4 Simple, Proven Ways to Get the Best Out of the Employees You Lead

Regardless of whether your business starts as a side project or you know from the start that you want to build a multi-million dollar company, your continued growth is largely going to come down to your employees.

After all, your business is only as good as the people who help it run. As a leader, you set the tone for your employees, providing the motivation and guidance needed so they can give their best effort.

There isn't a grand, mystical secret to getting the best from your employees. By following proven leadership tactics, you can ensure optimal results for your business.

1. Set Clear, Well-Defined Goals

Goal setting is crucial for any business, but to get the outcomes you desire, you need to start with the right goals. Locke and Latham's well-known template for SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based) is viewed as a tried-and-true format for goal setting.

Less discussed, however, were their findings on how goals affect individual performance by directing employee action toward activities that contribute to the goal, energizing employees, improving effort and persistence, and motivating employees to use or acquire knowledge to reach goals.

Clearly, well-articulated goals can have a direct impact on performance. For example, it is much easier to help employees be effective when they know you have a standard of responding to all customer emails within an hour, as opposed to simply telling them you want to provide a "timely response."

2. Create a Mission Statement with Meaning

Many companies use mission statements to offer a sense of guidance and direction for their employees. Unfortunately, these mission statements are often so vague and undefined that they could apply to just about any company.

As a result, they won't resonate with your team.

Check out this example of a well-expressed mission statement from New U Life. In an interview with Entrepreneur, the company's founder, Alexy Goldstein gives it over in a way that's tight yet expresses long-term vision:

Our mission statement is very particular to our business. We have a vision of whole body health through fusing nature and science. That draws on my background as a homeopath and herbalist. That means we don't appeal to people who aren't interested in that, either as employees or as customers. It narrows our field of view and lets us focus on the people who really care about the same things we do.

A quality mission statement is one that can only truly apply to your business. It clearly defines who you are and what you stand for, offering direction and motivation to your team.

3. Provide Valuable Feedback

Most people have a desire to improve their performance - but without guidance from a leader, they may be unsure about what they need to do better.

At the same time, leaders should also be mindful of opportunities to provide praise that motivates employees and helps them feel valued. Balance is the key.

Recapping their research at Babson College, Kerry Roberts Gibson, Kate O'Leary and Joseph R. Weintraub explained to Harvard Business Review:

Employees want to know both what they're doing well and where they can improve. In our discussions they reported time and again that receiving feedback - positive and developmental - was one of the key things that made them feel valued. As one employee explained, receiving praise from her manager was meaningful, but because she never got improvement-oriented suggestions, she questioned how valid the positive feedback was. Meanwhile, some employees who received only critical feedback seemed to give up, because they felt they could never do anything right.

Leaders are best served by providing positive reinforcement first, and constructive criticisms second. This creates an atmosphere where employees will be more inclined to listen (and remember) what they need to improve.

4. Show Them You Care

Offering praise for a job well done is one thing. But quite often, the key to unlocking an employee's potential comes from getting to know them on a more personal level.

Learning what is going on in an employee's life, discovering their interests or simply asking them how they are doing helps form stronger connections. Employees will feel that you care about their success. They'll like you better, and that will motivate them to work harder. This also makes them more inclined to listen when you set goals or provide feedback.

Leaders make time to get to know their employees on a personal basis. Staff lunches, company social gatherings, town hall sessions or working together on a project are just a few of the ways you can carve out time for more direct interactions with your team.

Don't overlook the power of unplanned, impromptu conversations, either. Asking someone how their weekend went or how their family is doing when you bump into them in the hall may seem like a small gesture, but it goes a long way in showing that you care.

Building the Best Team Possible

Whether you're hiring new employees or building an advisory board, getting the best from your team largely comes from on-boarding the right people in the first place. Yes, your leadership is crucial in getting their best effort. But by doing your due diligence during the hiring process, you can find people who buy into your vision and are willing to go where you lead them.

When the right hires are paired with strong leadership skills, you and your employees will be able to deliver truly memorable results for your company.