Leading a business is a much more careful endeavor than many might think. When working with a team of employees, it’s important to keep in mind that each of those employees has their own independent thoughts and attitudes about you and your company. Disgruntled employees foster a negative working environment and ultimately bleed profit from your business.
This is why fostering a workplace full of trust and loyalty is especially important. Not only will it benefit your bottom line, but it will generally keep employee attitudes in high spirits, making everyone’s jobs a more positive experience. Here are a few key practices to utilize to help develop this ideal environment.
1. Communicate Transparently
A common mistake that business leaders often make is keeping their employees in the dark. Maintaining an honest communication channel between you and your workers is vital, especially on your end. This transparency is an important step in building trust between employees and management.
What this looks like in practice is keeping your employees informed on the expectations and realities of your shared workspace. Leaders need to communicate their goals, both short and long-term. Additionally, there needs to be a mutual understanding of policy and guidelines, explaining everyone’s capabilities. To keep the door open, there should be respect and consideration for all thoughts and opinions.
Another key factor of transparent communication is its validity in both directions. Just as it’s essential to communicate ideas that you expect your employees to absorb, it’s equally crucial to listen to their opinions.
2. Actively Listen
Talking at your employees is simply not good enough in the modern age. Gone are the days of a grizzled boss barking demands at their workers. In order to generate that trust and loyalty you desire from employees, you need to hear them out. Genuine conversation is the only way to understand another’s point of view; understanding is the foundation of trust and loyalty.
A crucial detail of this practice is to make sure your employees feel comfortable talking to you and that they can be honest without fear of backlash. This will sometimes mean hearing criticism or dissenting opinions on how to operate. This should be encouraged, however, as opposed to diminished. Nobody wants to find themselves in ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’
3. Recognize Employee Achievements
Beyond opening a clear and truthful line of communication with your employees, it’s also entirely necessary to reinforce the behaviors you wish to cultivate in your workplace. The best way to do this is through positive affirmation. This can be done in many different ways. According to gifting company Spoonful of Comfort, a dedicated employee appreciation day is a great way to recognize your workers’ efforts. In turn, employee recognition can lead to improved engagement, enhanced performance, increased retention, and reduced absenteeism.
Additionally, you can make smaller, consistent steps in the workplace. Things like encouraging employees through simple gratitudes or implementing small incentives like team building activities can improve morale. It’s amazing how much a quick thank you can impact someone’s day.
As outlined above, employees want to feel heard, but they also want to feel seen. The gears of business would never turn without each worker’s compounded efforts, and it’s vital to understand that. Making sure that quality work doesn’t go unnoticed can mean the difference between a happy, motivated workforce and one that only does the bare minimum.
4. Gift Intentionally
The practice of recognizing your employee’s achievements can be helpful in supporting their attitudes, but there is another step you can take. The idea of intentional gifting works in tandem with recognition — once you’ve acknowledged quality work, you can show further appreciation.
This is a more tangible idea that you can apply in the workplace in a myriad of different ways. Here are just a few practical examples of this without breaking the bank:
- Rewarding an employee for going the extra mile on a project with a gift card to their favorite restaurant.
- Greeting a new worker with a welcome gift like a desk plant or a fun stress-relief toy.
- Putting together a gift basket of healthy snacks for a team that worked hard on a project and met the deadline.
- Exchanging gifts near holiday seasons with small events like a white elephant party.
Earning Employee Trust and Loyalty Takes Intentionality
Ultimately, these small tokens of gratitude can go a long way in showing appreciation. The physicality of a gift grants weight to the abstract ideas of thanks, and it can help remind employees that they are cared for. When deciding on gifts, though, you should keep in mind things like budget, personal effects, timeliness, and how they might be received. Work to keep these gifts in the appropriate parameters of the work environment you wish to foster.
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