How to make your company great

If you want your small business to stay around for many years to come, you need to take an active role in helping the company reach this potential. As a manger, you need to reach out to your employees and foster strong working relationships. When you build an environment focused on trust and respect, you will have an easier time reaching out to your customers. Customers that become loyal to a company are a wonderful asset to any business because they will provide you with the financial needs for your cash flow and for your business to stay afloat.

A profitable organization may be seen as great, but the best organizations aren't always those that are turning profits in the millions of dollars. Sure it's great to exceed your sales predictions, but this isn't the only thing you need to focus on. Here are some tips on how to make your company great:

Leadership
Great companies start with great leaders. Are you driven toward success? Will you do whatever it takes to keep yourself in business? Do you strive to meet the goals of the company? Do you push your employees outside of their comfort zones to develop new skills? A great leader is trusted and respected by their staff members and also by competitors. A good leader has a presence and they develop a vision for the company that others are anxious to follow. The managers and other people that are leading your company need to be true leaders, not followers. Sometimes people give the appearance of greatness but they don't live up to this expectation. You need to seek out the managers that were born to lead other people and help them identify opportunities that exist within the company.

Communication
A company that is successful knows the importance of communication. You must focus on sending out clear messages to your employees in order for them to understand what they need to do. A manager must have clear communication with their staff members. They must quickly address concerns their employees may have. They must also focus on making the workplace enjoyable and easy to come to. Part of having good communication comes down to your ability to listen to others. You need to truly listen to your employees in order to find out what you can do better as a manager and what you can do to make their jobs easier. When you are listening to your employees watch your non-verbal communication. Quite often managers let distractions get in the way and they end up tuning out what their employees are really saying to them. When you are focusing on listening, here are 3 things you need to do:

1. Provide the employee with eye contact. This shows you are actually listening to them.


2. Turn off all distractions. Nothing sends the message of "I don't care" than a manager that is reading emails while in a meeting with one of their employees/.


3. Repeat some of what the employee is telling you. This shows the employee that you actually did hear what they said and that you will actually try to do something about the problems they may be having in the office.

Customer Service
Your customers are the lifeblood of your organization, without their support your business will fail. What are you doing to show them you appreciate their support? Do your customers enjoy coming to your store? What types of interactions can they expect with your employees? Do you have outgoing staff members that strive to make each customer feel good about their visit to your store?