Building Corporations to Last

American job satisfaction has hit an incredible and all time low! Those that are lucky enough to have a job are still unhappy with it and according to a new survey found that only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work! More than half of the American work-force is unhappy! (source: ConferenceBoard)

Companies cannot afford to have unhappy workers. With the demand for high productivity and a limited staff, companies need to get the most out of their employees and strive to keep them happy. The failure of a company will be: the lack of dedicated and hard working employees. These employees will eventually be lost to what turned the Great Depression around - entrepreneurship. If Americans will do what it takes to survive, and be happy at the same time, they will not wait for a company to do it for them.

Corporate America needs to take a good look at what makes their staff happy and provide the kind of environment that can lead their corporation into higher profits, higher productivity, with a direct relation to employee satisfaction. Companies need to be built to last - and it starts with a happy and satisfied employee.

Here are 3 key tips on what companies must do in order to create motivation in the workplace and to build strategies that they can lean on in order to be built to last.

1. Build the company around a vision
2. Get people to 'buy into' the vision
3. Build from within

The goal of a corporation is not just to build a profit, it is to build profits in order to grow and to do things better. Who will do these 'things' better? Not the disgruntled employee - but the satisfied worker who sees the vision, buys into it, and trusts that he/she will be a part of it. With that in mind, profit building with the goals of doing things better means it is seldom ever about the product and the bottom line, it is about the people.

1. Build the company around a vision

If a mission statement is 10 years old, how is it still a mission statement? Change is inevitable within the specific industry and the economy that surrounds it. If a company is still living a dream that should have come and gone, it is time to revisit a new dream and make sure everybody knows it and is a part of it.

If the average employee is not reminded on a consistent basis on their purpose and their worth to any organization, the mechanics of coming to work, doing a job, and getting paid is just that - a mechanical routine. There is no drive, no desire, and no vision - things get stale, stagnant, and the result: lack of motivation in the workplace and an unsatisfied employee.

2. Get people to 'buy into' the vision

If a mission statement is rewritten and put on the wall and employees were not part of the process, then what good is it? The corporation's goal is to create the mission statement and to make sure that it is derived from the people that will make it happen. The employee needs to 'buy into' this vision just as much as the board of directors who says, let's get it done.

If an employee reads the mission statement they need to feel inspired and believe that it is an achievable goal and not a waste of time. By including them in this process, by establishing a sense of purpose from low level hourly employees to administrative staff, everyone is 'sold' on a corporation's vision and will work to achieve it.

3. Build from within

Nurture potential leaders every single day. These are the visionaries, the ones who 'buy into' the vision but are yet to be in management and/or leadership positions. This is your greatest source of worth - the employees who work hard to achieve their goals and in doing so, help achieve the bigger goals of the corporation.

Most employees are neglected - they have a 'voice' but it is never heard. They have an idea but it is never seen. Promotion at every level should be offered and those that come from within are better than those who come from 'without'... Without being: the sense of purpose from the start, the sense of value from being grown and nurtured, these are the 'married' into family members instead of the 'blood' relatives - the current employee.

Destroying the trust by hiring from outside in order to fill roles in a department are sure fire ways to lose trust by everyone in the department and other areas. The question will immediately be posed, "why didn't they just hire so-and-so?" and no matter what the answer is, it will not be good enough.

Promote, build, and nurture each employee; from the mail room to the data entry clerk in accounting. These are the future. And without a future, you will only have a disgruntled past.

The goal of companies that are built to last should not be only dedicated to financial wealth. It is far more beneficial to be dedicated to the human health and well being and to the intellectual development of the most important asset of that corporation - the satisfied employee.

Make sure there is a clear cut vision, something highly attainable but clearly defined. If employees 'buy into' this vision they will feel like a bigger part of the overall purpose. Developing these future leaders will develop a long lasting company, one that has a future, and one that will be built to last!