Don’t Lose Your Employees to Competitors
As an MSP business, you’re in a market with a high degree of personnel turnover. There’s no real way to totally escape this, but you can manage it through employee retention tactics that have a solid track record behind them. Employees are your most important asset regardless of your industry, you might as well set them up for success.
If you’re going to have employees that become core personnel over the long-term, you’ve got to give them a reason to stay. Their “career” should have a trajectory that’s tangible and helps keep them motivated. Also, they should feel like more than a cog in a machine— they should feel known. Consider these tips:
Be an Active Listener; Let Personnel Know They’re Heard
MSP business managers and employees tend to be socially awkward. Much goes on in the mind which is not expressed verbally. If you’re going to keep employees happy, you need to make sure they know you’re paying attention to them. They should feel like you’ve got their best interests at heart. So, listen actively in conversations, hear concerns, and get back to people. Work for them and they’ll work for you.
Enable Employees to Succeed with Real Responsibility; Monitor Their Use of Power
When employees get to a point where they can be of more use to your company, it’s time to give them a little increased responsibility. You don’t want to forget you’ve done this; you want to put them on unconscious probation.
That is to say: you’re watching them closely to see what they do with the power you’ve just given them. Oftentimes, they’ll do well and that will allow you to help them do even better through further responsibility down the line. Personal responsibility and power breed subconscious stewardship in professional people. That is to say: they’ll be better workers because they appreciate the responsibility they’ve been given and want to keep it.
Unwritten Rules Breed Contempt; Be Outspoken and Forthright in Your Management Values
When you hire, fire, or discipline based on something that’s known only to you, that’s going to cause your staff to speculate. People can be quite imaginative. Unwritten rules will stimulate imagination and that can result in paranoia. Avoid unwritten rules. Instead, be straightforward and by-the-book on everything so everyone understands that the same rules apply to all.
Properly Managing Your Most Fundamental Assets
As an MSP business, your employees are your most costly and powerful asset. Don’t have any unwritten rules, be straightforward. Enable employees to succeed and monitor what they do under their own “steam.” Listen actively, let them know they’re heard, and incorporate all these things into your company culture. Such tactics will do much to keep your employees around over the long run.
