Caring For Your Team

There are many ways you can show your team you care and you appreciate them.  During this challenging time, your team needs you to lead now more than ever.

SAY THANK YOU MORE OFTEN

This may seem obvious and yet many employees have shared they wished their leaders and employers would say thank you more often.  Companies can feel their employees are paid for doing their job. Saying a genuine thank you and recognizing an employee for taking care of their responsibilities shows you care.

I used to feel I was saying thank you often enough. Sometimes you realize you are not actually doing this. Being aware and making changes to say thank you more often makes a difference. Today with most of the team working from home these thank you’s are more important than ever!  Positive reinforcement helps everyone be more positive.

LISTEN & RECOGNIZE YOUR EMPLOYEES

Your employees see the business and their daily tasks differently than the way employers see them. Ask your employees what they think. Ask them what they recommend to improve and make things better. Ask what they need and how they are doing.

Listen to them. Acknowledge their ideas and input. Employers may not always agree, however, seeing the employees’ perspectives and blending it with the employer’s perspective creates very positive results.

At our weekly Team discussions, we say thank you to employees for specific things accomplished from the previous week. These include recent certifications, targets reached, and client experiences. We also recognize milestones with awards for 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, and 25 years of service.

PROVIDE A FUN AND CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT

We spend a significant amount at our office and home offices. Are these areas confined with and no room for any leisure activities? Where do employees have lunch and where do they take a break? Most spend the entire day sitting at their desk.

There are many departments and smaller online meetings and touchpoints to continue the creativeness we had in the building. We have created areas of very open space. There is a ping pong table for some leisure time when taking a break. We have a quiet room and the “Unplugged Lounge” for interactive and creative discussions. There is a lot of outdoor green space for playing catch, throwing a football around, and kicking a soccer ball.

On Friday afternoons, the entire team is online to share how their week went, give kudos and share light topics to help everyone ease into the weekend. Sharing ideas in this way helps to keep a fun and creative team together.

What are you doing to appreciate your team?

WOW THEM

One of the AlphaKORians' asked I ever have a bad day? My reply was “I have no idea what you are talking about” and smiled. We had a good discussion and I asked why he would ask this question. His response was “every time you walk by, you are happy, smiling, talking to us and caring about how we are doing.” Bringing energy is not easy and is not an option as a leader.

We are all facing challenges and stress levels are higher for many these days.   Leaders recognize this and want to continue to create a warm and caring environment.  During the interactions throughout the day, keep asking how everyone is doing, what is their biggest challenge, how are things with their loved ones, and if there is anything they need help with.  Wow them with this virtual hug truly showing how much you care.

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE

As long as there is balance with work, leisure, and creativity, this type of environment works very well. Our employees have embraced and supported this environment and enjoy the “java” stations for many types of coffee or tea.  Half the team is in the office while the other half continues to work at home.  Increased communication with everyone will continue to be important for the business side and more importantly for the personal side.

We need to be here for each other, to support and to help everyone get through this.   There is a lot of chatter and noise communicated from the world which makes some days tougher than others.  Reach out to ask if you can help or ask someone to talk to.  It is okay to ask for help.

(Originally published on 11.18.20)