Energizing Your Business Team by Marti Benjamin

An entrepreneur or business leader cannot mandate motivation or decree commitment from employees. An energized team develops over time, when the leader pays close attention to what makes work satisfying for employees.

1. Recognize strengths and accomplishments.  Acknowledge what each person is doing well. Genuine praise raises personal status and energizes the recipient for more accomplishment.

2. Create opportunities to build strengths. Use projects and temporary assignments to allow each person to use the best talent(s) more often.

3. Build trust. Meet your commitments to the team and individual employees if you want them to do the same. Don’t be late with performance appraisals, start meetings on time and keep your commitments.

4. Show compassion. Each person is–well, a person, not just an employee.

5. Clearly define expectations. Don’t assume that they should just know what you want them to do. Be clear and explicit about expectations.

6. Encourage thinking time. Create opportunities for employees to think creatively about the company and product and come up with innovative ways to make the company better.

7. Praise…in public, criticize in private. Humiliation decreases motivation and commitment and it is humiliating to be criticized in front of others.

8. Talk about your vision. Employees want to be a part of something they can believe in. Create an inspiring vision of the company’s successful future and talk about it often.

9. Delegate with constraints. Let employees know what outcome you want and allow them to design the process for achieving it.

10. Hire for talent. Look beyond just the experience and skill. Look for the talents that compliment other employees and your customers. With the right talent, it’s simple to train for skill.

Successful business leaders get more from their team than just productive work; they get a commitment to the well-being of the company and the energy to keep going when the going is tough. Build an energized team and reap the benefits.

© Marti Benjamin, MBA, Professional Certified Coach, Certified Career Management Coach, can be reached by phone at 775.337.0661 or by email at Marti@BusinessEnergetix.com. Visit www.BusinessEnergetix.com for more ideas to develop the best-fit business for you.

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