Ensuring employees feel they are appreciated and valued by you as a leader boosts morale and productivity while creating a positive working environment for everyone involved. But how much attention do you actually pay to actively improving this atmosphere?
It’s all well and good expressing that you as a manager or director feel that your employees are happy and comfortable at work but maybe you should take the opportunity to ask your employees how they really feel at work.
- Are they anxious about deadlines?
- Do they feel they may get into trouble if they make a mistake?
- Are they worried to ask for time off for a medical appointment that they have been putting off for months?
The only way to find out how your employees feel, is to ask! Take the feedback as inspiration of how you can make things better for everyone involved. After all, a happy workforce produces a happy workplace.
The first step in allowing employees to feel comfortable communicating with you as a manager would be to relate to them and show that you’re both ordinary people, you’re not ‘above’ them. If they’re having trouble in a situation, maybe share something similar that you’ve been through and slowly take yourself off the pedestal that the employee may have put you on. It’s so important to communicate your vulnerability and be real and transparent to inspire a team member to do the same.
Sometimes it’s easy in the busy every day to focus on the negative – disciplinaries and correcting bad behaviour – and forget to reward positive things that your workers do to help your business.
It’s time to shift your mindset and think positively.
This will make your employees feel valued and motivated to be better, increasing productivity and employee morale. If an employee has worked hard that week or achieved something they’ve been struggling with, then do something special for them, even if it’s as small as an email explaining how happy you are with what they’ve produced. Encouragement is the single most important thing you can give to your workforce to keep them happy.
Making time for employees when they need to discuss something with you can sometimes be difficult when you feel like you’re snowed under. But, any amount of time, even 10 minutes during your lunch break, could be the difference between that person feeling 100 times better or miserable and ineffectual at work. A quality of a good leader is finding the time to engage with your workers – if there isn’t any, make some!
Show you care about their personal lives, “How’s the family?”, “How have you been coping lately with everything going on in your life?”, “Is there any way you can think of that I can make it better?”. Feeling like your boss is a real person who cares about you and your life can make people feel much more comfortable to share their thoughts and feelings. A problem shared is a problem halved.
There’s nothing that makes a person feel more appreciated and valued than asking for their input on a situation. When you ask employees for their opinions you can gain valuable insights, perspectives and solutions that you may not have previously considered. They will feel like you hold them in high regard if you actively want their contributions. In addition, by asking for input on where they think they would like to progress in their career, this can help give you an idea of the opportunities you can put them forward for in order to grow and develop your business. If there isn’t an opportunity which lines up with their chosen path, then could you be flexible and make one? If you have created a new role just for them, they’re much more likely to try their best and show you that it was the right decision.
We understand it can be hard, especially at the moment, to keep employees motivated and happy to be working. But if you can make your employees feel appreciated, valued and that you want to help, you will have a happy, productive workforce.
For more information on employee engagement, wellbeing and leadership development please contact kate@applehr.co.uk.