Retain Your Internal Customers

It is critically important that your internal customers, i.e. your employees, enjoy what they do and are happy most of the time. Their attitude speaks louder than words to your external customers, i.e. those who write your paychecks. No one wants to talk with a grouch. They will talk with a person who seems pleasant.

One of the most overlooked actions is to ensure that you hire the right attitude. One of my clients had a series of employees who didn’t belong at his company. In my opinion they were dysfunctional on a personal level. They weren’t happy. They weren’t doing their jobs and their personal problems followed them to work every day and consumed much of their time. They left…at the beginning of a long, busy summer. However, it was much better that they were gone since they weren’t taking care of the external customers well either. This caused problems initially. However, in the long term, the company was much better off with the “bad apples” gone.

The key is to hire the right internal customers. You can train from a technical standpoint. However, you can’t train attitudes and work ethic. Where do you find these people? Find people who take good care of you in places you go. I’ve watched more than one waitress become a great employee of a contractor.

Let’s assume that you’ve hired the right attitude. How do you ensure that they stay happy and motivated? Many contractors mistakenly look for "motivation tricks" or "sales tricks" that will make the people do what we want them to do.

Most "tricks" don't last for long. All lasting motivation is self motivation. That is why you must hire the right attitude and work ethic. Employees must want to do a good job and follow the rules. Otherwise, they won't stay. As a manager once told me, the good employees will leave and you’ll have to kick out the bad ones.

Each person you come in contact with is different. We have different ways of communicating, different personal needs, different ways that we look at the world.

Here are some specific things that you can do:

Ask questions and really listen to the answers. If you don't understand the answer, ask another question. Many times it is the third or fourth question that really gets to the heart of the matter. You as an owner should be doing more listening rather than talking in most cases.

Observe. Actions always speak louder than words. What an employee does is often more important than what he or she says. Even though someone says something, if their actions belie what they said, they are likely not to do what they say. If you see an employee doing something that is not consistent with company policy ask why. Don’t accuse. Just ask questions based on your observations.

Be willing to change your communications style. Sometimes to get an employee’s attention you must be standing over them; i.e. the employee is sitting in a chair looking up at you. For other employees, if you stood over them, they would be so intimidated that they wouldn’t communicate. With some employees you can be direct. With others you must be indirect to get to the bottom of a situation.

To create an environment where others will be motivated to do the things you need them to do, you have to be a chameleon. You must change the way that you speak, ask questions, and communicate to fit their style. This doesn't mean to be unethical or do things that are illegal. There is nothing wrong with becoming an actor if it means that you achieve the goals that you want and you keep your employees and customers happy in the process.

Once an employee feels that the communication channels are open, he is more likely to offer suggestions which can help improve his job and the company operations. You’ll have contented employees and a better bottom line.