When it comes to growing your business, it’s likely that you will be looking to take on additional staff to manage the extra workload, or to take on the role of completing tasks you no longer have the time for or aren’t necessarily your strength.

When you started your business, you may not have dreamt of having a team around you that would help build and develop your enterprise, but equally, you may not have considered the time and resource needed to manage people.

However, it’s an important role and here are our top tips to consider as you take your next steps to grow your business:

  1. Communication is key

It may sound simple, but you would be surprised by how poor communication can be within small and large businesses.

Put yourself in your employees’ shoes and consider how it would feel to be kept in the dark about key business decisions.


See also: The importance of retaining employees


There are numerous ways you can keep your team informed and up-to-date. A weekly team meeting, for example, can be a great way to share challenges and successes, plan for the week ahead, and let people know when you will be in and out of the office. Whereas a quarterly meeting may be more appropriate for more business-related discussions such as an update on finances.

Email is also a great and simple way to keep people updated, but remember people can interpret these differently, and not necessarily in the way you intended.

There are also numerous online chat systems, some that are free and others that are paid for, that can allow teams to share ideas on a day to day basis.

Make sure you consider your options and incorporate a system that works well for you and your team.

  1. Separate friendship and business

When you spend 40 plus hours a week with work colleagues’ friendships are likely to form. And, research has shown that friendships can increase job satisfaction, productivity and job commitment, but boundaries are needed to ensure this is not taken advantage of in the workplace.

It can be very tricky when it comes to stepping back and managing your friends or colleagues that you are very close to.


See also: Four ways to help increase workplace satisfaction


A degree of mental and emotional separation is needed in this instance to be able to separate personal friendships and business and earn respect from your fellow colleagues.

Set the expectation that in work situations you will be honest about work-related issues and encourage the same in return.

It’s not easy and will take time, but it is possible and can result in some great teamwork.

  1. Positivity

It’s not always easy but keeping a positive attitude when in the workplace will help set the tone for the rest of the office.

We all have days where we want to keep ourselves to ourselves, but others will pick up on negative vibes and this can create a toxic atmosphere.

Simple things like walking into the office and saying good morning shows you have acknowledged the team and how this is said will impact the tone for the day.

To ensure you can stay as positive as is humanly possible, consider some coping strategies that will benefit you. For example, going for a walk to clear your head and exercising at lunchtime can both help increase endorphins. Talking to people outside of the office and asking for advice or support on how to deal with issues and challenges can also give you a different outlook on how to deal with different situations.

  1. Benefits

Workplace perks don’t always have to be huge, but you would be surprised how the little things can help employers feel valued.

From supplying breakfast in the morning or free tea and coffee, to offering employees an extra days’ annual leave for every year they have been with the company, may not seem that much to you but it does to your employees.


See also: Employee handbooks - where to get started


Consider what benefits would suit your team and how these could be incorporated. Remember, communication is key here and making sure everyone has access to the same benefits is a good idea to avoid friction between the team.

  1. It may not be important to you, but it may be to your employees

Similar to the above point, there may be little niggles among your employees that you think are not important and wish people would stop raising the issue or concern. However, the fact that they keep raising it means it is important to them and you as an employer need to consider a way of resolving or managing the issue.

Again, it comes back to making your employees feel valued. It’s the small things that can often build tension, but with a little time can be put straight quite simply.

As your business grows you are going to come across challenges. Managing people may not have been something you banked on when you started, however, it’s a very positive sign. You don’t necessarily need a HR manager to help manage your employees, but you do need to consider how you are going to choose to manage your team and ensure they feel valued within your workplace.

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