Friday, 26 September 2014

Make your team proud to be “your employees”


I have to speak loud as my suffer and struggle reached the limit. It is hard to hire good help nowadays! I believe all SMTs suffered enough on the cost of replacing an employee. So I kept asking myself is it the business demand that makes people not delivering or not proactive or it is some other facts that make business day more blindly then before and what I came across is that I have to improve team loyalty.
Well I’m not pretending that loyalty could bring peace of mind but at least, and it is definite, it could help improving things around. And honestly I need to improve this work environment.

The traditional methods would be to pay more, or provide more benefits. But these things might “buy” some loyalty in the short term, the key is to somehow look at what you can do to engage the team so they will go that extra mile for me and for the business. After all, happy and engaged employees will lead to happy “customers”. Which would result more achievements.
I had difficult time figuring out what tips could be given to improve the team loyalty and I came up with a lot of tips or ideas but the major ones that I most start with:

Firstly is to be a good boss, the number one reason for someone leaving a company is in fact the boss. Look at how you interact with your staff, and in turn how they interact with their direct reports. As scary as it sounds put in a 360 degree evaluation process, and ensure you listen to the feedback. Seems simple enough - after all it would be too late when your star team walks out the door to your competitor!

Then if you tried to be “The good Boss” then start to share your core values.

Whilst you should listen to feedback on being “The good boss”, one thing you should stand firm on is your core values. Identify clearly what these are, and ensure your team know them. They should all know what the business stands for, what are your principles and hence the way you do business.
This is the funny tip that I like it the most, Give the team something to brag about!

One easy gauge of how loyal your team is to you, is what they will say about the company with their friends and family. Give them something to brag about – be it the free breakfast that I’m still trying my way to provide every day J. These seemingly small gestures are what people will identify as stand out elements of the workplace and is what they will telling other colleagues about. The more they are likely to talk about how proud they are of their workplace, the more they are likely to go above and beyond the call of duty for you.
Helping my team to keep healthy. (I have to admit this is the most difficult act in my workplace, especially with all the chips and nuts and crackers around)

I AM trying to promote a healthy lifestyle and lead by example. If the team are healthy and fit, they are going to be productive and full of energy to tackle anything that comes their way. I’m about to put the final touches on a weekly team plan on a badminton game in the office (or Ping-Pong), and I know it is something that everyone will look forward to. It’s a good bit of team bonding, but more importantly gets everyone active, both physically and mentally.
The final one I want to share is to have a staff work-life balance plan (I know some of my team will be reading that part and they wont believe in it). There is no point doing one off or random activities, as the team are not going to value them as much. Making sure there is a plan in place is the right thing to do, to show that the company cares about the staff. It shows the commitment and that we do care about them.

So in summary – give the team a clear vision, treat them well and make them be proud to be “your employees”. Give them reasons to brag about it to their friends and colleagues you will get a loyal team to help you achieve your business goals!
 

 

 

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