Your small and medium enterprise (SME) is like a boat. In this case, you must have your team trained and rowing in the same direction without having anyone trying to drill holes in your boat when you are not looking.
It is not easy to set up and run a successful SME. Your team plays a huge role in making your SME a success. They say that people do not products or services but people buy people. The people you have will determine whether people will buy.
There is no democracy in running a small business. You either become a dictator, an aristocratic, or a mix of the two. You can never attempt to sit on the fence and hope to succeed. You must be both brutal and gentle, both predictable and unpredictable.
Never entertain any form of resistance, inciting, or insubordination within the ranks of your team. You may have 1000 good employees but one toxic one can infect the whole team. Be firm in instilling discipline and show that you are the authority.
Let your team compete, not to outdo each other, but to bring out the best of their talents. Encourage them to always pull towards a common goal as a team. This will be achievable if you let them have and own success as a team. Praise them in public and criticize them in private.
Set realistic goals for your team. Let them take part in the setting of the goals. The most important thing you can ever do for your team is to let them feel part of the business. Let them feel that if they let down the business, then they will be letting down part of them.
Lastly, pay your team on time. Nothing motivates your team more than paying them on time. This gives them an opportunity to budget for themselves and their families.
