smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

Motivational skills may come in handy these days. Not only for your staff, but for yourself.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting it’s time to walk around giving high-fives and saying, 'Hey buddy, I think you’re great,' all day long, but there is a certain degree of “method” in the idea of motivational skills – especially if you have staff who fear they may be losing their jobs.

It’s the simple, and arguably blindingly obvious, things that need to be done:

• Involving your employees in processes

• Communicating

• Showing strong leadership and management

• Treating your employees in the same way you treat customers (assuming you treat customers well).

Admittedly, some of this may sound soft and fluffy, but there are people who swear by it. Richard Beaumont is managing director of loans and mortgages provider Freedom Finance and a former Major in the Royal Engineers. He takes his staff on courses at Sandhurst, the military officer training school.

Predictably, the company has gone through “restructuring” during the past year and people have been laid off. ‘The challenge that we face is: how do we maintain morale and motivation among employees,’ he says.

The trips to Sandhurst, along with other forms of training, help teach the staff to take responsibility for their actions. ‘It’s a success or failure approach; there is no grey area. If something doesn’t work, you have to fix it. And you want to instil that kind of culture in a business.’

This isn’t to say that everyone should go to bootcamp and learn a war-cry, but if you’re running a company, now isn’t the time for hiding in the shadows.

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