Creativity. Intelligence. Skills. Attitude. These are areas of the business that you want to excel, but it’s not something you can do alone. At the end of the day, most businesses are a collective of people who bring bits and pieces of these to the table. How they’re utilized, grown or stifled all depends on what kind of workplace they’re put in. As a boss, it should be your number one priority to get the best out of your employees.
Engagement is your number one priority
Motivation, corporate culture, they’re all tools and parts of the core of any team. Engagement with their work. When people aren’t engaged, they don’t see a career or a calling. They see a list of tasks they have the skills to do. Getting them engaged makes them think more about what they do and what part they play in the whole. It gets them invested in the business and more likely to think creatively about what they can offer. Get your employees engaged by touching base with them. Find different ways to ask them about how they feel about their job and the direction of the business. Ask about concerns from the top levels of organization down to the everyday minutia that finds its way in their working life.
Negative gossip is your number one enemy
Cohesion is just as important to a workplace. Have no doubt, people will disagree on everything from working methods to their life-choices. But those disagreements shouldn’t get in the way of their work. If gossip is allowed to spread, it cuts communication and collaboration on projects. People are less willing to work with one another and more likely to pass responsibility. You need to handle negative gossip and disputes. As soon as you know of any perpetrators, start talking one-on-one. Try to get to the root cause of it without taking sides. Without getting into specifics, talk to the team as a whole, too. Try to get them to understand how it damages everyone in the end. Provide a channel for communicating criticism directly to address it. Not letting it fester under the surface of the working day.
Giving them a workplace fitting their talents
As important as communication is, you can’t neglect the environment that your staff works in, either. The office itself has a huge role to play. Physical characteristics such as more light and diverse spaces to work in improve productivity and morale. Cleanliness, good décor and visual branding increase pride of place. The better they feel about their workspace, the better they feel about the company providing it. Communal break areas also prove an excellent stress reliever for employees. They provide the opportunity for more cohesion, too.
Showing real care for them
A suitable office space also includes ergonomically designed tables and chairs. This fights the risk of back pain and repetitive strain injury. Above all else, you need to consider your duty to your employees in providing a healthy, safe workplace. This means risk assessments and education on health issues should be common in the workplace. It also means that you should focus on health as being one of the major perks you offer your employees. You need to be looking at offers from places like http://oururgentcare.com/service-category/employer-services/. You need to offer them healthcare help that is more than token. You should be showing that you care for their health not just because it’s expected of you.
Trust is what builds a team
Beyond caring for them, you have to show them that you have some real belief in them as well. This means giving them the opportunity to step up. Giving them the opportunity to show their skills as well as developing new ones. You should have an employee development plan for everyone in your business, no matter their position. As well as providing training and career advice, you should provide responsibility, too. When your plate is full, your team can help you. Learn to delegate responsibilities that you believe someone is ready for. Don’t try to be the boss that thinks they have to handle everything themselves. Learn when to let go of the reins.
Treat them like customers
Far too many employers worry about whether or not their employees are expendable. They fear having someone who would be difficult to let to. Instead, you should be thinking about how to retain them. Treat them like customers. How do you offer them what they need to stay with you? Offering career progression alongside the other points mentioned above is an important part of that. At the same time, you need to recognize when it is also time to let someone go. If someone has no more progress to be made with you, you should even help them find a new position. You never know what they might be in future and they won’t forget how well you treated them.
Work together towards better results
Let’s look at the conversation is around performance and productivity. In them, too often employers take the role of the wagging finger from above. Telling them they’re not doing well enough and better shape up. That helps no-one. It just makes your employee afraid and insecure in their job. Instead, get on their level, as suggested by https://www.hrbartender.com/2013/employee-engagement/how-to-have-a-performance-conversation-with-an-employee/. If they’re doing well, ask how they do it. See what they’ve brought to the job what you might not have expected. If they’re not doing well, find out the in-depth processes of their work. See if there are methods you can help them change or engagement problems you can help fix. Find measurements you can use together to track progress, like key performance indicators.
You should legitimately care about your staff and put the time into building them. Then you have a lot more than a platform for delivering products and services. You have a team of people dedicated to a cause, with the engagement and skills to keep excelling even without your guiding hand. For any owner, there’s no better indication of how successful a business idea can be.
You must be logged in to post a comment.