Page 28 - Australasian paint & Panel Sep-Oct 2021

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Business Matters
PAINT&PANEL SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
CATCH FLIES
WITH HONEY
HOW TO GET YOUR TEAM INVOLVED AND ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT USING THE SYSTEMS YOU’VE CREATED IN YOUR BUSINESS BY BEN FEWTRELL.
Y OU’VE PROBABLY HEARD the saying that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. This is especially true when it comes to motivating and inspiring your employees. Employ- ees who are happy and excited about their jobs have a higher level of engage- ment, which leads to higher productivi- ty, better quality work, increased cus- tomer service satisfaction, lower turnover rates and less burnout. All these things translate into better finan-
cial performance for your company. There’s no way around it: if you want your business to succeed in this competi- tive world, then you need a team of people that believe in what they do and are pas- sionate about what they’re doing every day. It doesn’t matter how much time or mon- ey you spend on trying to motivate them - if they don’t think the system you’ve created is useful or fun, then they’re not going to be engaged and enthusiastic. This means that
your business will suffer in the end be- cause no one likes being stuck with a bad system that doesn’t work for them.
IMPLEMENTING A NEW SYSTEM
OR PROCESS
When you’re implementing a new system or program for your company, or even if you’re just making some minor changes to an existing system, you may find that employees are resistant when they first hear about it. If they’re not willing to ac- cept the new system, then you risk hav- ing pushback that can distract and even disrupt your workday. One way to avoid this is by creating an atmosphere of trust with your employees so they feel safe sharing their opinions about the program or system you want them to use.
Making employees happy isn’t an easy task. It takes building up a rapport with each employee and really listening to them. It takes finding out what motivates and in-
spires them, and how they like their jobs to be structured so they can do their best work. You need to get your employees in- volved from the start of the project when you’re implementing a new system or pro- gram, or even if you’re just making some minor changes to an existing system. You want to gather ideas and feedback from eve- ryone so they feel like their opinions matter, because when people truly believe in a pro- ject or are excited about it, then they’re more likely to be devoted to the cause.
CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE
OF TRUST
In order for you to gather information from your employees about how they like to work, you need to create an at- mosphere of trust. You can’t just walk into the workshop and immediately tell them that you want their input - this will likely make them feel uncomforta- ble and defensive toward you.