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How to Keep Your Great Staff

     Communicating with your staff members shouldn't be that difficult these days. With all the social media and instant messaging services, keeping in contact can be a breeze. Here are some great ways to communicate with and keep your great staff members.

     Create a Team Culture - Every successful team has a culture. This is usually set by the leader. Notice I didn't say manager. You need a leader to set the tone. Managers don't always possess this ability, although are extremely effective when they do. Leaders are informed about their teammates and know what motivates them. A good leader will take the time to get to know their staff members, to help better lead and guide them. Make no mistake, your staff members look up to you, if they don't, they won't stay very long. So to have good culture, set a welcoming atmosphere at team meetings. Encourage more experienced staff to help newer members get involved. The more they "DO" the less they "over think". So keep things going, with no idle hands. 

     Use Technology - Use social media and business apps that facilitate team communication. This will bring validity to your team. Perception is reality; it must seem as though someone is steering the ship. Provide direction and take a personal interest in the growth of your teammates. You can set up a weekly employee newsletter keeping all your staff members up to date on current events. Have a cloud based operations manual. This will act like an online encyclopedia for managers and employees to reference and update as you see fit. There are tons of apps out there that provide this type of service, so do your research and pick a good one.

     Meet with Employees Individually - If you never talk to someone, you'll never understand their point of view. Check in with staff members once a month or so to keep communication open. Employees love it when bosses take the time to listen to anything they would like to discuss. This will also provide important insight into day to day operations. Set up a meeting schedule for all employees.

     Anonymous Feedback - Create a way for employees to share thoughts and concerns without being identified. You will be surprised what people will say and bring up when they don't feel the scrutiny or judgement of co-workers. Toyota has a philosophy, "lead from the front". Toyota was facing a huge crisis when the CEO called for weekly meetings with ALL front-line employees. His plan was to hear from the source what they thought the problems were. At first they were hesitant to share their true thoughts. Mr. Toyota assured them that whatever was said in these meetings would not be held against them. After a short time they opened up and began to share what they knew. Within months the major issues were fixed and company morale was at an all time high. Managing from the top down will get you nowhere. You must begin at the source.