Become a great leader and an employer of choice

Motivation is a word often used but seldom understood and remains one of the biggest challenges in the business world.

That is according to leading motivational trainer and business coach Steve Jones, from Skills for Business, who led the EM3 Growth Hub’s Become a Great Leader: Unlocking Employee Engagement and Motivation workshop.

Held at Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre, it was aimed at small and medium sized businesses who are facing a war on talent, while navigating productivity challenges, the cost-of-living rise and hybrid working.

During the interactive workshop Steve demonstrated how businesses leaders can harness the full potential and capabilities of their employees, while retaining and attracting new talent.

Those who attended the workshop discovered eight key strategies of employee engagement, while finding out what actually motivates them as business leaders and that of their teams and colleagues.

These included Visible Empowering Leadership, where there is a narrative about an organisation’s story, where it came from and where it is going; engaging managers, focusing on giving employees scope to develop and stretch their abilities, and a voice.

Attendees took part in a two-minute quiz to discover if they are an employer of choice and left the workshop armed with their own motivational action plan.

“Having motivated employers in your organisation is invaluable, as a motivated workforce is a productive workforce,” explained Steve, who defined motivation as “the enthusiasm, energy level, commitment and amount of creativity an employee brings with them to an organisation on a daily basis.” He added: “Where there is high motivation employees can be up to 16 times more productive.”

However, a negative work culture, low morale, presenteeism, and a high turnover of staff leading to a loss of skilled employees, resulting in inconsistency and instability can be detrimental to any business and very costly.

Steve highlighted that on average it costs £7,500 to recruit, onboard and train an employee. And noting that a motivated workforce rarely takes time off sick, he cited CBI figures, which showed sickness and absenteeism alone can cost £750 a day in lost productivity and sickness cover.

The workshop was a precursor to Steve’s fully funded four-day Engaging Leaders Programme, worth £1,500, which is set to start on 30 November, at Belvedere House on Basing View business park, in Basingstoke. Places for the first cohort of 20 participants have benefited, but spaces are available for a fresh cohort in January. Click here for full details.

EM3 Senior Growth Champion Andy Swift said: “Our new workshop series is on the theme of #LetsTalkAboutGrowth and as we all know good leadership is fundamental to a successful growing business. At this fully funded workshop we introduced teachable strategies and tactics to develop an engaged and motivated workforce, and ultimately make a business an employer of choice.

“As businesses continue to report skills shortages becoming an employer of choice helps both with employee retention and attraction, one of the vital ingredients to business growth.

“I was delighted with the way business leaders engaged so positively with the workshop’s ambitions and many have gone on to enrol on other workshops including our fully funded Engaging Leaders Programme.”

Among those attending was Emma Selby, Managing Director of flexible workspace provider SiGNAL in Whitehill and Bordon.

She said: “I signed up for the EM3 Growth Hub’s Become a Great Leader workshop because after five years running Signal, I'd reached a point where I knew I needed to elevate the vision of the company and to do this I needed the team to be really engaged.

“I was immediately impressed with his Steve’s abilities and knowledge. His session unlocked some really interesting ideas for me, and I left motivated to learn more and I signed up for the full four-day course right away.”

In fact, Emma was so impressed that she is looking to partner with the EM3 Growth Hub and Steve Jones to host the Become a Great Leader workshop at SiGNAL, with details to be announced soon.

Sign-up here for the EM3 Growth Hub’s series of free in-person and online workshops, running until March 2024, to help drive growth in your business.