Teach Your Employees about the Bottom Line

Posted by: Today's Tip Contributor on February 16

I’ve found that employees typically look out for themselves at the expense of the businesses they work for. They want to keep their jobs and they hope that you run the business well enough that they can have some job security. Employees are often content to fly under the radar and have little vested interest in the overall success of the business beyond their own employment.

Sometimes you must be the teacher. Here are a few things you should do for your employees that will benefit both them and your business:

1. You must teach them to take an active role and be aware of the bottom line. Every senior executive has bottom line awareness. The way any company improves its profitability is to 1) cut costs or 2) increase revenues.

2. You need to motivate them to bring in more money than it costs you to employ them. This sounds basic, but teach them that they become more valuable when they save or bring in money. In other words, make them think like the business owner. Thinking like an owner or manager requires them to elevate the welfare of the business to a higher place in their minds.

3. Talk to your employees and show them how to make the connection between what they do every day and the profit of the company. Speak to them in terms of cash flow, profit improvement, and even bringing back lost customers. Explain that they will have much greater "promote-ability" and "hire-ability" down the road if they understand and engage in revenue-building behaviors.

Larry Myler
CEO
More or Less
Provo, Utah