How to build a loyal business team there for the long term

I often assist my clients in interviewing possible employees for management and sales positions. When we read that an applicant has had several jobs over a relatively short period of time we surmise that the applicant is not here for the long term.

With “change” now a regular challenge for most businesses we need to regularly invest money and time into training employees, so why would we employ someone and invest into their training, only for them to leave, it doesn’t make business sense.

Training your team

It can be tricky to decide where to invest your training wisely. Generally, if a role requires significant technical expertise and / or customer relationship building – you will need to invest time and effort not only in training but setting up systems to make your employee feel valued and motivated. We know whatever the role or industry, if people feel engaged with their employers, team and business vision they are much more loyal and more likely to stay. This has many benefits, not only saving you training new staff repeatedly but also more productivity, accelerated business growth and higher profits.

Here are three key strategies to build an engaged team who will be there for the long term:

1. Leadership based on integrity – the first step actually starts with you. Your employees need to respect you and your actions. Visionary leaders ‘give’ first – they’re not thinking ‘What’s in it for me?’ They know that if they put others first and take action with integrity each day, profit will follow. High-performance leaders also focus more on results than being right. Ego has it’s role in business, but not in leadership in my opinion
2. Employees are involved in the business vision – For many companies their vision statements are a collection of words carefully crafted and never looked at again! You should see and feel your business vision every day and so should your employees. But not in a top-down approach – employees must feel part of the vision, see their role in achieving it and see how each small action they take works towards that vision of success.
3. 121 sessions with each employee – A huge section of my leadership training is devoted to how to organise and run ‘Business Development Sessions’. These are a vital part of my system, which has been used and translated across over 125 companies worldwide. Basically, each employee needs to have regular, structured 121 sessions with their leader / manager in which they discuss performance and goals but also ask the employee what the company can do for them. As simple as this seems, it can be absolutely transformational and can yield tremendous results. It’s very easy however to cancel the sessions when you’re busy and not place the correct value on these sessions. I can tell you now that your employees will think they are very important and these can be the key differentiator between long-term engaged staff and high staff turnover

If you want to learn more about how to create loyal long term employees who add value to your business through innovation, increased productivity and increased profits and establishing long term customer relationships which leads to greater profits , learn more about The Business Freedom Program and how this can not only build you an engaged, team there for the long term but also transform how you do business.