David Arcangeli and Pina Noack from QestHR recently attended the National Achievers Congress which featured guest speaker and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson sharing lessons learnt along the way to being successful in business. In particular, it was pleasing to hear Richard stress the importance of hiring and retaining good people to carry out his visions – something QestHR has similarly successfully delivered for many clients over the years. Here are some of Richard’s other valuable tips for keeping staff happy:
- Recruit the right people to do the job, and then let them get on with doing it ( Richard has the ideas, recruits the best people, then lets his team do what they were employed to do, don’t try to micro manage everything)
- Managers should get more involved at the grassroots level with staff (as seen here in our picture of Richard pouring a glass of red for one of our clients, Ulli Nitschke, Nitschke Design, whilst he was waiting for a flight in the Adelaide Virgin Blue lounge recently! “Even after a long tiring day he paid attention to his customers and showed he cared – very inspiring and a great role model to his staff”, observed Ulli who enjoyed his up close opportunity with Richard)
- Make the workplace a fun and enjoyable environment (We’ve all seen those pictures of Richard having fun dressing up as a Flight Attendant! – people like to work in places they enjoy going to everyday so think about what you can do to create a sense of fun and excitement in your workplace to keep staff stimulated and energized on a regular basis)
- Reward staff regularly (we may not all be able to offer our staff a vacation on Necker Island! – but ensure you are giving your staff regular positive feedback, praise and rewards, big or small, it all helps staff to feel appreciated and recognised)
Richard also shared some amusing stories about marketing campaigns that have gone wrong, but his advice is don’t be afraid to give things a go or be different to stand out from the rest, look for an opportunity or gap that your competitors are not providing and go for it!
Pina Noack, Qest Human Resources
20 June 2013