Build a Strong Team, One Employee at a Time
How do you retain employees in a post-pandemic world? How do you ensure that your employees are fully engaged and motivated?
According to a global study, only 10% of employees are fully engaged and eight out of ten merely show up, leading to a tragedy of unfulfilled potential and negative economic impact.
“Employees are critical, so it all starts with treating your employees as your golden eggs. Develop authentic relationships, listen to your employees, know their goals and what motivates them.”
– Wendy Preyssler, ICF Master Certified Coach
Leaders make all the difference when it comes to inspiring employees to fulfill their potential. When they focus on making work meaningful, it can change how employees view work and transform a business.
To support you in learning more about how you can retain top talent and grow a successful organization, I am sharing the following strategies.
What are top strategies to ensure that employees feel supported?
Focus on getting to know your employees on a human level. Find out what they need, their challenges, goals, and always be available and ready to listen. If you understand what drives employees and can connect it to the company’s purpose, they will feel supported by their manager and more aligned with the organization’s mission. Ensure that there is a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging practice in place, so that employees know they are an integral part of the organization.
How do you help employees to feel a sense of ownership?
To foster autonomy, work with team members to help them understand their goals and let them find their own best way. If they’re just following instructions, team members can lose their interest and investment. Instead of micromanaging, focus on helping your employees feel invested in the company mission and encourage them to bring their thoughtfulness and creativity.
What are important principles in coaching and mentoring employees?
Before providing input, seek to understand the motivations and reasoning behind your employee’s actions. Ensure that you create a safe and transparent environment to build trust. Mentors and supervisors need to be vulnerable, transparent, and admit their own mistakes, so they are not put on a pedestal. Ensure that you are acting with integrity, which requires having your speaking and actions aligned with your intentions. Over time, you will build trust and create an environment where employees thrive.
How does communication and continuous feedback contribute to employee retention?
To promote productivity and trust, provide both positive and negative feedback as closely as possible to the incident. Continuous feedback lets the employee know how she or he is doing without wondering or assuming everything is going well. Performance reviews should never be the source of a surprise. A review should just document what has already been communicated. The more frequent the reviews are given, the better. In an ideal world, employees will have a one-to-one with their supervisor every one to two weeks, so that they can get questions answered as well as receive feedback.
How does celebrating the small and big wins inspire loyalty?
People like to know they’re doing a good job, and they also want to know that their manager is committed to their success. Look for opportunities to praise your employees in public and in private, verbally as well as in writing. Seek to understand which form of recognition each employee prefers. Some may appreciate a gift card or lunch. Celebrating wins, big and small, lets them know that you care and that what they do makes a difference.
What does effective change management look like and why is it important?
Effective change management requires communicating the desired outcome and preparing and supporting the employees during the transition so that they adopt the changes. By supporting employees through the transition, the desired outcome is more likely to be achieved. You might be able to implement a new technology to improve performance or increase profits, but if you can’t get employees to adopt it, you won’t achieve the intended outcomes.
How does executive and leadership coaching help to improve employee retention?
Executive and leadership coaching supports leaders in showing up as their best self every day. It empowers them to encourage employees to be fully engaged in their work and fulfill their potential. Coaching supports personal growth and development, which often includes emotional intelligence (being aware of one’s own emotions and being able to express them appropriately; effectively navigating interpersonal relationships), team building, and improved communication skills. Coaching also ensures attention is given not only to task achievement but also to building relationships.
If your goal is to have a positive impact and improve your employee’s lives, you will attract and retain motivated employees as well as customers.
To find out more about how to retain and build a strong team, please reach out to me today at [email protected].