Connecting with your team

As the new week kick starts, how are you going to make this week better than the last for you and your team? When you plan your week, do you make time for the people in your team, or is it always task focused? Do you plan your week around meetings and projects? Is there any time for a 1:1 with team members? Giving a few minutes to your team and connecting with them so that they appreciate that you are all working on the same goals, their work contributes to the overall purpose of the organisation and that they can contribute to the business. Overall though, it is about showing that they are respected by their manager and that they matter. By scheduling in a 15 minute catch up, or for remote based employees a phone call, at least once a week, you may be saving your business thousands of dollars in attrition costs or sick days. If they are respected in the workplace and feel that their opinion is valued, they will be less likely to want to leave or take time off. You might also be getting some great innovative suggestions on how to improve your processes. These people are often the closest to the customer and know how to make life better for them. How much would you pay for a consultant to advise you on improving your business processes? Your employees could be a free consultancy resource if you encourage them to speak their mind without the fear of negative consequences. Ideally you should allow the workforce to see you when it suits them, and that might mean postponing other work to a later time. However, this is not always possible. Schedule time on a Friday afternoon to catch up with team members. If you’ve had ad hoc meetings with them during the week, you can use this time for the things you postponed. Either way, they will feel valued and appreciated. You could just spend the time reflecting on the week, and recognising the good work that they’ve done. Or discussing how they could learn from the things that didn’t go to plan. If there’s not much to report, you can discuss the plans for the weekend. Get to know them, and they will respond. The results will be seen in the business results as well as the wellbeing of the team. It’s a smart business strategy as well as an empathetic and human way to treat people. What changes are you going to make this week?