Business Owners! How Do You Stand By and Support Your Team?

There are so many buzz­words and clich­es when it comes to devel­op­ing a strong cul­ture and team at work. Things that sound good on paper but real­ly don’t trans­late to any prac­ti­cal, tan­gi­ble improve­ments. If you spend time on Insta­gram espe­cial­ly, you may have seen the memes and reels about com­pa­ny piz­za par­ties: man­agers and own­ers only show­ing up to show appre­ci­a­tion with a break room full of piz­za, as though it some­how com­pen­sates for their poor dai­ly man­age­ment skills.

In oth­er words, one ges­ture doesn’t undo an ongo­ing lack of sup­port and validation.

So how CAN we sup­port employ­ees in the work­place? It might be con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion, inter­nal career tracks/​advancement, bonus­es, etc… But one thing I’ve learned over the years is how some­times the sup­port you offer out­side of work can make the biggest difference.

Don’t for­get to fac­tor in your team’s life out­side of work, too

I’ve noticed that employ­ees’ per­for­mance can go down­hill at times, and while it’s impor­tant to take notice and take action, I also try to ask myself: ​“What is going on that is caus­ing this?”

It could be: 

• Med­ical issues

• Divorce and rela­tion­ship strug­gles at home

• Finan­cial instability

• Men­tal health concerns

• Wor­ries about kids or aging parents

• …and the list goes on!

Obvi­ous­ly you can’t pry into an employee’s pri­vate life, but it’s impor­tant to remem­ber that what’s going on in their own spheres is inevitably spilling over into their work. If there is some­thing that you can do to help in a tan­gi­ble way, do it. Offer a day off, sup­port a GoFundMe, give a gift cer­tifi­cate for take­out so that they don’t need to cook.

In order for my employ­ees to per­form their best and help the com­pa­ny be at its best, I believe action is required as a busi­ness owner. 

Nobody should be treat­ed like they’re eas­i­ly replaceable

Some­times peo­ple say that if you were to die tomor­row, then you are eas­i­ly replace­able at your com­pa­ny — that you are just anoth­er num­ber, and I don’t under­stand that. 

At A David Cre­ation (ADC), our employ­ees are not just anoth­er name on pay­roll. They are NOT eas­i­ly replace­able. They are not just anoth­er body walk­ing around the office or warm­ing up a seat — tak­ing up space. Every per­son who works here is an invalu­able mem­ber and an asset to the com­pa­ny. I hope to treat each employ­ee like he or she means some­thing so that when tough times arise, they can con­fide in me, and I can help to the best of my abil­i­ties. I have an open door pol­i­cy that, if they feel com­fort­able, they can let the team know what is up. We are ​“fam­i­ly” if you will! We all want to know how we can sup­port one another. 

As the busi­ness own­er, I want to make sure my employ­ees’ emo­tion­al, phys­i­cal, men­tal, and spir­i­tu­al needs are being met as much as pos­si­ble. We’re all human, and we all deserve com­pas­sion. I (we) want them to be their best not only in the work­place but also in their per­son­al lives. I stand with my employ­ees and want to cre­ate and main­tain a healthy cul­ture to ensure we’re all at our best.