Leaders must treat their employees, at all levels, as the root source of productivity and quality. Respect and value for every member of the organization is critical, especially as employee rolls grow smaller. Leaders should make every attempt to bring every employee into the fold and involved to every extent possible. Even one unhappy employee can share negative comments with many potential customers. One unhappy employee can affect normally happy, productive people. One unhappy employee can cause many labor problems, disruptions, and morale problems. One unhappy person can waste a lot of time you don’t have.
If you want real success, you need to find ways to tap an employee’s heart and brain. That’s where you find his: enthusiasm; loyalty; creativity; ingenuity; and resourcefulness.
You won’t tap their heart and brains by:
- Ignoring their comments, suggestions, or complaints
- Failing to include them in the process
- Failing to communicate enough information
- Having a negative and/or hostile work environment
Employees want to contribute and see their contribution make a difference. They want to learn, grow, and be part of a successful organization that makes a difference in the world. They want be appreciated and recognized for their efforts and accomplishments. Employees want to feel that they are progressing in some way (training, promotion, responsibility, title, recognition, etc.). To instill value managers should share stories about how their product and/or service changed someone’s life.
“A well-run restaurant is like a winning baseball team, it makes the most of every crew member’s talent and takes advantage of every split-second opportunity to speed up service.” Ray Krock, McDonald’s founder.
Machines are only as productive as employees make them. Your customers are only as satisfied as your employees make them. You wouldn’t let your ten million dollar machine lack maintenance and be underutilized, so why would you let a valuable employee? Employees will always make or break organizational success.
