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Mental and emotional fortitude is an important part of being an entrepreneur, but you are only one of who needs it. Your employee share in your trails and tribulations, and have a few ones unique to them. For example, while you may have a plan should the company fall apart, for some of them the lack of job security may cause daily stress, affecting their performance. To create a strong company, and a strong team, you must help them develop fortitude. Here are a few ways you can do that.
Keep Expectations Realistic.
One of the worst things for a person’s mental and emotional fortitude is a constant disappointment. Though could be doing well, relatively speaking, but constantly missing goals can make them feel they are never enough. That’s a terrible feeling to have, and you may be part of the reason for it.
Setting big goals is important, but they should still be realistic. If you keep setting goals that are beyond your team’s reach in an effort to inspire them, you will end up with employees who feel like they can’t do anything right. Keep things doable, if a little difficult, they will feel accomplished.
Encourage Physical Wellness.
If you ever been sick and had a lot to do, you know the value of a physical relative state to your emotional and mental health. It is hard to keep up the morale an your thoughts clear when the whole body hurts or when you have a cold thats making your nose drip. Many entreprenuers know this, and have made it a priority to stay healthy and fit.
You should set the same priorities for your employees. Have everyone go for a morning walk together, for example, can get your blood pumping. Some companies encourage it by getting a group rate for a nearby gym and getting employee memberships. Still others set a short workdays in the hopes that plenty of rest will improve overall productivity.
It is a hard truth to accept, especially if your startup is your passion project, but your employees aren’t as committed or obsessed with the company as you are. There is nothing wrong with that — you can get great performance out of people regardless. They just dont have the same stakes that you do. It also means that you can’t rely on the company’s successs to motivates them or to improve their emotional well being.
Whenever there’s an opportunity to support somone with something unreleated to work, DO IT. Even as something as simple as offering them a few more days of maternity or paternity leave can work wonders for their emotional health.
Make it a Community
There are plenty of students out there who only make it through the college because they have friends in the most boring of the classes. While you certainly don’t want people going to work just because they got their buddies there, it doesn’t take away from the fact that community is often the strength. Most people need a sense of belonging to be at their best, so it is in your best interests to develop a community at the company.
This can take on many forms. If there’s enough people who want to quit smoking., have them form a support group. Have more experienced employees train newbies. Just having them interact in groups can encourage them to see each other as people, and not just functions of the company.
Hire With Your Company Culture
Many entreprenuers know the power and value of having a well definted company culture. However many fail to recognize how early they can apply it. Numerous employees are fired and replaced around the world everyday, simply becuase they didn’t it in with the rest of the company. That is an expense and hassle that could have been avoided if these companies were more careful during hiring.
Don’t hire somone because they can fill a seat. Hire someone who has not just the skills you need, but has the same goals and desires represented by your company culture. Doing that helps keeps the turnover numbers down, and productivity up. Failing to make the startup a place where employees can develop mental and emotional strength is a recipe for disaster. Fitting it into your already full plate may be difficult, but if you want to succeed as an entreprenuer, you must find a way.
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