MUNCIE, Indiana – Did you know that disengaged, unhappy workers cost America nearly $550 billion each year? As Gallup found in a recent survey, this cost is only compounded when you take a look at the profitability of a business to the satisfaction of workers.
Happier workers produce a better profit. Even long-standing enterprises sometimes lose sight of the importance of maintaining a motivated and excited work force. Consider the methods startups use to begin their business journey. Read on below for tips on how to keep your business fresh, agile, and on the path to greater gains.
Develop an Energetic Atmosphere
The most important component present in the most successful startups is an atmosphere of collaboration. According to that same Gallup survey, 70% of American workers are actively disengaged in their place of work. Disengaged workers are both a product and cause of a stagnant and unsatisfactory work environment.
Having workers clock in and out of work for the sake of biding their time is no way to run a profitable business. In order to boost morale, make your work environment one where everyone feels valued, supported. Let ideas be shared, not hoarded. Only then do workers feel like they are a part of a team.
Make workers feel valued by being as transparent as you can be about company decisions and statistics. Companies like LifeLock use this idea of transparency by offering the specs of their organization on sites like CrunchBase.com, a platform originally designed for use by startups. Taking this into account, consider all your employees and effectively communicate pertinent information to them.
Foster and Innovative Company Culture
The next most critical part of a startup mindset is the desire to innovate and the flexibility to roll with the punches. Alongside communicating as a team, innovation needs to be the goal of all who work with you. This goal is best achieved through creating a space that allows for people to work together.
According to Steelcase.com’s survey on collaboration, an important component to better teamwork is a hub where workers can gather to generate ideas or test out theories. To this end, arrange meeting spaces in a way where people feel like they can interact, hang out and still be working.
Operating a business is an exercise in managing risk. Even a rookie can tell you that without risk, innovation and ultimately, profit suffers. If you are looking to mix things up with your business, consider taking a step back into memory lane and do as the startups do. The energy, passion and hunger for more are likely some of the things that drove you to create your enterprise, but along the way you might have forgotten the sheer tour de force that got you rolling. It’s time to reignite that flame.
