It's not the “doe” you might be thinking of
When you look to sell your business one day, an acquirer most likely will look closely at all or some of your team to consider who will be joining theirs. How they feel about your team will definitely impact the valuation they place on your business.
It’s important therefore to give consideration to your team today. Are you building a solid team and culture that will help excite an acquirer? As you consider this question of what you need from your team, think about what they need from you. They need DOE.
If you ask executives what employees care about most, they will respond with all employees care about is their compensation. Although this is a critical piece, it’s not the only critical piece you want to be managing effectively. It’s D.O.E. that your employees care about.
D = Dignity.
Employees want to be treated with dignity, they want to believe they are respected. Does leadership know their names? Does leadership know their backgrounds and their experience? Does leadership care to hear what they have to say? Does leadership show them respect as human beings?
O = Opportunity.
Most employees, not all certainly, but most want opportunity. Opportunity for ongoing employment, opportunity for development and advancement. Opportunity to become something more in your organization – do you provide some or all of your employees development and advancement opportunity?
E = Equity.
Employees want to feel they are treated equitably for their time, effort and results. Yes, this includes compensation and benefits and the general considerations that are being provided in the marketplace from other area employers.
You could argue that Equity is the most important of these 3 elements but the 3 come as a package. Deliver on one or two, and you’ll still be missing the boat in terms of employee motivation and retention over the long term.
So ask yourself, how is my company doing as it relates to meeting the DOE requirements? And you could think about this in terms of all your team or just parts of it, like your key managers or senior leadership team. Don’t take your team for granted. They may be a major factor in what your future acquirer is willing to offer you. Think about how you’re addressing DOE and in doing so, you could be accelerating the progress you’re looking for in terms of building your company worth.
