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As part of my involvement and presentations for NSW Small Business Month, I have had quite a few new conversations this last few weeks with a range of small business owners from a range of industries. Gym owners, Bakeries, Salons, Café, therapists, and even a Doctor’s surgery.

Interestingly, I was expecting most of these calls to be around business recovery or growth, now that we are moving well out of the Covid restrictions etc., plus in Northern NSW for all the flood-affected businesses.

However, nearly all the conversations focused on issues with their respective teams.

By issues, I mean things along the line of “now the team want to take time off, as the borders are open, and their desire to go and visit family/friends, that they have not seen for some length of time, or just to have a break after the stress of the last 2 years, and so forth.

As a business owner, you obviously need your staff there to help out now that things are starting to pick up again, but as a caring leader, you need to recognize the emotional needs of your team as well.

But where do you draw the line? Or better question if your team was truly engaged would they even ask for the time off knowing how important your business is to them as well?

As the owner and (more importantly) leader in your business, ask yourself these questions;

• Do the team feel a part of your business or do they just show up for the pay-cheque?
• Do you have a mission for your business that they feel part of and have ownership in?
• Are they able to do their best work every day?
• Do they feel or trust that everyone is doing their part as well as they can?
• Do they feel like they are a key contributor?
• Are they regularly recognized for the great work that they do?
• Do their opinions and ideas get heard?

The issues with your team could be that the conversations you need to have are not really about them taking the time out of the business, but rather that they don’t feel like “their” part in your business is as important as their own personal needs and desires.

The good news?

Easy to fix this with a little bit of focus and attention.

What can you do differently to create deep engagement with your team?

Comment below if you would like me to send you some easy ways to create better engagement with your team.