Employee satisfaction is sometimes dismissed by leaders with old-fashioned ways of thinking. You can’t please all the people all the time, so the saying goes. Work is challenging and sometimes it requires a little grit to see it through.
But creating a fulfilling and positive workplace isn’t just about making staff happy; there are bottom-line benefits too. Staff turnover reduces when employees feel included in a positive culture and productivity can increase by up to 12%, according to a study by the University of Warwick.
So, what can leaders and managers do to cultivate this kind of environment? Here are four key areas to consider.
Communicate clearly and regularly
Keeping the lines of communication open is vital. When communication falters, employees can feel demotivated at best and resentful at worst. Frustration creeps in and can slowly grow into destructive gossip.
Communication should happen regularly and at all levels. Managers must conduct monthly one-to-ones with their staff, and avoid seeming distracted or re-arranging, even if other pressing commitments exist.
Team meetings should be open, enjoyable and productive sessions where the team can work together to solve problems and innovate as a group. Meanwhile, all-company town halls must give staff visibility on leadership and the C-suite, helping avoid an ‘Us vs Them’ mentality.
Whatever the aims or subject of these sessions, those leading them must prepare carefully, speak clearly, and operate democratically, so everyone has a chance to contribute. And staff should always know that they’re free to talk to leaders and managers at any time beyond these pre-arranged points.
By providing your people with these unbreakable points of contact, you’re showing them that their needs, fulfilment and development are key priorities.
Listen and learn from staff
Speaking is only half the equation though; the rest is about listening and this can be one of the biggest challenges for busy leaders. In the hustle-bustle of working life, it’s difficult to find the time to simply sit with staff, listen and avoid trying to troubleshoot their concerns and move on to the next item on your to-do list.
Leaders who do respond like this might think they’re helping, and in some scenarios that may be the case. But opening up makes people feel vulnerable, and if they don’t feel heard in those vulnerable states, it’s easy for them to retreat into themselves, not say what they really want to say, and feel isolated as a result.
Whether it’s in a one-to-one or group scenario, active listening can solve this problem.
Active listening teaches you to step back from a conversation and pay deep attention to what the speaker is saying. This is done by giving them the room to speak, clarifying and summarising their points to ensure you’ve understood them and asking open questions if they’re struggling to articulate themselves. Only once this has happened should the listener proactively contribute and offer their own opinion.
It may not always lead to a solution, but it helps the speaker feel heard and that’s often the first problem people struggling at work need to see addressed.
Develop your own self-awareness
Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and leaders are no different. One person might be quick and clear in her approach to decision-making, but can sometimes rush to the wrong conclusions. Another might be thoughtful and meticulous, weighing up all the options before making a decision, but waiting too long before pulling the trigger.
Nobody’s perfect, but we can all work to develop our self-awareness, identify these strengths and weaknesses and work on them.
That’s where tools such as Insights Discovery and Belbin Team Roles can help. These psychometric tests provide participants with questions that are quick and easy to answer and provide in-depth reports that detail their key personality traits and how they’re likely to react in work-based situations.
By taking the advice of these reports on board, and even getting their team to take the assessments as well, leaders can resolve blind spots, play to their strengths, and meet their team on their level. In doing so, they can create an inclusive environment where everyone feels part of the team and able to bring their own unique qualities to play in the group’s success.
Create psychological safety
We spend a lot of time at work. Eight hours a day, five days a week, nearly 50 weeks of the year. Nobody wants to spend all that time in an environment that doesn’t include them or which makes them feel disrespected, disenfranchised or disapproved of.
Creating an atmosphere of Psychological Safety can ensure that this isn’t an issue.
Psychological Safety may sound intimidating, but it’s really very simple: make people feel included at work. It’s based around four pillars – Inclusion Safety, Learner Safety, Contributor Safety, and Challenger Safety – and asks employees and employers to participate in a contract of sorts: employers provide an accepting environment and, in return, employees use that freedom to take accountability and challenge the status quo, knowing they won’t be punished or humiliated for doing so.
Companies that don’t have Psychological Safety are likely to stagnate and suffer from high staff turnover. Those that do, on the other hand, will see a happy, fulfilled workforce that trusts its leadership enough to take the risks necessary to introduce innovative ideas.
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