Human Resources For Small Business Part 2

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

In my previous blog I mentioned that I wanted to expand on this concept in my next blog, and so here it is. As a small business owner your ability to create and build your own pathway to success, can and will hinge upon your ability to meet the needs of others. Among those “others” as we discussed in a previous blog are your employees. So I would ask you what is the distinction between an employee and a team member? By most perspectives it is “a paid worker.” Team members on the other hand are, a number of people organized to function cooperatively as a group.
What does it mean to function cooperatively? By definition, to function cooperatively is a quality or characteristic that depends upon and varies with another. For instance, the success of any team hinges on determination and ability. Who is responsible for that determination and ability? Well, since you are that employer and small business owner, you can indeed, and should lay the groundwork for your goals and objectives.
However, the success of your team, hinges on how well you lay the groundwork for your team members and associated responsibilities. Again I cannot emphasize how important the self esteem of your employees is, and if you can understand and do all that you can to expand and protect it, you will develop a very good team.
Remember this is what so many small business owners do not appreciate and thus do not apply to their approach for managing human resources. Once again managing human resources is not simply about telling people what to do, or not to do. If you truly want to benefit from your approach to human resources, you must use this team approach.
So where do you go from here? As I tried to convey in the previous blog, your own self-esteem hinges on you, and nobody else, unless you choose to allow it to. How clear are your goals and objectives? Remember you must initiate them, but as a team your success hinges on determination and ability. The level of determination and ability you offer your employees, is once again up to you.
Perhaps you’re thinking I’m suggesting there won’t be any mistakes or errors with this approach. Not at all! Here is where risk taking must be understood, and once again that is why team building is so important. As a team from added perspectives you can and will see possible reasons for failure, but again you can and should, as a team, ask yourselves, ”What could we do to recognize the potential for a mistake and what alternatives could we elect to change the outcome?” This will give all of you a decided advantage along your pathway to success.