One of the hardest responsibilities of running a business is making sure employees maintain their work ethic. It’s up to business leaders to create environments and operational structures that encourage employees to take their work seriously. This would likely be a lot easier if there was just one requirement for sustainable motivation. Instead, business leaders must consistently fulfill several needs that are equally important for different types of employees. Finance is an industry where things don’t always go smoothly, and the daily onslaught of stress can make your dedication seem pointless. It’s safe to say that leaders of finance firms have to go the extra mile to instill mutually significant sources of motivation.
In my experience as an entrepreneur, I’ve found that most employees place a great deal of value on at least one of the following incentives to work hard:
1. Knowing You Are Helping People
I didn’t understand how important this was until I realized it was arguably the main reason my team’s work ethic has never truly faltered. When fellow entrepreneurs would complain about this problem, I could not relate. This is because my company’s job is to provide funding for small businesses, something of which it’s easy to see the impact.
Of course, not every business sells products or services that have such a visible impact. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t extremely valuable. No matter what you sell, I believe business leaders should educate employees as to how their companies are helping people. Your team should feel that their day-to-day tasks have a direct impact on someone else’s success or general well-being. Think about what you’d say if you asked your team why they aren’t working hard and their response was: “Well, what’s the big deal?”
Finance professionals who don’t feel connected to their clients on a personal level might want to focus on the help they are providing to their industry peers. They should remember that by fulfilling their duties to their clients, they are reaffirming that their industry can be trusted. Unlike other industries, one finance firm’s failure is not usually another firm’s success.
2. Knowing You Are Being Paid Appropriately
This seems like a no brainer, but it’s actually pretty complicated for younger and/or smaller businesses. When you have a smaller team, individual employees have heavier workloads. They don’t have the option of delegating tasks to interns and, in the case of early employees, are likely accustomed to gradually taking on more work. It’s also hard to keep track of your employees’ workloads as the business grows.
But this can’t go on forever. Sooner or later, employees will begin to question whether their current salary is still appropriate for the amount of work they are doing. If they aren’t as receptive to additional tasks as they used to be, it might be because they are insulted that you have not included a boost in compensation.
This is especially detrimental to finance professionals because, based on my experience, many commission-based employees enter the field primarily because of financial security, which is increasingly rare these days. This is one of the few industries where more pressure almost always means more money. So, before assigning more work to a longtime employee, you might want to ask yourself: “Am I paying this employee enough to do this much work?”
3. Knowing Your Boss’s Requests Are Realistic
A common entrepreneurial tactic is pushing employees to perform by assigning increasingly challenging goals. The business leader’s requests are ambitious but not so unrealistic that employees refuse to comply. But as the business leader gets busier, the line between realistic and unrealistic can begin to blur. He or she no longer has the time to actively monitor each employee’s progress. Employees might, therefore, get the impression that their boss is carelessly spitting out numbers and actually has no idea how long it should take to complete the task at hand. Requests won’t be taken seriously, putting productivity and the boss’s authority at risk.
I’ve met business leaders who intentionally set unrealistic goals because they want to teach their employees to negotiate. Once their employees figure out that due dates or revenue figures are negotiable, they make reasonable counters that are usually accepted. But not every employee has a knack for negotiating. Rather than making a “counter-offer,” such employees will just remember that the boss’s request is not firm and won’t rush to do what they are told. This is why I believe it’s best to avoid this tactic and try to make your requests as realistic as possible. There are more effective ways of pushing employees to perform than throwing unnerving numbers at them.
Productivity issues are less likely when a business leader knows how to keep employees motivated. Your team must be made to understand that in the eyes of their leader, their work is undoubtedly important. Yes, your employees are probably smart enough to automatically do what they are told. Doing it well, however, requires more attention from the person assigning the work.
