No business owner wants to look around the office and see a bunch of bored, lazy employees who are all but falling asleep at their desks. Aside from making good hiring decisions, what else can you do as a boss to make sure your employees stay dedicated, passionate, and hard-working? One key thing to keep in mind is that you must be more than a boss to your subordinates.
As an entrepreneur and business owner, you should be a mentor, guide, and leader. Read on to find out more about what it means to mentor your employees.
1. Give Them Opportunities
It’s tempting to try and handle all the responsibilities of running a small business on your own. After all, you started the company, and it’s your baby. But employees who sit around doing only mindless tasks will quickly become disillusioned with their jobs and the business. That’s why it’s important to give your employees opportunities to take on bigger responsibilities and work on important projects.
You don’t have to make your employees bite off more than they can chew. Start small. Give an employee an assignment of moderate importance and creativity, and see how he or she fares. Offer advice and guidance along the way, to gently steer the employee in the right direction. Once the employee has compiled some small victories, you can start to delegate even more responsibilities.
2. Promote Teamwork
Mentoring doesn’t only happen between a boss and his or her subordinates. It can happen among subordinates as well. Promote an attitude of partnership and mutual guidance by fostering teamwork among your employees. Weekly meetings to review the progress of everyone’s assignments will ensure employees are up-to-speed on what’s going on within the company. These meetings are also an opportunity for employees to offer each other insight and ideas. You can also assign a small group to work on an important project, as two heads are often better than one.
The goal of promoting teamwork is to help ideas and information flow freely within the company. A fresh, vibrant small business is one in which employees feel comfortable brainstorming together.
3. Set Aside One-on-One Time
Check in with your employees individually now and again to see how everyone is doing. This should be a safe environment in which employees can talk about their ideas, concerns, and other information they would like you to know. Employees that feel comfortable being honest with their boss are more likely to be happy and enthusiastic about coming into work every day.
These one-on-one meetings also allow you to mentor employees individually. Different employees have different strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations, and it’s important to address them individually.
A good boss is one who mentors his employees and fosters an environment of constant growth and improvement. Employees find it easy to feel loyalty toward a company like this.
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