diy#LEARN 13 EASY N QUICK WAYS TO TAKE YOUR SMALL BUSINESS TO GREAT HEIGHTS..

I hear this question a lot from executives at small and even mid-size companies. Most are focused on growing as fast as possible — as they should be, especially as competition intensifies. However, many growing businesses eventually hit a wall of operational constraints that limit their ability to deliver goods and services or to branch out into new markets. They simply can’t grow anymore because their businesses are running on a patchwork of processes, organizational structures, and IT systems that are too complex and can’t scale and adapt.

In a recent case study, Sharon Romem, vice president of business development at Weight Watchers Israel said, “When we expanded [our business], we increased the number of weekly meetings from 150 to 450. To help manage this growth, we needed to replace the numerous management applications we were using with a single application that allowed for efficient and coordinated communication and collaboration across multiple departments.”

Does this sound familiar? Too many businesses are relying on multiple systems that don’t work effectively together, and they only think about simplification when they have already started to grow. But if you start to think about running simple while your business is still small, you can avoid the cost and frustration of being bogged down with a fragmented legacy system in the future.

Here are 4 simple (and free) things you can do to get that passion back into employees. These are all based on research from Deloitte.

1.  Encourage side projects

Employees feel overworked and underappreciated, so as leaders, we need to stop overloading them to the point where they can’t handle the workload. Let them explore their own passions and interests, and work on side projects. Ideally, they wouldn’t have to be related to the company, but if you’re worried about them wasting time, you can set that boundary that it has to be related to the company. What this does, is give them autonomy, and let them improve on their skills (mastery), two of the biggest motivators for work.

Employees feel overworked and underappreciated, so as leaders, we need to stop overloading them to the point where they can’t handle the workload.

2.  Encourage workers to engage with customers

At Wistia, a video hosting company, they make everyone in the company do customer support during their onboarding, and they often rotate people into customer support. When I asked Chris, their CEO, why they do this, he mentioned to me that it’s so every single person in the company understands how their customers are using their product. What pains they’re having, what they like about it, it gets everyone on the same page. It keeps all employees in the loop, and can really motivate you to work when you’re talking directly with customers.

3.  Encourage workers to work cross-functionally

Both Apple and Google have created common areas in their offices, specifically and strategically located, so that different workers that don’t normally interact with each other can have a chance to chat.

This isn’t a coincidence. It’s meant for that collaborative learning, and building those relationships with your colleagues.

4.  Encourage networking in their industry

This is similar to number 2 on the list, but it’s important for employees to grow and learn more about what they do. It helps them build that passion for their industry. It’s important to go to networking events, and encourage your employees to participate in these things. Websites like Eventbrite or Meetup have lots of great resources, and most of the events on there are free.

What do you do to increase employee engagement? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!