For your company to thrive, you need each and every one of your employees to give their all. So how can you excite your workforce, fill them with enthusiasm and win their commitment?
Peter Economy, writing for Inc.com, reveals seven proven strategies for connecting with your employees:
1) Respect your people. Everyone wants to feel respected and valued at work. Respect your employees’ opinions, cultures and time and they, in turn, will respect their bosses and the company.
2) Make them feel safe. Ruling your employees through threats and intimidation is counterproductive, says Economy.
OPINIONS
Fear causes employees to mentally disconnect from their work and encourages absenteeism. In order to really connect with your people, they need to feel safe enough to try new ideas, give their opinions and tell you the truth.
3) Tell them everything. Drip-feeding selective communication from the top is no longer a viable practice, says the author. Employees need “constant, complete, and unfettered communication… about what’s going on in the organisation and their place within it” if you want them to give their all.
4) Foster a sense of ownership. Develop a sense of pride and ownership in your employees. Financial incentives and the granting of stock are obvious ways to do this. But, advises the author, giving employees real authority and responsibility over aspects of their jobs can work just as well to instill “an owner's mentality in the workplace”.
5) Ditch the bureaucracy. The old, bureaucratic business model is now extinct, says Economy. In its place is “a lean model built on speed, flexibility, and the active involvement of frontline employees”.
AUTHORITY
Give your employees the authority to do their jobs properly. Depending on them to do the right thing is much more effective than forcing them to do so.
6) Value their ideas. Your employees are a “tremendous potential source of organisational improvement”, argues the author. Encourage workers to make suggestions and always act on the best ideas put forward.
7) Say thank you. Few bosses recognise and reward their employees enough. Verbal and written thank yous and public celebrations of team successes go a long way to boosting employee engagement and, ultimately, your bottom line.