Good Managers and Business Owners Know This

It is a sad state when over 80% of people in North America say that they are not happy with their work and would change jobs if they had the chance.  That is a staggering percentage, 4 out of every 5 people are not happy with their jobs!

Many reasons are given, including pay, the hours, the work itself and a toxic work environment.  The number 1 reason that is consistently given, however, is the management of the company.  Whether it is a small, family-owned business, or a giant multi-national corporation, the biggest reason people are unhappy with their employer is that they are treated poorly by those in power.

There are many reasons why management might treat their employees poorly, but the easiest way to remedy the situation is to remember one simple thing.

Great managers and business owners know that they work for their employees, not the other way around!  They know that their number one job is not to give orders or manage people, it is to ensure that their people have all of the resources to best do the job.  These managers go out of their way to make sure that their employees are well taken care of and they work extremely hard at it. 

Leadership certainly entails managing employees, setting the company’s vision and ensuring that important metrics are being met, but the best managers always do these things from the context of serving their employees not from their employees being forced to obey company directives. They ensure that the best resources are available to bring out the best performance from their teams.

There are several positive side effects to treating people well.  In a difficult situation, employees will often leave a company, even if the pay is excellent, if they are treated poorly.  Conversely, people are willing to tolerate much, much more, if they feel appreciated and are well treated by their management.  This usually means much longer employee tenure, much higher productivity and better and more profitable sales.

So, simply adjusting our thoughts as managers and business owners from giving commands to working for our teams and by extension our company’s success, can lead to incredible success for the employees and the management.