The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the way many companies conduct business, but at least one critical fact remains unchanged.
Businesses that keep their team members engaged and excited about starting their work day are more successful, whether the work is in an office, remote or some hybrid of the two, says Adam Witty, author of Looking Forward to Monday: How to Create A Workplace That Breeds Greatness, Attracts And Retains A-Players, And Makes Work Fun.
“One reason many people don’t begin work on Monday enthused about what the week will bring is that too many businesses have their priorities backward,” says Witty, who also is the founder and CEO of Advantage|ForbesBooks.
“Those priorities usually begin with making money, and then once they take care of making money it’s let’s make sure the customers are happy. And then, once their customers are happy, they take care of their team members.”
It should be the other way around, he says.
“If you make sure your team is engaged and happy to be at work, and you make that your No. 1 priority, then your employees will take care of your customers,” Witty says. “And if your team takes care of your customers, then your customers will take care of profitably and the growth of your business.”
Witty offers four steps for creating such a culture whether employees are co-located in one place or spread out all over the country or even the world:
- Accept that a great company starts with you. If the company’s top leader isn’t excited about going to work each day, then there’s no reason to expect anyone else to be enthusiastic. “Too many people look forward to Friday and on Sunday night they absolutely dread Monday,” Witty says. “If you want to create an environment that team members are excited to be a part of, then you need to be excited about it yourself.”
- Establish a firm foundation. Strong companies have a strong foundation that includes a core purpose and core values, along with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG), an aspiration everyone can work toward that’s meaningful, ambitious and can get people excited, Witty says. “The businesses that are most committed to their mission, their vision and their core purpose are the ones that are the most profitable,” he says. “You aren’t going to get people excited about beginning each work day if their goal is just to make the boss rich.”
- Have a plan – and make sure everyone knows the plan. The plan should lay out how your company is going to achieve its BHAG. “You need to work the plan every day and also know the status of the plan so you can know what isn’t working,” Witty says. “You also need to communicate all of that to your entire team. When everyone on your team knows what the plan is, they are going to work harder to help you achieve it.”
- Recruit and retain the best people. The greatest expense in a business, outside of payroll and rent, is turnover, Witty says. That’s why retention is important and the first step in retaining good team members is to make sure you hire the best to begin with. “The biggest mistake most business owners make is they hire quickly and they fire slowly,” he says. “It should be the opposite.”
“If you want to create an environment where your people say, ‘I’m looking forward to Monday,’ it’s within your grasp,” Witty says. “It all falls on you to make it happen.”
Adam Witty, author of Looking Forward to Monday: How to Create A Workplace That Breeds Greatness, Attracts And Retains A-Players, And Makes Work Fun, is the CEO & Founder of Advantage|ForbesBooks. Witty started Advantage in 2005 in a spare bedroom of his home. The company helps busy professionals become the authority in their field through publishing and marketing. In 2016, Advantage launched a partnership with Forbes to create ForbesBooks, a business book publisher for top business leaders. Witty is the author of seven books, and is also a sought-after speaker, teacher and consultant on marketing and business growth techniques for entrepreneurs and authors. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily and USA Today, and has appeared on ABC and Fox.
