate in their day-to-day lives are proven to be more effective in their work lives, so be sure to ask your team about their hobbies, sports, music, and other passions. Try starting the week off with a team discussion, and encourage everyone to share stories about their weekend or upcoming events. You’ll be surprised by what showing an interest in your teams’ lives can do. Employees with enthusiasm and a zest for life will feed energy into the culture of your organisation. When you get to the heart of their passion, you will see what a real spark looks like. When you manage people according to their conative strengths, they’ll excel. Your job as a leader is to help churn their strengths and passion into work.
If you’re not sure how to invest in your team to maximise staff performance, we recommend employing the services of a professional. There are plenty of consultants who can work with you and your staff to create a productive and efficient culture and maximise profits. It really does pay to know your staff.
Teamrecruit is Australia’s most established recruitment agency specialising in truck, earthmoving and agricultural machinery dealerships in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. Find out more about Teamrecruit and how we support employers and candidates in the dealership industry.
