Getting To Know You: The Importance Of Developing Better Relationships With Employees

Want to start making a genuine difference to your company’s performance, productivity, and culture? The answer is simple: start developing better relationships with your employees and know what makes them tick. Of course, while the solution is simple, making it happen is another thing entirely. However, we have pulled together some interesting and easy tips to help you get started on the road to understanding your staff and motivating them to succeed. Let’s take a closer look at some of your options.

Regular meetings

There is always a danger of holding too many meetings in your company, of course. However, meetings are still an important aspect of making a business work, and they are also a valuable tool for getting to know your staff. Make your meetings regular, speedy, and use them to discuss team objectives and activities. It will help you get to know who people are, who is willing to share ideas out in the open, and start to recognize those that inspire others to get involved.

Open door policy

What kind of boss are you? Do you hide away in your office, or is there an open-door policy that means people can come and see you whenever you have a problem? If it’s the former, likely, you won’t get to know your staff at all. Ith the latter, however, you will find that people start opening up to you, and you can identify problems before they turn serious. It’s also an opportunity for the quieter members of your team to feel comfortable – not everyone likes speaking up at meetings!

Encourage ideas

Some of the best ideas for your company will come from employees – but a boss that doesn’t listen will never get to hear them. Try and create an environment that encourages ideas in an active way. Meetings are a good place for suggestions, of course, but even an anonymous ideas box might work for those that are a little shy. The point is, once you start taking on employees’ ideas, it will spread like wildfire, and more people will come up with unique and innovative ways of doing things. And let’s be honest – who doesn’t want that type of culture for their business?

Invest in better employee data collection

According to Pingboard.com, using a software solution instead of the traditional spreadsheet will remove much of the human error that tends to occur. It also allows you to expand a little more on the information you hold on your employees. For example, instead of the generic ‘name,’ ‘title,’ ‘department’ formula, you tend to see on spreadsheets, you might be able to include hobbies, payroll details, and even HR benefits.

Informal get-togethers

Progressive companies understand the importance of team building, and there is no better way of getting started than having informal discussions outside of the work environment. As everyone knows, some of the best business deals ever occurred in the back room of a smoky bar – and the same goes for employees feeling comfortable enough to give you ideas.

Final Thoughts

Paying staff a good salary is not enough to keep them. If your competitors do a better job engaging with them, your business may miss out and lose them altogether.

Engage with staff individually and collectively either in person or if they’re remote working via video chat. See this article for more employee satisfaction strategies.