Ever heard about bosses that are loved by all their employees?
Managers who know what their employees are going through, who know their children’s names and birthdays? Well all that doesn’t just happen overnight, they work on and cultivate a good relationship with their employees.
Good relationships lead to a great working environment which means staff members feel motivated to get up in the morning and get ready for work and perform their duties without fear or dread. In such an environment; management can reprimand staff when they go off-track and go back to normal afterwards- no hard feelings and moods that last the whole day.
Employers, management and staff are all people at the end of the day. So work relationships shouldn’t be too different from other relationships we form elsewhere in society. If people don’t know each other they can’t work well together, after all don’t we judge those whom we don’t know or understand well? So if there is a new member at work and we make no effort to know about them, we wouldn’t be able to work well with them.
Teams need to have a day maybe once every month where they engage in team building exercises. They can play games and do quizzes or sport, if the budget allows outings are also great. This way, staff members get to engage outside work circles, people from different departments mix and mingle. They talk to people they wouldn’t otherwise speak to because of work space confinements. This is a chance for management to learn a lot about the people they lead without making it obvious.
Companies can also have casual Fridays and allow people to have drinks in the afternoon or bring their kids in on certain days. All these are ways of getting the staff members to loosen up and assure them that the employer doesn’t just see them as money making machines, but as people they value and enjoy spending time with.
When at work instead of exchanging rushed greetings with subordinates, managers can take a moment to ask about their home life and hobbies. It doesn’t have to be intrusive, a simple “How was your weekend?” will unravel a lot and in no time they will know a lot about their team.
Team members find it easy to speak to management who show interest in their life outside work, they will open up when they are unhappy about certain work issues which gives management a chance take action before the staff start complaining among themselves and spreading negative energy in the workplace.
Sometimes employees don’t share work problems with the intention of influencing others to leave or to be unhappy too – they share because colleagues talk. But the results differ from time to time so it’s very important for management to let the staff know that they know and understand them and are willing to listen to them.
A happy workplace is about great attitudes from both employer and employee. It’s also about showing the human side of management which will lead to a more trusting team, who will come to them first with issues at work.
When staff members are happy they listen therefore it becomes easy for management to steer the company in the direction they want. Employees will return the respect they were offered by being loyal and going the extra mile. The team will feel like they belong to and the company’s goals will feel like their own. A happy workplace can only produce positive results so it only makes sense to invest in one.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about the people you have, and how you’re led.” – Steve Jobs