Last week I looked at selling your skills to an employer and part of that involved understanding the difference between features and benefits when you were trying to persuade someone to buy your products or services. If that caught your interest, you might want to consider enrolling on our Professional Sales Techniques course, which teaches you all you need to know about the psychology of selling and how to earn a living as a sales person. And the good news is that until 6th March there’s £25 off the price of the course. So, click here to find our more.
OK, now back to this week’s topic. I was reading an article earlier today about a group of young employees who had been interviewed and asked what irritated them most about the way their managers behaved. From the results I’ve put together some pointers on the best way to behave if you want to keep your workforce happy and motivated.
- First, be seen to be fair. Don’t treat any individual, department or team in a way that could be seen as favouring them. This builds resentment.
- Communicate well. Have one-to-one chats with individuals , when needed, and show that you understand them and their concerns. Also, when you need to give instructions, make sure they are clear and check that everyone has understood them.
- Never criticise someone or discipline them in public – take them to one side and do it in private.
- Don’t get involved in office gossip – as a manager, you should be above that. But always keep an ear open so that you know what’s going on and can step in if someone is having problems or there is any bullying going on.
- Give praise where it’s merited and try to devise some kind of reward system for particularly good work.
- A good home/work life balance is great for morale. I know that it’s not always possible, but try to insist that staff don’t take work home. And don’t encourage a culture like you find in Japan where if the boss is working late, employees are reluctant to leave on time because they think they will be accused of lack of commitment. Consider if you could provide some perks for staff that don’t cost too much such as subsidised gym membership. This is one way of having healthy as well as happy staff!
- Let people know what’s happening in the business. Tell them about new developments, new orders and how well the business is doing. Obviously if things are going badly you should avoid frightening them or being too gloomy. But you should still try to explain the situation in a positive way and try to foster team spirit.
Finally, think about everything from the point of view of how you would like to be treated in a similar situation and then follow your instinct. Always stay calm, be in control and lead by example.
Author: Diana Nadin
