Every company wants to empower its employees. But, a lot of companies spend time trying to get employees to take ownership of miniscule items in the eyes of the employee. Companies want employees to take ownership, but employees will never take ownership of something they don’t believe in.
So, how do you get your employees to take ownership? Simple, we will answer it with another question — how do you learn what your members want from your club? You ask them, right? Or survey them?
Try doing the same with your employees. You want an employee to take ownership of stocking cups for smoothies behind your front desk. But, your employee between the ages of 16 and 21 may not understand the value. It probably even seems like a small task to you. But, you understand that it needs to get done.
However, just because an employee doesn’t want to stock cups behind the juice bar, that doesn’t mean another employee doesn’t love working behind the juice bar. This is where the questions come into place. Ask the employees where they enjoy spending most of their time in the club. Also, ask them what they would like to get out of working at your club.
You want solid employees at your club, but that doesn’t mean they all have to have a college degree. Also, try not to put your employees with college degrees in basic positions. If you have a younger employee working alongside an older employee that just graduated from college, it may not be the best motivational situation for each employee.
You need both of these people in your club. Utilize the energy of your younger employee and have them greet members and maybe work with kids. Use the recent college experiences of employees to do something that pertained to their degrees. If they received a degree in marketing, have them develop signage and spend some time formulating marketing plans in an office. Putting them in an office, even if it is shared, will give a young person the feeling of empowerment. It makes them feel like you value their position and they’ve finally received some respect for the four to five years of hard work they put in studying at their university.
Once you have your employees empowered and engaged on different tasks, you’ll be able to work with them much easier. They’ll be more responsive to you as a leader and coworker, as opposed to perceiving you as a boss directing orders.
Tyler Montgomery is the Editor of Club Solutions Magazine. Contact him at tyler@clubsolutionsmagazine.com
