Engage employees to keep them creative

Q: How can I get my employees to be more creative in improving our business?

A: To ensure success, a small business needs to have its employees fully engaged and committed to the owner's vision from the beginning. The whole really is greater than the sum of its parts, and one employee's creativity is sure to stimulate new ideas among others. It's a self-sustaining cycle that only gets better and adds value with time.

Creative environments are particularly important to millennials, the 80 million people born between 1980 and 1995 who soon will dominate the workforce. Millennials already have an edge over their elders in terms of their savviness with technology, cultural trends and connecting with their peers (who are your current and future customers). There are ways you can foster a creative environment to get the most from your employees, regardless of age.

Be flexible. Not all people do their best work between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Whenever possible, allow employees some leeway in their work hours. This also includes allowing them to work from home or elsewhere during the week. They also must be willing to show flexibility, however, such as being available for meetings when necessary.

Communicate early and often. Employees are more willing to give 100 percent when they know and believe in the reason for doing it. Regularly share what's going on in the business and the market. You can't always tell employees everything, but honesty from the boss goes a long way toward building trust. Encourage employees to contribute ideas and insights. If an idea sounds promising, let the employee who offered it take the lead if possible - or at least explain why not gently, and ask the worker to keep those ideas coming.

Be a coach, not a supervisor. This is particularly important for younger workers, who are experiencing many aspects of the working world for the first time. Give them the training they need to feel comfortable about doing their jobs and confident in taking the initiative. Sure, they'll make mistakes. By fostering a regular dialogue with your employees, you'll know better what happened and why, and what they can do to improve.

Keep resources up to date. Without investing in every technology, stay as current as possible so that employees will have the best tools available to do their jobs. Your millennial employees may be ideally suited to investigate new technologies and help determine whether it's better to upgrade or wait for something better.

Business plan can boost odds of success

Q: Why prepare a business plan? I'm very experienced in my field and don't need financing. My uncle says I have a good idea and should just get started before somebody else beats me to it.

A: The need for business planning is all about managing risk. The greater the risk, the greater the need to investigate, research and think through all relevant aspects of starting or operating a business.

Some business ventures or situations carry little risk. Maybe your business gives you a nice, stable income, you don't particularly want or need to grow, or you and your employees could survive if your business suddenly shut down. In those cases, you may not need a formal business plan, and need only keep your eye on your market and on others who could affect your business.

But the more you are risking, in terms of dollar investment, time spent deferring something else you need or want to do, or maybe forgoing income for your family, the more you need to formalize your plan.

Veteran SCORE counselor and small-business owner Matt Fitzgerald says: "The value lies in the process of researching and thinking about your business in a systematic and critical way … not in producing a finished document."

Avoiding mistakes

You'll need a document, though, to share your ideas and plan with others. The plan is not only important for starting up, but for running the business as well. It takes time now, but can avoid costly, perhaps disastrous, mistakes later.

For startups, it gives you an indication of how successful you might be. For existing businesses, it tells you the condition of your operation. Can you take advantage of opportunities that may arise or deal effectively with challenges that may occur?

You can start or run a successful business without a business plan, and you can fail with a good one. An appropriate plan just increases your chances of success.

SCORE counselor

Fitzgerald suggests a thorough review of a business plan from someone like a SCORE counselor. "Getting a third party to serve as a sounding board will provide valuable, unbiased feedback on how to improve things, look at the plan from a lender's or investor's perspective, and raise questions you may have overlooked," he says.

Fitzgerald will teach a SCORE workshop on business planning on June 16. Learn more and register at www.scorehouston.org.