Business growth is an exciting and challenging phase for any entrepreneur, but it can also create stress and uncertainty for your employees. How can you keep them motivated, engaged, and loyal as you scale up your operations and face new demands? Here are some effective ways to keep employee morale high during business growth.
One of the most important factors that influence employee morale is the alignment of their personal goals with the company's vision and mission. As your business grows, you need to communicate clearly and frequently how your expansion plans will benefit your customers, your employees, and your community. Share your successes, challenges, and learnings along the way, and invite feedback and suggestions from your team. Make sure your employees understand how their roles and responsibilities contribute to the big picture, and recognize their achievements.
My approach to maintaining team morale is to "give more exposure", "trust", and "provide timely constructive feedback". 1. Make sure they are invited on the call where they can hear about the idea directly from the person who brought it to the table. For example, CEO, CPO, PM, and so on. Invite such employees to the main call where the vision is being discussed. Allow them to remain silent listeners; this is also acceptable for the initial call.
There are two things employees seek: 1. Validation - recognition of work 2. Satisfaction - financial and intellectual Your job as a leader is to make sure that those two desires are being met at all times. During a period of growth, there is a lot that is going on in an organization. People are stretching beyond their roles, capabilities, and comfort zones. It is imperative that during this time leaders pay extra attention to these 2 desires their team members have and over-communicate as things unfold. Lastly and most importantly seek feedback. Check-in to make sure they are doing okay and are still with you on the mission and not left behind. Remember - You are on a journey with them, they are not on a wild goose chase with you.
To keep employees happy while your business grows, talk to them honestly about what's happening, say thank you for their hard work, help them learn and grow, and include them in making important decisions. Make sure they don't work too much and give them flexible options if possible. Plan fun things for your team to do together and make sure they get paid fairly. When you achieve something, celebrate it together. Listen to what your employees have to say and fix any problems quickly. This way, you'll have a happy team even as your business gets bigger.
It sounds simple, but treating your team like the adults that they are goes a long way. That doesn't mean that your team has to produce less work, but it takes into account their individual needs as humans that have lives outside of work. Our team can be more productive when they aren't overly concerned about making sure their kids get home from school or whether they need to take the time to go to the doctor - they can handle those things along with their workload if you give them space to do so.
There are few things more critical than communicating a powerful vision to your employees. A vision is a vivid description of the future. In order to build a great company, there needs to be significant execution of strategy (which is hard!), however in the midst of the execution and pace if the team loses sight of the vision (or doesn’t know it), there can be a “What’s the point?” Or “Why are we doing this?” feeling that emerges.
Another way to keep employee morale high during business growth is to invest in their training and development. Growth often means new skills, new technologies, new processes, and new opportunities. You want your employees to feel confident and competent in their work, and to grow with your business. Provide them with the resources, tools, and support they need to learn and improve. Encourage them to take on new challenges, explore new ideas, and pursue their career aspirations. Show them that you value their potential and their performance.
Be Super Clear Here's what I mean by that: - Be very clear on what "good" looks like for them Most managers don't know what good looks like so they are horrible at communicating expectations. Know what good looks like (you, the manager) & write it down as expectations for them. - Walk them through your expectations Don't just assume they can read your mind. Just because they are experienced doesn't mean your version of good makes sense to them. Take time upfront and walk them through what you expect. Get sign off. You fail as a manager if you don't set them up for success. - Have 1:1's Don't skip your 1:1's with them. Make sure they have access to you so they can stay on track. 15 minute 1:1's will save you months of pain.
One thing that I have found to be helpful. Work-Life Balance: Be mindful of the work-life balance of your employees. As your business grows, demands may increase, but it's crucial to promote a healthy work-life equilibrium to prevent burnout. As well as... Mentorship and Leadership Development: Promote mentorship programs to help employees learn and grow. Encourage leadership development to prepare them for future roles within the organization.
Improve morale during times of growth with: 1. Transparency — host monthly town halls where information is being shared and everyone feels included, valued, and heard. Host Ask the CEO and allow open dialogue. 2. Celebrate the wins — even small wins! Find ways to celebrate embracing culture. We do a Friday High Fives on Teams channel where everyone can nominate someone. It’s something our team looks forward too each week. 3. Individual development plans — Focus 1:1 with employees and what growth for company means for them and their role. [ie more skills, more opportunities] 4. Regular 1:1 meetings to keep everyone apprised of how they’re doing and remove any barriers to success.
Training is more than just new skills: - It's about confidence in change. - It's trust in your team's potential. - It's a commitment to their journey. Investment speaks volumes. I'd recommend equipping your team and watch them soar with the business. Growth is mutual. Show it.
Incentive them to study new business, new technologies, new markets by giving them Free Agenda to do that as well resources to do that. Sometimes to do more you need to do less which implies simplifying the agenda and reduce pace
A positive culture is essential for keeping employee morale high during business growth. A positive culture is one that promotes trust, collaboration, innovation, and fun. You can foster a positive culture by setting clear and realistic expectations, providing regular and constructive feedback, celebrating wins and milestones, resolving conflicts and issues, and encouraging social and recreational activities. You can also involve your employees in shaping the culture by soliciting their input, empowering their decision-making, and supporting their initiatives.
My approach to maintaining team morale is to "give more exposure", "trust", and "provide timely constructive feedback". 4. Providing timely feedback on progress is extremely beneficial. As a result, the vision driver/leader should plan a timely meeting to monitor progress and provide constructive comments. In constructive feedback, the leader should take the time to explain the cause for any negative feedback and ensure that the team understands and agrees with it.
Establish recognition programs that acknowledge individual and team achievements. Recognizing employees' efforts and contributions reinforces the value you place on their work and encourages a positive atmosphere.
Emphasize the importance of work-life balance. While growth often demands extra effort, it's crucial to prevent burnout and maintain morale.
In an ideal world this culture of celebration is directly tied to bringing your vision to life. - If your vision includes a specific number of clients, celebrate different client milestones along the way. - If your vision includes impact for clients, celebrate stories of clients achieving success today.
Building trust requires open and transparent communication. Share information about the company's growth plans, challenges, and successes.
One of the biggest challenges of business growth is retaining your talent. You don't want to lose your best employees to your competitors or to burnout. You need to reward and retain them by offering competitive compensation, benefits, and incentives. You also need to provide them with flexibility, autonomy, and work-life balance. You can also show your appreciation and gratitude by giving them recognition, praise, and feedback. You can also create a culture of loyalty and retention by providing them with career paths, mentorship, and opportunities for advancement.
Don't overlook your core asset: your talent. Ensure they feel seen, heard, and primed for the journey ahead. Keep the pillars of loyalty strong.
Let the best talent hyper-grow together with the Business. During hypergrowth, double down on A-players by giving them more responsibilities, even if it means putting them in roles that feel ahead of them. People are the most important asset of any company and you want to ensure you create an environment for them to learn, grow, and flourish.
Recognition doesn’t have to take the form of financial I.e., bonus, promotion. It can be something as simple as just publicly voicing a job well done. Personally, organisational or industry awards are my go to. I keep a notebook of great projects the team have completed and when it comes around to awards cycles I have loads of cases and love writing them up.
I have seen that people who take pride in their work, are more appreciative of being recognised and complemented for their work than just monetary compensation. Trust them, provide the tools they need to do the job and get out of their way.
In today's work environment, retaining talent goes beyond traditional methods. It's about providing a lifestyle that supports employees' overall well-being and growth. Beyond competitive pay and perks, it's offering flexibility, autonomy, and work-life balance. Recognition, feedback, and praise are vital for appreciation. A culture fostering loyalty includes career paths, mentorship, and growth opportunities. It's about making employees feel valued, supported, and aligned with their personal and professional aspirations, creating a workplace they're genuinely committed to.
The last way to keep employee morale high during business growth is to solicit and act on feedback. Feedback is vital for improving your products, services, processes, and strategies. It is also vital for improving your employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention. You need to ask your employees for their opinions, suggestions, and concerns on a regular basis, and listen to them attentively and respectfully. You also need to act on their feedback by implementing changes, solving problems, and acknowledging their contributions. You also need to share the results and outcomes of their feedback, and show them how it makes a difference.
Feedback is crucial - and it's also not just a something you look for once. Use feedback for continuous improvement. Give every team member a voice. And take action - don't just listen. Feedback will be the rawest form of your growth. Once you recognize and implement - growth is imminent.
Feedback is critical, however, you shouldn't have to ask for it. If you create a culture of psychological safety, employees will naturally point out the flaws, issues and improvement areas.
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While I understand the overall concept of this article is about "business growth" I think you failed to mention the importance of culture, feedback, inclusion, autonomy are important no matter what phase or stage a business is in. It is the "superglue" that holds a company together through the start-up, the growing pains and the foreseeable future. Leaders who are visionary innovators with a projection to what the future of the company holds.
gathering candid feedback from my team was key to maintaining quality work culture amid changes. I established anonymous quarterly surveys and focus groups to gather opinions on everything from manager effectiveness to new responsibilities. Transparency about results showed we valued voices at all levels. From there, we formed cross-departmental task forces where volunteers hashed out solutions. Their recommendations: more training, streamlined processes, improved benefits which received the needed funding and my support.
In my own businesses, when the business grows, often there are more workload, you cannot expect the same team to handle more workload. Make sure that you hire accordingly and avoid burnout. You might also need to promote a member in your current team to become a leader of the team, and give them more responsibilities and growth, then you as a business owner can free up more time and do other things that only you can do.
Celebrating Achievements: Acknowledging and celebrating both individual and team accomplishments is a simple yet powerful way to boost employee morale. Recognizing achievements publicly, whether they are milestones, successful projects, or outstanding efforts, helps employees feel valued and appreciated. This recognition fosters a sense of pride, motivation, and fellowship within the workplace. It can be done through ceremonies, awards, or even informal team gatherings, and it reinforces a positive and encouraging work culture.
All the above mentioned are crucial points. However, it is also important to create a safe environment and culture of sharing in a workspace. And here I mean the "Two-way-street" principle. Feedback is a gift, no doubt about it. But it should come both ways. Employees should feel safe sharing their feedback, as well as it is invaluable for the Management/Leadership to share their feedback with the employees. Being transparent not only about the vision, but also about the challenges. When Leadership shares the challenges the company is facing, not only the employees feel included, they might feel compelled to come up with creative ideas and initiatives for solving some of the issues. This boosts morale, the growth, retention and much more.
Remember to lead with passion and show your core value in the journey to positive world change. You are essentially your corporation as your corporation is you; it is called an "entity" after all. However do not try to fake the passion, be genuine or others might eventually catch on and it could harm your credibility. You are an entrepreneur and made this great scaling achievement, lead with passion, support with focus and dream big! Welcome to the entrepreneurial life!
Ensure that the employees feel "bought in" to the process. I was once told about "The Ikea Effect" which is this idea that Ikea products mediocre furniture, but when consumers are involved in actually putting the piece together they feel like the outcome is actually greater because they were part of it - same goes with your team! It also helps to let them in on the long term vision so they understand where the intent for the business is and align their thoughts & expectations accordingly.