How to Get Employees Excited About Your Business Vision

**rogercbryan** · 08-31-2010 02:45 PM

I read a decent article from Inc Magazine today that got me a little frustrated. It was about how to get employees excited about the vision of your business. What got me upset is that it was written from an 'ivory tower' perspective. Meaning that it was written for the corporate world from a MIT perspective. I decided to breakdown the article and make it more relevant to the small business world.

I wanted to get the opinion of other small business owners. What do you think about my review of this article?

Read the article here:
How to get employees excited about your business vision

**Southern_Lenders** · 08-31-2010 03:16 PM

Offer them a percentage of ownership in the company either by partnership, or stock. Give them bonuses based off meeting, and/or exceeding company goals. Give credit when credit is due; let them know when they're doing a good job. It feels good to be recognized for your hard work.

Problem solved.

Edit: My partner, and I are looking to do something like this for our business as well. We don't have the money for employee salary, but yet we need talented people, so we will be offering partnership agreements.

**guidemesingapore** · 08-31-2010 04:54 PM

I agree with your version. The thing about getting employees excited is to show them where they could be few years from now if everything goes as per plan. Employees will first see the growth opportunities they would have with you and if they can have a senior managerial role in the future.

**rogercbryan** · 09-01-2010 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by Southern_Lenders

Offer them a percentage of ownership in the company either by partnership, or stock. Give them bonuses based off meeting, and/or exceeding company goals. Give credit when credit is due; let them know when they're doing a good job. It feels good to be recognized for your hard work.

Problem solved.

Edit: My partner, and I are looking to do something like this for our business as well. We don't have the money for employee salary, but yet we need talented people, so we will be offering partnership agreements.

WHAT!!! This is asinine! Please spend the next 5 years of your life working 50-70 hours a week to get a company going and then come back and tell me if you still want to give a piece of your handwork away to anyone. This again is the garbage they teach in B-School and in Ivory Tower Books. This isn't the way the small business world works. I take it you didn't even read the article...

*** sorry... thought about this for a second... I'm leaving my original post because I believe it is accurate but at the same time I didn't offer any advice. When you have no money to pay for people you need to find a way to do all the work yourself. If you remember the tech bubble (if you are old enough) you will know that many of the .com busts we 'funded' with stock options in order to get employees with out paying them. The problem here is that people will only work for so long like that and if you face even a glimpse of financial trouble everyone will jump ship and your house of cards will collapse.

Ownership is what we all strive for. Getting it isn't easy... profiting from it is even harder... The only people you'll ever give ownership to are people who can run the company in your place while still allowing you to personally profit and grow. There are some exceptions in partnerships based on financial needs but that is usually an exchange in ownership from the company owner and a financial investor and not from the owner to an employee.

Seriously take some time to think about this and then comment

**rogercbryan** · 09-01-2010 08:31 AM

Originally Posted by guidemesingapore

I agree with your version. The thing about getting employees excited is to show them where they could be few years from now if everything goes as per plan. Employees will first see the growth opportunities they would have with you and if they can have a senior managerial role in the future.

This is true for 20% of people... the 'dangling of the carrot theory'... The reality for the other 80% is that no matter what opportunity is put in front of them they are going to be content to just pass through life. There is nothing wrong with their approach but as a business owner you need to be able to tell the 20% from the 80% or you will invest time and money into someone with no aspiration to do any more work while still wanting to earn more money. It is as if the mentality of the government worker has spread full blown into the small business world.

**Emma47** · 09-07-2010 01:58 AM

Hello,

Following are the things that you must follow with your employees.This will help you to keep them motivated about your vision.

· Keeping communications open: explaining how each person’s contributions affect the overall business
· Listen to them, especially if they are complaining to find a solution to the problem
· measuring engagement: paying close attention to the interactions of everyone (the subtle clues such as the level of concern in voices)
· cultivate a sense of pride in your employees and a belief in the importance of your missions
· Make sure the hiring supervisor maintains high level of motivation

Thanks,
Emma