Services have become the key to a company’s success. Look at Google, Twitter, or Uber and see how they’re extending their reach and growing their business through new services.
What’s crucial about getting this new shift right is for businesses to understand that a service economy is about people. The people who are key to making success happen are the managers and employees within the business itself.
Employees are the true intellectual capital of the company and that means businesses must invest in their people.
4 ways to make your employees your company’s secret sauce
That investment can take many forms, but I see four ways that a business can turn their employees into their secret sauce for success.
Take a look:
Align employees to a common goal.
No organization works well if everyone is a maverick going off in his or her own direction. It’s important to communicate what the goal is and to make sure everyone is on the same page.
All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible. ~Orison Swett Marden
Create a nurturing environment.
Any business should want to motivate its employees to excel. One way this can be done is through rewards and recognition, so that employees know that their hard work and efforts are appreciated.
Today many American corporations spend a great deal of money and time trying to increase the originality of their employees, hoping thereby to get a competitive edge in the marketplace. But such programs make no difference unless management also learns to recognize the valuable ideas among the many novel ones, and then finds ways of implementing them. ~Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Harness employees’ intellectual horsepower.
It’s important to get the most out of employees, and one way that can be accomplished is through helping them build their skills. Certification programs only not train employees at all levels of the organization but also promote their personal growth.
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. ~Abigail Adams
Drive exceptional thought leadership.
It’s critical to hire the right leaders because so much else hinges on how they perform. Companies should look for people who have:
- A deep understanding of the business’ mission
- Stellar reputations
- The ability to attract new talent, and
- The potential to grow to the next level of leadership.
Position doesn’t make anybody a leader. Being in charge doesn’t make the wrong person right. ~Tim Berry
When products are a company’s focus, it’s important to invest in research and development, and product innovation. However, when services are what drives a company’s success, then the investment must be in people.
Get your employees inspired because inspired people make the difference.
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Today’s guest contributor is Dushyant Sukhija, author of The Cisco Way: Leadership Lessons Learned from One of the World’s Greatest Technology Services Companies and a former executive with Cisco Systems.
Image credit before quote added: Pixabay
