Shop Tips: How to Keep Your Team Happy, Organized & Excited to Grow Your Business

Let’s admit it – running a personalization business is hard.

Between overseeing customer communications, handling purchasing, updating pricing, employing the right marketing efforts, supervising production, managing payroll, leading the staff – heading a successful and effective operation can be a tough balance for anyone to maintain.

And when things don’t go according to plan, when a client ends up angry over seven garments in a 10-item order, when the press breaks on a busy day, when UPS doesn’t show up on time to complete a last-minute rush order – schwooo – it’s enough to send a shop owner into a downward spiral of frustration that causes thoughts like, “Why did I ever think owning my own business was a good idea?”

But when you have a supportive team on board – a team that wants to be a part of your apparel empire and values its role in your vision – it shifts some of the responsibility of success off your shoulders and makes it easier for everyone to show up to work every day.

So how do you ensure your employees are on your side and stoked about creating custom products for you customers? Which factors influence a cooperative attitude? How do you facilitate a mutually beneficial relationship with them while making sure everyone is actually putting in the work?

Offer praise when things go well – and inspiration when they don’t.

Always give credit when credit is due. When customer orders are fulfilled on schedule, when satisfied clients compliment your business or the work you do, when employees approach you with well-informed ideas that improve your production process or make life easier for the entire shop – don’t sidestep the chance to remind your team how much you value them. Keeping good employees around is a major component in securing the longevity of your business, as it is ultimately the key to increasing profits and ensuring customer satisfaction. No one is going to vouch for a company quite like those that show up every day to keep it alive.

But – as all experienced business owners know – not everything goes off without a hitch all of the time. Mistakes happen. Order details are missed. Tense conversations with customers go down. Disappointed customers get the wrong idea about pricing.

Sometimes stuff just happens.

As the person in charge, these moments are crucial, and they will define who you are as a business owner. You have all the power to change a situation – use it wisely and have a plan for what happens next. Unhappiness is contagious, which makes it easy for frustrated staff members to pass any negative attitudes onto their coworkers and the customers they interact with (and vice versa).

When something not ideal happens, try gathering your team together for a positive pep talk as opposed to communicating to them how upset you are (or worse, blaming a customer for the problem at hand). Together, go over what occurred, remind them that mistakes happen, collectively come up with a solution to correct the issue moving forward – and reinforce the sentiment that everyone is all in this together. Make a team commitment to excellence and set a goal – promise to throw an exceptionally awesome Christmas party or take everyone out after work one night to celebrate a good month. Keep your advocates advocating and excited to be a part of a crew that produces results everyone can be proud of.

Offer to take everyone on monthly staff field trips during work hours that promote teamwork and outside-of-the-office conversation.

It’s easy to forget that Sam in accounting or Heather in HR has a life outside of work, which can make it difficult sometimes for your employees to see eye-to-eye on certain matters.

But let me tell you – there’s something about closing up early on a Friday and taking everyone out for bowling or ax-throwing lessons that makes folks enjoy working together just a little bit more when Monday rolls around.

If the members of your team exclusively know each other in a working capacity and that’s it, mistakes or problems that arise while they are working together may affect their relationships with one another because when it comes down to it, they really don’t know one another. Give them the opportunity to get to know their coworkers outside of the 8-5 grind. It will make it easier for employees to understand where their coworkers are coming from and it allows them to look at each other in a more 3-dimensional light – as a person with feelings, beliefs, a family, and a sense of humor.

Keep everyone on the same page – consider implementing a team coordination or scheduling software.

It can be stressful and frustrating when everyone is working hard to get their own pieces of production completed, and the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Too little communication can result in mistakes and brewing resentment between your workers. To avoid hiccups in production or miscommunications during the ordering process (which can cause tension between employees or, let’s face it, some finger-pointing and coworker-blaming), it is not a bad idea to try out a project management software or a scheduling tool.

 Applications like Basecamp, Trello or Teamwork make it easy for shops to integrate custom solutions unique to their production needs that help employees stay on task and understand where everyone’s heads are during the work day. Lead by example – recognize the immense value of clear communication and ensure every decision, change or update is conveyed to everyone in a timely manner.

Embrace change and encourage personal growth for all members of your team – including you.

Folks work well when they have goals – and they work their best when they have a great leader and a team that empowers them to reach those goals. Business owners that sit down and put forth the effort to create a list of yearly/monthly/weekly achievements are more motivated to stay on track and they find it easier to help others do the same.

Change is inevitable and a mark of a growing business – when it arises, stay on top of it. Figure out a way to adjust and clearly communicate any new processes or procedures to your staff. Those business owners that are able to adapt and lead others strongly during times of development are more likely to be successful (both personally and professionally) than those that tend to ignore challenges or delay decisions that require uncomfortable compromises. Great entrepreneurs embrace the difficult and act with confidence, as they understand that experience brings on growth and self-betterment. Push positivity and motivate your team every chance that you get.