There is a lot of buzz today about entrepreneurs and start-ups. The twenty something programmers who are trying to create the next Facebook while living off of Ramen noodles and Red Bull are getting plenty of press. Successful entrepreneurs are willing to work long hours and are incredibly focused. Business owners and managers have been talking about trying to recreate that culture within their companies for some time now. Is it possible? Or more importantly is it desirable?

I was compelled to look at this issue within my own company when I began to get the sense that some of our people were simply coming in, doing their job and leaving. For some, a sense of passion seemed to be lacking. More importantly it forced me to look within and evaluate how I was communicating with the team and how the team communicated amongst themselves. Then someone on my team handed me a document showing “What employers think employees want” and “What employees really want”.

What Employers Think Employees Want
1.    Good Pay
2.    Job Security
3.    Promotion and Growth
4.    Good Working Conditions
5.    Interesting Work
6.    Tactful Discipline

What Employees Really Want
1.    Interesting Work
2.    Full Appreciation of Work Done
3.    Feeling of Being in on Things
4.    Job Security
5.    Good Pay
6.    Promotion and Growth

Employers typically think that “good pay” is the top thing on the employee’s list of priorities. While important, we found that it’s not the most important desired outcome of one’s employment. We took the list of the six attributes above and we asked our people to rank them in order of importance to them personally. What we found in this study was pretty close to our situation. Our people want “interesting work” to do. They also want a “feeling of being in on things”. In other words they want to know what is happening and that their contribution matters. They want to have input into decisions being made and to add value.

This was a very eye opening exercise for us. We now have open discussions on product design, business processes, customer service improvements, etc that the entire team (when applicable) can participate in. What we’ve noticed in the industries that we serve is there tends to be a bottleneck at many RV dealerships, boat dealerships, boatyards and marinas at the top. In these situations, everything must be approved by the owner or general manager. Not giving line managers the ability to make decisions at a departmental level can hamper productivity.

It’s also important to keep the work “interesting” by rotating people to various tasks within a department. If you have a really good marine outboard mechanic, let him assist in the rigging of electrical systems when times are slow. Both the marine and RV industries are extremely seasonal. During down times you can allow your people to get more training on your marina management system or RV dealer management system. Let someone that is really good in marine parts start working with the customer relationship management (CRM) portion of your system. If you have someone on staff that likes the internet and spends time at home on Facebook or Twitter, have them help you with your marine or RV social media program.

If you Google “turning your employees into entrepreneurs” you will find lots of articles about trying to change the mindset of employees and get them to act like owners. Well, unless they have an ownership stake in the business, it is difficult to teach someone to “act” like an owner. You cannot motivate others (motivation comes from within), but you can create the conditions for others to self-motivate. Provide an environment that allows them to innovate, to be challenged and to try new things.

We learn from our mistakes everyday. Many RV and marine business owners started with a wrench and a desire to succeed. The owner made all the decisions in the early going. So abdicating decision making to the team can be a difficult transition for many business owners.  But I believe its an important step in the pursuit of creating a positive culture and a team that finds their job interesting and fulfilling. Happy employees make for happy customers.