
I touched on this in a recent column for Real Business highlighting the importance of building a team of advisors, supporters and employees that can help entrepreneurs deliver on their ideas.
Of this group, sometimes the toughest challenge is to get those who work for you to share in your vision and put in the same level of blood, sweat and tears required to make a business a success. But why should they? After all, they have no motivation to drive the business forward other than the pay cheque at the end of the month. Of course, their work is making a contribution and, especially for those on performance-related incentives, the better they do, the better the business does. But if the enterprise fails, they can go off to find work elsewhere while the entrepreneur is left to pick up the pieces (and if they?ve got anything about them, dust themselves off and move on!) So the challenge is to motivate employees by getting them to buy into the passion entrepreneurs have for their businesses. This will never happen 100 per cent, but get them to 80 per cent and you?ll be on the right track. It?s much easier to do this in a small business because a handful of workmates tends to create a team-like mentality where they work in each other?s pockets and instantly share in the successes and challenges. However, it gets tougher when the business grows and sometimes employees feel disconnected from what their employer is trying to achieve and the important part they play in its success. Read more from Charlie Mullins:- Creating an army of like-minded entrepreneurs
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