Sales Strategy

Maintaining The Momentum II: Getting And Keeping Your Employees Excited!By Andie Weinman, President and CEO, Preferred Jewelers International and Continental Buying Group |  February 05, 2015 (0 comments)

Ft. Lauderdale, FL--If you have employees who’ve held the same job for some time, it’s quite likely they’re bored and their job performance is below par. You don’t want them to burn out—or maybe they already have and you haven’t noticed.

You don’t notice because these bored employees are usually consistent workers, not on your radar screen of “problem employees.” So, you don’t notice that their productivity has slipped or they are just not doing as good of a job as they used to. So really this is just not a visible problem—yet.

You need to address the issue ASAP. If you don’t, their productivity will continually decrease. So what do you do? You have a few options:

1. You can ignore them and just hope the situation improves.
2. Try and motivate and once you’ve determined what the situation is; you can educate and mentor.
3. You can reprimanded them and or fire them.

No matter what you choose, the process begins by examining their job description. You need a document that clearly and objectively defines the employee’s job in rational, clear terms as well as lay out their responsibilities, obligations, and reporting relationships up, down, and across the board of your organization. It’s not unusual for the owner to be surprised at the job description and the employee may be underperforming or performing over and beyond and no one’s noticed. What’s more, it’s not unusual to not even have a written job description in the first place.

If that’s the case, the first step is to create an accurate job description. This also is the first step in putting your leadership skills to work. I would ask the employee to be part of this exercise by asking him or her to write a description of what they believe their job entails. This way the employee is invested in the process. You could also encourage the employee to identify what he or she would rather be doing as well as finding opportunities for improving their skills and knowledge. In fact, this is a key source of motivation because you will help your employee see opportunities for professional growth. This way, in creating the job description you can clarify the employee’s roles as well as foster their enthusiasm for work again.

Once the job description has been created, you can look for further sources of motivation to re-energize your employee. Employees can be motivated by three techniques:

1. Job Rotation:  This involves cross training employees and teaching employees each other’s jobs. This is a huge value for store owners. Now, hopefully individuals can fill in for each other when illness or vacations come up, plus this increases the employee’s sense of accomplishment and value to the organization.
2. Job Enlargement: Give employees a wider breath of task and responsibilities within their own job.
3. Job Enrichment: You would increase the depths of your employee’s responsibilities, not by increasing the number of tasks but by increasing the complexity of tasks.

The process of re-energizing your tired employees does not need to be an overwhelming one. Simply begin with an effective job description, one that clearly outlines their roles, responsibilities and authority. Employees increased their level of motivation, action and performance on the job while increasing the breath and the depth of their job responsibilities. This is clearly a win-win situation for both you and your employees.

Don’t forget… lead by example. If you’re motivated everyone else will follow suit!

Andie Weinman is president and CEO of Preferred Jewelers International. Born with the “jewelry gene,” she has worked in the jewelry industry since she was 10 years old. Her first job was as a cashier in the opening of a catalog showroom and even at that tender age, she did a fantastic job. Weinman holds a B.A. in musical theatre and a B.S. in marine biology from The University of Tampa. When she realized that seawater and marine biology were not good on her hair, and she wasn’t quite good enough to make it on Broadway, the jewelry business beckoned. Weinman has picked diamonds, sorted color stones, shot waxes and did many jobs in the manufacture of jewelry.  Her negotiating experience has given her the reputation as tough but fair in her dealings with the vendors. In 2012 the Indian Diamond and Color Association awarded Andie the Prestigious Doyenne Award of the Year.