Retaining and Motivating Employees in Small Business

In just three hours you’ll learn:

• Motivation without spending a dime.
• 5 step model on how to make your business the best place to work.
• Top 10 reasons why employees leave their jobs and how to prevent it.
• 12 simple tips on how to build a winning team.
• Motivating Baby Boomers, GenerationX and GenerationY.
• And much, much more.

Have you noticed recently how more and more businesses in every category have signs in their store windows and offices offering “Apply within” job opportunities?

Have you also noticed in your local newspapers, pages and pages of “Help Wanted” ads?

In Alberta recently, a store manager related to me how he had to ask a competitor to leave his store because he caught this individual actively soliciting his cashiers by offering an immediate increase in pay if they left and joined his company.

Many business owners attribute this phenomenon to an overheated National Economy. This is partially true, however there is another reason for this activity

As I have been teaching in my workshops over the past few years, the true culprit is the retiring Baby Boomer.

The Baby Boomer Generation is a HUGE demographic and they are retiring in droves.

The Generation X coming up behind the Boomers is a TINY demographic in comparison, thus leaving a gaping hole in the North American workforce that will be impossible to fill in the foreseeable future.

Where does that leave you as a small business owner?

The answer to that question is dependent on your ability to create a culture within your business that entices your employees to stay with you, as well as remaining productive and motivated.

Note: The only thing worse than having an employee quit you and go work for a competitor, is to have an employee QUIT and stay with you.

The 4 most common requests I get from my workshop participants are:

• 1) How do I motivate employees to be more productive and happier in their job?
• 2) How can I retain my key employees?
• 3) How can I manage my people better?
• 4) How do I learn simple management techniques?

With the upcoming crisis of “worker shortage” approaching as a result of the “Baby Boomer” retiring, retaining and motivating key employees is of critical concern for Small Business.

For that reason, I have created the 3 hour workshop entitled: “Retaining and Motivating Employees in Small Business”

I was recently asked the question, “What qualifies you to deliver this type of workshop?

My answer is not typical. Although I have owned and managed businesses in the past, they have been usually small businesses (2 & 3 employees). However, in my past, I was president of a very successful musical theatre company for 5 years. At any given time I managed 85-100 people (mostly volunteers). I lead that company from the brink of bankruptcy to a very profitable position during that time. In all modesty, if I can motivate and manage a group of egocentric theatre folks, I feel qualified to lead this workshop.

Why the “Retaining and Motivating Employees in Small Business” Workshop?

As a previous Small Business Owner, I know the feeling of frustration when a valuable well trained employee leaves you to go to a competitor and you know it wasn’t necessarily for money. Many of you are like me, when I had my businesses, I had no formal management expertise, no understanding of motivation other than my own excitement and passion about my business.

It is my opinion that Small Business is the most vulnerable in this ever-changing world where good employees will soon be at a premium.

After some serious thought and study, I decided to create the “Retaining and Motivating Employees in Small Business” workshop.

This workshop is about “Simplicity”. It is about offering simple insights & techniques that can be implemented immediately to make changes in your business and create the necessary “foundation” for motivating your existing employees.

Who should attend the “Retaining and Motivating Employees in Small Business” Workshop?

Business Owners, Managers, and Key Employees should attend this workshop. The goal is to simplify a message of appreciation and respect within your business.

What is the “Retaining and Motivating Employees” Workshop?

This workshop is about keeping the key people you already have. It is a 3+ hour evening interactive workshop and is broken down into 3 distinctive areas:

• 1) An in-depth look-ahead at the North American workforce.
• 2) How to manage as an owner/operator.
• 3) How to retain and motivate your key employees.

To be very clear, this workshop is NOT about finding new employees or replacement employees.

Here are some of the points we will cover:

Part 1 The Future of The Workforce

• A futuristic blueprint of the workplace.
• Who will be working?
• What role do the Baby Boomers (1946-1964) (7.6 million people) play?
• How are the Gen X (1965-1976) (4.1 million people) taking up the slack?
• What do the Gen Y (1977-1998) (7.5 million people) want?
• How will this phenomenon affect your business?

Part 2 Your life as an owner/operator

• ·What good owner/operators must do as managers.
• Managing Employees: How to reprimand.
• What great owner/operators do to improve retention.
• As a owner/operators, how and when to delegate.
• Managing Baby Boomers and their expectations.
• Managing Generation X and their expectations.
• Managing Generation Y and their expectations.

Part 3 Motivating and Retaining Employees

• Motivation without spending a dime.
• Common sense guide to reduce employee turnover.
• How to create a friendly working environment.
• 5 ways to build morale.
• 5 step model on how to make your business the best place to work.
• Top 10 reasons why employees leave their jobs and how to prevent it.
• 12 simple tips on how to build a winning team.
• Motivating Baby Boomers.
• Motivating Generation X.
• Motivating Generation Y.

To reiterate, in my opinion, the singular biggest challenge facing small businesses in North America for the 21st Century will be keeping their best employees as well as hiring quality employees.

Please call me at 604-519-0035 or email me at roy@royprevost.com to discuss how I can help.

Cheers
Roy Prevost

PS. Please inform all colleagues and associations who might be interested in this workshop

Testmonials

February 24, 2009
"Roy’s session with our Teams re-energized them and instilled a sense of pride in doing professional work. There was a switch that was flipped for many our employees – For the first time, they saw themselves as impassioned professional sales people, doing professional work, rather than Garden Centre floor staff. Comments from the group included “Wow, I can hardly wait for my next shift, I just want to get out there and connect with our customers!”
Leanne Johnson, General Manager
Gardenworks, (8 retail locations) Burnaby BC

Grand Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce (Dec 06) (.pdf)

Community Futures and Chambers of Commerce for the Towns of High River & Okotoks (Nov 06) (.pdf)

BC Bottle Depot Association (Nov 06) (.pdf)

November 2006
“Thank you for your dynamic workshop “Retaining and Motivating Employees”. I was particularly impressed with your session on “Visioning”. As a small business owner, it has been a struggle to articulate a vision for the future and you helped me create that vision. Now I can go back to my key employees and engage them in being a participant in “My Big Picture Perspective”
Wayne Coleman - Owner
Priority Appliance
Burnaby BC

October 26, 2006
Thank you for your engaging and enlightening presentation of “Retaining and Motivating Employees”. The feedback that we have been receiving has been overwhelmingly positive. If the opportunity arises, we would enjoy learning about the various demographic groups and how their unique traits have an impact and can be leveraged by various organizations.
Thanks again. We look forward to a next time.
Lori Camire
Executive Director
CFDC of Alberni-Clayoquot
250-724-1241

Read other testimonials about this workshop here.

For more information contact me here.

If you are interested in finding out more about my workshops or in scheduling a presentation, please request a complimentary consultation here.