If you ask any business owner what makes them successful, invariably the answer will be “our people.” At Lily the phrase, “People are our greatest asset,” is one of our 11 operating philosophies. And we’ve worked hard to make sure that is absolutely true.
We’ve learned over the years that if you truly want your employees to be your brand ambassadors, there are several things you need to do, including hiring well, training properly and providing motivation.
Hiring
Hiring well starts with having a clear, accurate job description — one that actually reflects the duties and responsibilities of the position. It also means having a hiring process that makes it easy for the person to apply for the job and a consistent hiring process for each applicant.
While I am not going to downplay the need to hire people with the right skills for a position, don’t forget to look at attitude. Ideally, you want to hire a person who has all the skills you need and a great attitude. I am not suggesting you throw aptitude out the window, but remember you’ll have more success teaching someone with a good attitude a new skill than you will adjust the attitude of someone with great skills but a poor attitude.
Also, make sure the potential new hire is good fit for the culture of your business. You need to hire people whose values align with your corporate values. When you hire someone who is a good cultural fit, they are likely to thrive in your workplace and will preserve the corporate culture you’ve worked so hard to develop.
Training
Proper training starts with a thorough onboarding process. While it’s impossible to tell an employee every single thing they need to know about your company and their job, make sure that you give them the information they need to feel like they are a part of the team from the very beginning. Consider assigning them a mentor who can guide them and answer their questions.
Don’t let training stop with onboarding. Make sure that you are offering training to your employees on a regular basis to ensure their skills stay honed and that they can develop additional new skills that will allow them to operate at a higher level or advance within the company into a new position.
Motivation
Everyone likes to feel like they are contributing to the business and that their efforts are valued. There are a variety of ways to demonstrate to people who work for you that you value them. It can be something as simple as telling someone they did a great job on a project, catering lunch one day every month, or honoring employees who have achieved employment milestones with your organization.
However, it can also be more complex like developing a career path for an employee that lays out a growth plan that allows them to see a future of increasing responsibility within your company. Or it can include sitting down with the employee to find out how they see their future with your company.
People should be a company’s greatest asset. If you want that to be true for your company, you’ll need to take steps to ensure your hiring process is top notch, that you make employee ongoing training a priority, and that you find ways to motivate and recognize employee achievements.
