Building Small Business Growth Through Happy Employees [Video]
4 Steps to Building an Internal Employer Brand that encourages happier employees
Many small and medium sized business owners’ work tirelessly to build their business. Hours can be long, and problems can cause sleepless nights. And yet, sometimes all that work is not enough to help a business succeed and grow.
Sometimes all that hard work just keeps the business afloat and, while keeping a business afloat is an accomplishment in and of itself, being able to create a workplace that succeeds above the margins is the goal of most business owners.
We often hear about the importance of ‘happiness’ in the workplace.
Unfortunately when a business leader or management team is working hard solving problems the idea of prioritizing happiness can end up on the back burner. But research has demonstrated that a workplace that includes creating ‘happiness’ can be a very successful workplace.
Have you ever seen Happiness Guru and psychologist Shawn Achor’s famous TEDtalk about happiness at work?
This video is one of the most watched TED talk videos of all time.
If you have not watched it yet set aside 12 minutes and 20 seconds of your day to check it out Shawn Anchor The Happy Secret to Better Wor.k
Branding A Happy Workplace
Employer branding is a fancy way of saying that you have clarity about the type of workplace you want to create and that you are actively disseminating your desired clarity to gain buy in from your employees.
Recently Shawn Achor linked up with a small telecom company called Fibernetics. The co-founder and President of Fibernetics, John Stix had a desire to build an organizational atmosphere that encouraged workplace happiness because he believed that it is part of a winning strategy to success.
In 2013, amid modest growth
In 2013, amid modest growth, Stix tells that he got the feeling that things were not going as well as they could be. He felt that some of the spark had gone out at work as the company had grown and he wanted to find a way to help his business grow again.
Fast forward two years later the company has seen a month-over-month growth in business. According to Stix, Fibernetics is retaining over 99% of their customers every month, whereas the typical retention for other Internet phone and data service providers is 84% per month.
He attributes that in part to the outstanding customer services his happy employees are providing.
Fast Foward to September 2015
In September 2015, John Stix presented the keynote speech in Las Vegas at the #15Impact conference, a conference attended annually by North America’s Business Leaders and Marketers. At the conclusion of his speech he received what was described as the first standing ovation for a keynote in the conference’s history.
How did Fibernetics go from a small telecom provider losing steam to a growing business seen as a leader in workplace culture?
Their leaders recognized a need, went into action and recognized the value of creating a happy workplace for the people they employed.
4 steps to transforming your workplace into a Happier place.
Step 1 – Actively Look for Opportunities to Strengthen the Workplace
In 2013 when Fibernetics co-founder John Stix looked around his workplace and felt that innovation, fun and passion had been slipping away. He began talking to his co-founder and members of his team and discovered that he was not alone in this feeling.
With this realization he began a personal quest to find how he could turn the situation around. He researched the factors that contributed to successful workplaces so he could better understand what he could do to improve the productivity of his employees.
As a business owner you are personally responsible for addressing the weaknesses in your organization. Taking the pulse of the organization on a regular interval is a very important step In building success.
Your personal responsibility involves taking time to identify weaknesses, then challenge yourself to understand the problems and seek ways to find solutions, including internally or externally. You do not have to undertake this alone, but you do have to embrace the responsibility to ensure it is done.
To take an organization to another level someone in leadership needs to be open to identifying opportunities for improvement including personally challenging yourself to see find and be open to the information you find. Then as a leader you are able to tap into the resources, either internally or externally, required to make changes.
Next- Steps 2 Through 4
