It doesn’t take a degree in management to build loyalty, morale and productivity in the office.
It’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Amazingly simple things that cost nothing, yet pay off in spades.
1 Hello and how are you?
First is a tactic that’s deceptively simple. It’s nothing more than saying hello and making eye contact with staff you come in contact with during the day.
There’s no need to do therapy in the hallway. Just stop, look at the staffer and say “Hello. How are you doing?” And wait for an answer.
When a manager walks by without speaking, he/she may see him or herself as busy, but that’s not how staff see it. To them, being ignored and avoided suggests they have done something wrong or that their jobs are in jeopardy.
Greeting employees is good basic management that sets a positive tone in the office that staff will undoubtedly convey to clients.
In any business, employees treat customers the same way they are treated by the boss. To get a good sense of how an office’s employees are treated, simply look at how they treat the clients.
2 Face to face at least once a day
The second management improver is to take communication further and make an effort to spend a minute or two with every employee every few days.
Set aside a few minutes two or three times a week to walk around the office and talk individually with as many staff as possible.
Make the remarks positive. This is not the time to catch people doing something wrong or to mention a mistake somebody made last week. Use the time to show appreciation and to offer assistance. All that’s needed are comments such as “you’re doing a good job on that” or “is there anything I can do to help you?”
Those few minutes of conversation help build relationships between the manager and staff, and those relationships builds loyalty.
In addition, ongoing communication with staff can bring to light staff talents and interests a manager may never otherwise have known existed. At one business, the manager began talking with staff and came to know a janitor who was so shy he wouldn’t make eye contact with anybody. Eventually, after much small talk, the man began talking about computers and revealed how much he knew. Today, he is no longer sweeping floors and is instead in charge of the IT department.
3 Those subtle hints of disrespect
Another thing to watch for are small slights that can make employees feel inferior to those in management; things like fitness memberships reserved for lawyers or a management only Christmas lunch.
At one firm, all stalls in upper level parking were reserved for the top executives despite the fact that half of the spaces remained empty each day. Every day, employees would walk by the empty stalls and feel slighted and resentful.
One possible solution? Change the parking policy to first-come, first-served and thereby reward those who show up for work early.
4 Important work = important staffer
To build confidence and productivity, give staff individual projects that are of some importance and let them work on them without interference.
Take the concept even further and assign strategic assignments to people who are never in the spotlight. An employee who works all day with billing software may enjoy evaluating and making recommendations on a new billing program.
If there’s doubt about a staffer’s competence, choose a project that won’t cause irreparable damage if done improperly. After all, the purpose is not to get the assignment done, but to give the staffer a sense of success.
5 The handwritten note
A morale builder that’s often ignored is the old fashioned handwritten note.
So few people write notes these days that when someone gets one, it’s not only remembered, but often kept.
The message doesn’t have to be long. It’s enough to write “job well done!” or “you’re really doing a good job. Thank you.”
6 Just a bowl of candy
And finally there’s candy.
If you keep a bowl of candy on the desk people will tend to stop and ask if they can have some. Often the person will open up about issues, concerns and rumours that may be floating around.
And once people get used to coming to you for candy, they’ll see visiting the manager as a positive experience.
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