How Employees Make or Break Business Success (and How You Can Lead the Way)

How employees can make or break business success

Your entrepreneurial passion got your business off the ground, but it’s your employees who will significantly impact whether your enterprise thrives in the long run. Even as AI and automation simplify and replace some jobs, real-life workers remain essential.

“Employees drive productivity and business success,” Richard Orbe-Austin, co-founder of the career coaching company Dynamic Transitions Psychological Consulting, told us. “Despite all the hype around the impact of generative AI, human employees still play an outsized role in contributing to business success through the effort they put in and the time they spend attempting to improve a company’s bottom line.”

Your employees are the lifeblood of your organization’s success. The right team members carry out your mission, influence customers and propel business growth. Conversely, unsatisfied, ill-fitting or disengaged workers can hold your organization back and negatively affect operations.

How good employees can help business success

Here are ways good employees can fuel your business success.  

• Good employees carry out your mission. You may have written the perfect mission statement, but it means very little unless someone is fulfilling that mission. Employees are usually the ones carrying out your business’s mission, purpose and tenets. For example, if part of your mission is to provide excellent customer service, your belief in that mission isn’t enough. Your employees must be willing to deliver that level of service day in and day out. 

“When employees are aligned with the company’s mission and empowered to take ownership of their roles, they drive innovation, efficiency and long-term success,” said Cynthia Hayes, chief operating officer of Tarkenton Companies. “They translate leadership vision into outcomes, influence client satisfaction and shape a company’s brand through their behavior.”

• Good employees drive revenue. Employees are often directly responsible for driving revenue and keeping sales pipelines afloat. In particular, talented sales teams and marketing departments significantly benefit your bottom line. Keeping these employees motivated and satisfied means maintaining cash flow and improving your company’s profits. 

Learn more about achieving profitable growth.

• Good employees are dedicated. “Research indicates that happy, motivated employees will give discretionary effort to help a company succeed. That is, they will give extra effort, above and beyond the minimum requirements for their role, without micromanagement or managerial prodding,” said Orbe-Austin. “Often this hidden effort … is what can make or break a company.”
• Good employees positively influence your customers. Employees are your closest link to your customers. Customer-facing staffers come to understand your customers’ needs and problems, and their insights can guide your product quality, service solutions and much more. When employees believe in your organization, those positive feelings translate to your customers.

How bad employees can hurt business success

Here are some ways bad employees can hinder your business’s success.  

• Bad employees slow progress. Disengaged or disgruntled employees make it harder to achieve business goals. 

“While they may show up to work each day, they have emotionally already moved on,” said Todd Davis, a senior leadership consultant at FranklinCovey. “Their mind is too preoccupied with their own unhappiness to spend any time on creative [or] innovative solutions that would help the company move forward. They tend to wallow in their misery and bring others along with them.” 

Davis warned, “It doesn’t take many unsatisfied employees to slow an organization down and limit or minimize its success.”

• Bad employees bring down morale. “Many unsatisfied employees create a toxic workplace environment, be it directly or indirectly,” said Alexander Sambuk, business development director for Teal HR. “Their mood and dissatisfaction lead to conflicts, gossip and resistance, which will disrupt team morale and productivity.”
• Bad employees lead to high turnover. Sambuk said that not only are “disengaged employees … more likely to leave their jobs, leading to high turnover rates,” but “a negative culture will quickly repel other talented employees; it will be harder to attract new hires, which will create a vicious circle.” 

Due to this endless cycle, your business will also have higher recruitment and training costs.

• Bad employees negatively impact customers. “Employees who are disengaged or resentful lead to negative customer service experience. This, eventually, will damage the company’s reputation, reduce customer loyalty, and, subsequently, lead to revenue loss,” said Sambuk. “In businesses where customer satisfaction is key, this can be truly catastrophic.”

6 ways to guide and motivate employees to fuel business success

Employee quality goes beyond hiring workers with the right business skills and resumes. Whether you have good or bad employees — and how they affect your company’s success — has just as much to do with how you treat your staff as it does which workers you bring on board.

Nurturing dedicated teams lays the groundwork for your business’s long-term success. Consider these six ways to guide and motivate your employees for the good of your company.

1. Leverage your employees’ unique strengths.

Your employees were likely hired for specific roles based on their skills and experience. However, each person’s unique strengths become apparent as they work in your organization. For example, if someone displays top-notch public speaking skills, find ways to utilize them for presentations. If someone’s tech talent is extraordinary, have them evaluate your network and systems to enhance efficiency.

“When employees are given opportunities to grow and feel a sense of belonging, they act as ambassadors for the company, enhancing its credibility and driving its success,” said Hayes.

Playing to each employee’s strengths bolsters the entire workplace. Your team members will feel recognized and will likely enjoy their work more. When they’re operating at a higher level, they’ll be more productive and will positively engage with co-workers, vendors and customers. 

2. Respectfully hold employees accountable.

Accountability means much more than chastising employees for mistakes; it’s a valuable management tool that fosters respect, high-quality work and independence. 

“Highly engaged and motivated employees take full ownership and accountability for their roles in an organization,” Davis said. “Whether they actually own stock in the company or not, they act like it’s their company.”

Holding employees accountable requires a system that focuses on clear expectations and outcomes. Spelling out precise expectations ahead of time helps every team member understand the standards they must uphold. Clear expectations empower employees to work independently while fostering trust between managers and their staff. 

3. Establish an open, two-way feedback loop.

An open feedback loop is a significant element of developing a successful team. It involves sharing feedback with employees and accepting their feedback with interest and respect.

For example, if a team member is struggling with their workload, offer informal feedback so they’re aware they’re not meeting expectations. If the situation continues, you may need to implement formal performance management tactics. Conversely, if someone has exceeded your expectations, let them know how well they’re doing and how much their efforts are appreciated. 

Accepting employee feedback is just as important. Be transparent and open when you receive in-person or anonymous employee feedback. Employees should have room to comfortably and respectfully voice their thoughts or concerns about what the company is doing well and where it’s falling short.

4. Set realistic goals.

While success may look different in various businesses and industries, all companies want to succeed. Your business goals affect everyone in the organization and often require specific employee performance goals and targets. 

Setting the right goals for each employee can fuel their desire to work harder and make a more significant impact on the business. However, goals that are too ambitious for teams and individuals can result in burnout and low morale.

Hayes said her company uses one-on-one feedback sessions with workers to uncover each team member’s career goals and interests, as well as untapped skills. 

“Based on these insights, I work with the managers to create new opportunities tailored to each individual, such as cross-departmental projects, leadership roles or entirely new positions that align with their strengths,” she said. “These strategic moves energize the employees, who bring fresh perspectives to their new roles.”

5. Give your teams more autonomy.

Greater autonomy can benefit specific teams and your overall company culture. When employees are more autonomous, leaders don’t have to spend time micromanaging and can focus on the bigger picture. Workplaces that prioritize autonomy see higher employee retention because staff members feel respected and can enjoy a more positive work-life balance. 

However, before you increase autonomy, you must give your employees the tools they need to succeed on their own. Autonomy won’t bear fruit without equipping each staffer with the training, systems, devices and skills their role requires. 

When increasing employee autonomy, offer frequent opportunities for team members to practice making decisions independently. Follow up with constructive feedback so everyone understands company expectations and receives appropriate praise. Autonomy done correctly can solidify the bond between employers and employees and make workers more invested in the company’s success.

6. Lead by example.

To promote a positive workplace where employees are happy and thriving, you must lead by example. Actions speak louder than words. If you want a hardworking team that goes above and beyond, you and other company leaders must exhibit these qualities yourselves. If you want everyone to treat each other with respect, this culture must start with management. 

Business owners and leaders influence the employees around them, so make sure your behavior reflects the habits you want your teams to practice. If you aren’t sure where to start, consider reading leadership books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, written by FranklinCovey co-founder Stephen Covey.

With the strategies above, you can nurture an employee-centric culture that motivates your team members to perform to the best of their abilities and elevates your business to a level of success everyone can be proud of.

“Great organizations are made up of great people. Great people are those who have the skills, experience, emotional intelligence and, most important of all, the enthusiasm and passion which inspires them to want to contribute,” Davis said. “These kinds of people move an organization forward to success because they are always looking for new and better ways to contribute. They bring their best selves to work every day and their greatness becomes contagious.”

Julie Thompson contributed to this article.