FOUR THINGS YOUR STAFFS WISH YOU KNEW!

1.  WE DESERVE RESPECT

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Your staffs expect you to treat them individually with dignity and respect. They want you to be approachable and considerate.

Employees give their best in workplaces where they are valued and treated with respect and dignity and where nobody attempts to or actually molests them. An environment devoid of any form of unethical behaviour is the most productive one.

Treat them with honesty, integrity, probity, diligence, fairness, trust, respect and consistency. Your staffs expect you to provide an environment where conflict is not allowed to fester and grow and where no one makes improper use of an individual's position or of someone else's work without proper acknowledgement.

2.  Give us RECOGNITION

 

© 2011 Tom Distler

Recognition isn’t synonymous with attention. While attention is a part of recognition, it isn’t recognition.

Recognition isn’t:

a.      Praise

b.      Gift items

c.       Money

What does it mean to recognize your staff?

“When employees ask for recognition, they are expressing the need for something much more complex than a cheap gilded plaque or a service pin that thanks them for several years on the job. To employees, the real meaning of the word recognition refers to the presence of systems and practices that reaffirm their value to the organization” ¹

Recognition = Partnering

Don’t just occasionally tell them "good job". This is never enough!

Take time to have meaningful discussions with them about their work in a manner that conveys respect for them and for their part in the growth of the organization. During such discussions, the employee gets the feeling that he is really a part of something and that his efforts are appreciated. THAT IS RECOGNITION

Recognition =Involvement

Do not lock the door of involvement against your staff. Involve them in problem-solving and decision-making. This serves as a major ego boosting “drug” and adds to their sense of value and worth. Always ask them: “What do you think?” “How can we solve this problem?” THAT IS RECOGNITION

“Asking employees their opinions, asking them to help solve problems or implement improvement and providing them with opportunities to discuss important decisions goes a long way towards minimizing the social distinction of the management hierarchy.” ²

Recognition =Respect

Please respect your staff. That’s all that need to be said. THAT IS RECOGNITION

Recognition = Personalised Attention

Every staff is unique and requires what I call here personalised attention. For you to honestly recognise an employee your organisation must be flexible, supportive, and responsive to individual special circumstances.

“One cannot feel recognized as an individual when management shows indifference to legitimate issues and needs by automatically quoting "company policy." ³

3.  What we WANT   what you THINK we want may be different.

What do your staffs really want from you? Can you rank their expectations in order of importance?

“Good managers must have high emotional intelligence competencies to sense what employees and need and to be able to meet them—by relating to them and including them at the feelings level.”

Susan Dunn http://www.susandunn.cc

In 1946 employers in the US were surveyed to find out what they feel their employees require of them, ranking in order of importance ten different items. This survey - from the Labour Relations Institute of New York was published in 1946 in Foreman Facts, and was produced again by Lawrence Lindahl in Personnel magazine, in 1949 – showed clearly that employers may not actually know what their employees want.

Take a look at the list of what employers think employees want, and then consider what the employees themselves say they actually want.

 

Notice that most managers ranked good wages as the first thing their employees want from them. How untrue!

The first three things your employees want from you aren’t even tied to money. They are tied to how you treat them! They are tied to soft skills that you as the manager must possess. Managers who are empathetic are observed to have an able, content workforce.

These studies have been replicated with similar results by Ken Kovach (1980); Valerie Wilson, Achievers International (1988); Bob Nelson, Blanchard Training & Development (1991); Sheryl & Don Grimme, GHR Training Solutions (1997-2001).

4.  Create the RIGHT environment for growth

Your staffs expect you to provide an environment where conflict is not allowed to fester and grow and where no one makes improper use of an individual's position or of someone else's work without proper acknowledgement.

A simple illustration will here suffice.

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A business is like a plant. For it to grow and thrive, it must get right amount of sunlight (say support from top management), the right soil type (a conducive atmosphere at work, where all staff are valued and treated respectfully), water (a reasonable benefits and pay package, training and development opportunities) and chlorophyll (of course the staffs’ inherent abilities and talents).

For chlorophyll to even work in plants there is the need for the right conditions. If the soil is not suitable (or any of the other aforementioned factors are not present), the plant will naturally wither and die. As an employer, you must provide your staff with an opportunity to excel. There thriving at what they do ultimately lead to more business for you.

“There is a direct statistical significant relation between the job performance effectiveness and the organizational climate axis.”⁴

The workplace should be warm and respectful, filled with polite people who say “thank you” and are friendly.

Also as an employer, encourage proficiency through training and development.

Training improves a person’s knowledge and skills so that they can carry out a task.

Your staffs benefit from training as:

• they feel more a part of the business

• they become better at their job and so can meet customers’ needs better

• they become more effective with new skills.

Governments understand the need to have a highly army. A well trained army is better equipped to ward off enemy attacks and defend territories. That is why nations spend trillions on defense. The U.S for example estimates it would spend $1.42 trillion on defense in the 2012 fiscal year alone! ⁵

Of the $405 billion revenue WalMart had in 2009 ⁶, it spent according to its 2010 Global Sustainability Report  a total of $6.5 million on training and staff development.

Why do large corporations spend so much on training and development?

It is because investing in people IS preparing your business for further expansion!

Ok so there you go. Those are four additional things your staffs wish you knew!

Apply this knowledge and watch your business grow.

Think.

Act.

Succeed!