Workers deserve to feel appreciated every day they walk into the office. After all, without these team members performing vital tasks, your organization wouldn’t be able to do business. Not to mention, employees who feel valued are more likely to work harder and be more productive.
Looking to boost morale and output at your workplace? Follow these four tips to help your fellow employees feel appreciated on a daily basis.
1. Listen to Your Colleagues
The first rule is simple: Treat your coworkers with respect! Employees who feel they are being listened to will perform better. According to the Harvard Business Review, there are specific steps you can take to ensure your team members feel heard. Here are five effective strategies:
- Make
listening a priority. If you’re the one who does most of the talking, you’ll need to learn how to sit back and listen. - Put down your phone and all
other distractions. If you’re multi-tasking during the conversation, your colleagues won’t feel heard and, in fact, you probably aren’t fully absorbing what they have to say. - Look for nonverbal cues. This can be hard if you have remote coworkers, but consider using video conferencing over phone calls and texting. How someone says something can tell you a lot more than the words they use.
- Control your reactions. When someone disagrees with you, do you immediately make a face? Don’t let your mouth say one thing and your facial expressions say another.
- Validate and verify. Ask questions! Echo back what you think the employee has said. Actively listening helps your employees feel valued, even if you ultimately decide not to go with their ideas.
To keep reading, click here: How Employee Appreciation Can Make a Difference
If they have suggestions, at least once in a while, implement their suggestions!
It is funny how all of these ideas have been covered in an old book/course called the Art of Conversation. Blame the hyper-reliance on using technology on not know how to have a real face to face conversations, where you see the reactions of your words on another. Hiding behind a text/email/etc conversation all you deal with is words and not a person. We don’t even have meals together and talk without needing a form of technology