It’s not that much of a stretch to compare a workplace to a biological organism. Feed a human being nothing but junk food and their health declines. Pour coffee on a plant every morning and see how it looks by 5 o’clock. And so it goes with groups of people: you want the best product, you need some key nutrients. At work, that’s where the boss comes in. Along with leading the charge onto the day’s battlefield, bosses have to do their best to make each one of those individual troops feel like a valuable, respected part of the whole.
So what can managers do to keep their teams happy while at the same time continuing to fulfill their job of shepherding productivity? Here are some ways to run the kind of workplace they’ll brag to their friends about and miss during the holidays.
1) Let your employees spread their wings a little. The day-in-day-out repetition of one task can be draining and discouraging, even if it’s the most important job on the floor. Give workers a chance to gain skills and experiences beyond their rote job description and it’ll remind them that their career is a living thing with a future, and what’s more that its something they have some hand in shaping. And it’ll assure them that you’re confident in their larger skills on the fly.
2) Don’t micromanage them. No adult employee wants to think they need their hand held to do their job. They want to feel you hired them because you knew they were more than competent. On some personal level, they want to feel that they are kings of their particular domain. When you linger over them, you encourage them to feel coddled and distrusted, which is a toxic combo nobody wants. For every ounce of autonomy you can give them, you’ll see major returns in terms of their self-respect and their work ethic.
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3) Facilitate their bond as a team and a family. The more your team respects and likes spending time with each other in the workspace, the smoother your entire operation will run. So, short of sending them all to summer camp, try to encourage the kind of shared extracurricular activities that can turn a random gaggle of well-meaning people into a steely-eyed task force. Send them bowling, or into an escape room, or to the park for a softball game. Let them discover each other at their best, and form the kind of “all for one” bond that can encourage your team to really start cooking with gas as a functioning work unit.
4) Create a balanced social media policy. Smartphones may as well be emotional support animals at this point. Pandora’s Box has long been smashed open in that regard, but don’t worry: studies show that deeply engaged social media users are more productive at work. That said, there’s a place and a time for it, and keeping it from becoming a distraction at work requires a respectful policy both you and your team can craft and agree upon.
5) Make sure the workplace is somewhere they enjoy being. Nobody expects Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, but a drab workplace can affect workers on a deep, subconscious level. So bring the outside in: give your team access to natural sunlight, green plants, maybe even a little room to roam where they might unkink a mind jam they can’t work through at their desk.
6) Be kind. Seems simple, but office politics can be tricky. Just remember that, at the start of and end of every day, we’re all just people who like to feel appreciated and respected. Don’t be the kind of boss that rules with fear; instead, aspire to be the kind of boss your team doesn’t want to disappoint because they like and respect you too much. Of course, it’s not all hugs and cookies at work, but even when its time to reprimand an employee, remember to deploy a “compliment sandwich,” where you slip any criticism that might sting in between more encouraging words.
