If you’re thinking of starting your own small business, few places will be as welcoming to you as Montana: Statistics show that in 2019, the share of employees working at small businesses was the highest of any state – since small businesses accounted for 66.8 % of employment in Montana. Furthermore, 2020-2021 also saw a net increase in establishments of 2,138. All in all, plenty of startups have blossomed in our business-friendly home state. But as these businesses continue to grow, owners sooner or later reach a point at which they can no longer run it all by themselves or just with a partner or two – which means they have to start hiring. Are you currently in this situation yourself and not sure how to go about suddenly being someone’s boss? Then read on down below, where we give you our top tips for managing employees if you’re new to it.
Look at What’s Working – and Encourage It
When you’re expanding, it’s all about trying new strategies and seeing what pays off. When doing so, it’s important to keep track of your many different efforts and watch your metrics to see how each of them are performing. By doing this, you can manage your expenses and stick to doing what actually makes a difference – and stop wasting energy and resources on strategies that just aren’t working out the way you hoped for. When you know which tasks you should be prioritizing, you can double down on those and encourage the responsible employees’ efforts to motivate them to keep going.
Leave It to the Experts – and Provide Them With the Right Tools
The next step on our list is an excellent one to take before you even start hiring: Sit yourself down and identify your personal strengths and which valuable skills you bring to the table as a leader – and which tasks you’re probably better off delegating. Once you’ve identified what you need help for, it’s time to start hiring your specialists and helping them be the best they can be. Make sure to set them up with solid, up-to-date tools that’ll help them be as efficient in their job as possible: For instance, your HR person will no doubt appreciate great software that helps manage employees, and your communication expert will love you for e.g. providing them with quality editing software. The right tools will help your employees cut down on tiresome, manual tasks and focus on doing what they do best – all to your benefit.
Keep Accountability – But Be Realistic and Listen
Lastly, encourage an office culture in which everyone is excited about performing to their full potential. In order to do this, it’s important that everyone is held accountable for meeting standards, deadlines and goals – and knows why you’re doing what you’re doing. Because if what you’re working towards doesn’t really matter, then how are you going to motivate people to give their all to reach it? However, this also means that you have to be realistic with the goals you set, since no one is going to bend over backwards to achieve something they know is never going to happen. Also, if your employees object to your practices, make sure to listen to what they’re saying. Of course, some people just love to complain, and you definitely shouldn’t take it all to heart immediately. But on the other hand, you did hire them for a reason – and if they care as much about your business’ purpose as you, you might actually be able to improve your strategy by listening to what they have to say.