It's very easy when you're running a business to get stuck doing the same old thing everyday, and that's exactly the same with your staff too.
But for dynamic, entrepreneurial companies that want to expand, it's vital to retain your staff at their maximum level so you can continue to maintain customer service standards and take on extra work when the opportunity arises.
"Improving the skills and performance of your team - your business' greatest asset - is one of the best ways of building a more efficient and dynamic business," says Helen Cracknell of Business Link.
"Not only will it make your business more productive, allowing you to service existing customers better, but it will help you identify ways to grow your business opportunities. It will send out a positive message to your employees, who will understand that you are investing time and money in their development.
"The size of your business will dictate how much you can do to improve your people and how they work," she added. "Other influencing factors include industry, skills required, training and resources available. The important thing is to find the right solution for your business that will be cost effective for you, but also motivate you employees."
Business Link offers the following tips on how to give your staff's performance a boost:
Reviewing the situation
A good starting point is assessing your team to understand what you could change. Think about the different skills areas within your business, such as customer service, sales and marketing or finance.Developing a review process will give you the structure to build improvements into your employees' performance and their skills across these areas. Talking to each team member individually carries several benefits, including identifying and understanding their own particular skills gaps and training requirements
Training
Running training courses is a good way of improving your staff performance and can ultimately strengthen your business. If you have the budget, it is a good way of introducing more specific skills to your business. It will also ensure you get buy-in from staff who will recognise you are prepared to invest in them, ultimately improving loyalty
What do employees want?
Take some time to think about what makes you and your staff tick. As a small or medium-sized business, you may not be able to pay huge salaries or wages but you will be able to dictate other areas and develop a workplace that will make your staff happier, such as introducing flexible workin
More than money
Aside from money, factors that you may want to look at more closely could be the type of work, potential to develop and the culture. Review these areas separately by asking your team how they feel about each of them. Perhaps they feel the business lacks a social element, in which case organise monthly events
Eyes on the target
Another good way of motivating people is through targets and incentives. Maybe you can attach targets to certain elements of work, like asking your staff to aim for an agreed number of sales meetings each month? An incentive for this could be an extra day's paid holiday
Leadership
How your team performs depends largely on you, so you should aim to develop a management style your people will respond positively to. A manager of a business needs to be able to demonstrate respect and trust in their team, whilst having the ability the guide, motivate and inspire. If you can achieve that then you will succeed in getting the most out of your people
Stay on the ball
Always keep an eye out for new ideas and make sure you have a two-way communication channel open at all times between you and your employees.Most importantly, lead your team in way that will make them want to perform well for you and the business
Personal development tool
Developed with the Department for Education and Skills, the Department of Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform and the Management Standards Centre, this tool is for business owners or managers looking to improve on management and leadership skills. It guides users through a series of questions about their business, role and behaviour at work to produce a comprehensive and personalised development plan. The plan takes around 25 minutes to complete and the information submitted can be saved and revisited in order to track progress. For more information on this see www.businesslink.gov.uk/pdp