How to Focus Your Team on Profit

Often, profit margin and improving it is an issue only talked about by top-level professionals or those involved in management. This makes sense for most situations, as people providing the service don't need to concern themselves with the inner financials of a company and it can be distracting to do so.

However, what happens when you need your team to be focused on profit? Whether you're a small company that needs everyone to be concerned about being more profitable or your team's goals are now financial, there will be times when employees need to be focused on profit.

But how do you do this?

Make it clear how they can impact it

The inner workings of a business' financial dealings can seem too big for any individual employee to have an impact on, which can make it difficult for people to be motivated to make it better. Ensuring that each member of your team can see how they can improve the profits of the company is an effective way of helping them focus on it.

There are various ways you can do this, but one of the simplest is to create a spreadsheet where employees can enter the work they have done and it calculates the profit margin. This gives them a very tangible record of the value of what they do to the company, and ways in which they can boost it further. Of course, it's important that you don't rank people or devalue some professionals in favor of others with a resource like this.

Show how profit matters

Some employees will think that the amount of profit the company makes has no impact on them and therefore they don't need to care about it. However, the success of a business has a considerable effect on the people who work there. Talk to your boss and create incentives that you will be able to deliver if the company reaches a certain level of profit. From bonus schemes to a paid company trip away, there are a variety of ways to motivate employees, you just have to find the ones that suit your team.

Emphasize the team mentality

When it comes to discussing profits, people can feel like you're putting it all on them and even criticizing the way they work. This can lead to demotivation and employees feeling undervalued.

Avoid this by talking about the team and what you can all do together to improve profitability. One of the most effective ways of doing this is holding a brainstorm session as a group to come up with new ideas that would make the most of your time as a team. This may be adopting agile practices, having morning meetings, or innovating products.