What Do You Get, In Exchange For A Raise?

What do you get from your team members,?in exchange for a raise ?

This question may come across as?small thinking?or?reactionary, because your team members work so hard as is.

But with inflation you have to give raises just to help them stay even.

You probably feel like you are handing out money left and right. Hence my question, what do you get in return?

Share Your Expectations

Too many owners think that their employees can read their minds. Here is how this works:

• An owner shares a specific thought or expectation with their employees.
• The owner continues to ruminate about that same thought or expectation.
• Finally, owners assumes the employees are also ruminating on the expectation, just because the they do.

This is a mistake that many owners make. But employees are too distracted juggling their own recurring personal issues.

Therefore, you have to repeatedly communicate and take time to emphasize whatever is important to you.

And if you are handing out inflation raises, that’s a great time to?communicate your expectations .

Seize The Moment

That is exactly what my client Alex Tupelo of?AA Landscape?did, when he handed out raises this spring.

He met with his largely hispanic workforce to discuss the?inflation-raises , and what he would like to get in return.

• The end of breakfast and coffee stops in the morning; this had to end once and for all.
• Tolerance removed for looking the other way when lunch is recorded inaccurately.
• No more forgetting to gas up in the evening, or hanging around “helping” the other crews load.

Alex then explained that raises, bonuses, and even new equipment purchases require a heightened efficiency of operations achieved only when everyone pulls together as one team.

His employees were supportive of the renewed enforcement of company guidelines.

Make no mistake,?AA Landscape?is a well run?high-profit company . And with these raises and re-emphasis to efficiency, I fully expect its financial performance will improve further.

Careers And Pay Ladders

Alex went further, and rolled out a career ladder (pay ladder) for his team, showing them what skills they would need to learn in order to get a further raise.

(Alex saw the career ladder in action at last year’s?Summer Growth Summit ?when we visited LanDesign of St Louis.)

LanDesign hangs their career ladder, with pay ranges, on the walls of the public areas.

Your Challenge: Get Ahead Of The Money Conversations

As you find yourself reacting to inflation, pay demands and the fight for labor, try to get ahead of the conversations.

Focus on creating an efficiency-minded work culture, a growth-oriented work force, and a “one for all and all for one” team culture.

Don’t forget to share what you are ruminating on. Even if you shared it before, share it again. Keep sharing it until your team can truly “read your mind”.

Crush it this Spring!

Regards, Jeffrey!

P.S. To learn new tools for employee and company growth, join us at the Summer Growth Summit