Something Else to Avoid in Your Small Business

We posted something earlier this week on Mine Your Own Business with some tips on what to avoid to make sure your business is successful and ensures that it is around for a long time. This is a follow up in one way since it focuses on one thing not mentioned in the last post that can really be detrimental to your business and that is demotivating your employees.

We've frequently posted on how important employees are to any successful business and concentrated in the past on the positive aspects of finding, training, and motivating good employees. Now comes an article from NFIB on 8 Surefire Ways to Demotivate Your Employees.

1. Public criticism
2. Failing to provide praise.
3. Not following up.
4. Give unachievable goals or deadlines.
5. Not explaining your actions or sharing company data.
6. Implied threats.
7. Not honoring creative thinking and problem solving.
8. Micromanagement.

Unfortunately in my business career I've either been on the receiving end of some of these actions or seen them used on other employees. I'm sure you have as well. The main thing is to keep these points in mind as you work with your employees. It might be a good idea to do something that we have mentioned with some other posts in the past. Print the list out and refer to it occasionally to make sure you're not demotivating one very important asset of your business, your valuable employees.