I certainly don’t claim to be an expert in this subject but Lance’s recent post ‘Are you easy to manage? 10 ways to be‘ prompted me to write a counter post:
10 Ways to be great to work for
1. Get to your know your employees
Take the time to have one on one discussions with all of your employees. Find out their strengths & knowledge areas. You may be under utilizing their talents.
2. Let go of the reins!
You likely hired a smart independent thinker so let them do the thinking. Let them make mistakes and you’ll both learn from their experiences. Some employees may feel out of their depth at first so be approachable
and guide them into making their own decisions.
3. Be approachable
Provide an office environment that encourages open communication. All levels of management should be approachable. Don’t be the only person in your office to have their own walled office. If everyone knows what’s going on then everyone has input and feels ownership.
4. Encourage feedback
Consider encouraging round table discussions on how to improve workflow and productivity (or any other topic important to your business). Have a junior/intermediate member of your team chair a half hour discussion and step out so that they can discuss their ideas freely. You are likely to learn valuable insights into how your employees feel about the day to day operation of the business.
5. Don’t be a cumbersome Hippo!
(Highest Paid Person’s Opinion in Marketing). Being the highest paid and the boss doesn’t always mean that you’re right. Truly. Let people sway your opinion, let them be wrong and learn from the process.
6. Hire Smart People
Hire the smartest people that you can find and pay them really well. Even if you feel you’re paying more than they’re worth. Often they will realise this and work even harder to ensure that they are adding value.
7. Recognition
Remember, people like to be good at what they do. Find out what your staff are especially good at and make sure they know you think they’re doing a great job in that area. Point them out as an expert in company meetings. People love recognition (where deserved).
8. Employee retention
Consider allowing employees who have good time management skills to choose flexi time i.e as long as you’re in the office between the core hours of 10am – 3pm you can start and finish at the times that suit to make up your daily hours.
9. Consider building a virtual team
Make it Happen posted a great article and example of how working virtually can build an extremely efficient & scalable business.
10. Have fun
As Lance said at the end of his post, have fun. Lead by example. If you’re having fun and enjoying yourself then it’s very likely that your employees will follow suit.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. I’m sure you will have heard a lot of this before, but this may be a timely reminder to think about your employees as the assets that they are for your business.
