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1. The company to-go for getting added value for your business
’09 Newsletter
Building a loyal team
It might sounds crazy to talk about worker loyalty at a time when big companies
routinely show longtime employees the door. But loyalty isn’t dead. Instead, it has
shifted, with few people nowadays feeling loyal to the company overall or even the
people running the business.
As a manager, you need to understand this if you’re going to motivate people
effectively. No one tactic is going to forge the bonds of loyalty, of course, but there
are lots of small things you can (and should) do to build stronger and more
productive relationships with your employees.
Create great jobs.
What’s a great job? Individual expectations naturally vary, people agreed on several
common factors for job satisfaction: task variety, workplace friendships, fair
procedures, a balance between how much effort workers put it and the rewards
they receive, a certain level of autonomy and control for employees to work
unsupervised.
The takeaway? Your team members want meaningful work that makes use of their
talents and interests, and that offers good compensation — not just financial
rewards, but recognition, authority, or leadership.
Every job has elements that are repetitive, but these can be leavened with personal
projects that give employees freedom to indulge an interest or acquire another skill
that can prove helpful to the business.
Create great careers.
Work with your direct reports to develop an extended career plan for them — even
if that plan means the individual must leave the business to achieve a certain
professional goal. The reality is that some of your key people will leave for a
variety of reasons, no matter how much they seem to like their jobs. Why not map a
path that would welcome them back into more senior roles after gaining other
experience?
Rebalance the blame culture.
Most people don’t leave their company, they leave their boss, “If you want
engagement, you must show that you care, delegating more than just the rubbish
that you don’t want to do.” A manager who is quick to apportion blame for
mistakes is highly corrosive. Delegating effectively means sharing credit and taking
blame. Do that, and the staff will take the risks that are required for success.
They’ll do it with you and for you.
1 © experts@experts-visions.com
‘Nous nous engageons sur des résultats opérationnels’

2. The company to-go for getting added value for your business
’09 Newsletter
Acknowledge individuals.
There are lots of ways to create a sense of respect among your team. “Some things
are really banal: saying good morning for example… If you’re a manager, make
sure you make yourself available to people when they need to speak to you. Move
from “Good job, team” to “Thanks for staying late last night.”
Put employees into the bigger picture.
This should be something every manager thinks about from recruitment onwards.
Employees look to team leaders to remind them why their work is important in the
big picture, and to create excitement about what the company is doing.
There’s no quick way to achieve this. It’s your job to align business values and
goals for employees. Find ways to make people feel like their work has an impact
on the overall business, such as keeping them in the loop on what happens next for
a project they’ve completed or acknowledging when their work has generated
more customers or revenue.
2 © experts@experts-visions.com
‘Nous nous engageons sur des résultats opérationnels’