"Believing in people before they have proved themselves is the key to motivating them to reach their potential."
John C. Maxwell
Author
Author
Believing is one thing but demonstrating that you do seals the deal.
I'm a Big Brother in the Big Brother program and work with two brothers ages 14 and 12. Telling them I believe they can succeed in school, athletics, their relationships with others, etc., is fine but acting as though they already have, is far more important.
Banks do this when they loan money, adults when entering personal relationships, parents when giving the car keys to their new driver son or daughter. To a point employers do when promoting someone but is that enough? Are the people we promote the only employees we believe in?
Businesses succeed or fail depending on what their employees do and there must be ways to demonstrate our belief in those who deserve our trust. What are they?
I'm a Big Brother in the Big Brother program and work with two brothers ages 14 and 12. Telling them I believe they can succeed in school, athletics, their relationships with others, etc., is fine but acting as though they already have, is far more important.
Banks do this when they loan money, adults when entering personal relationships, parents when giving the car keys to their new driver son or daughter. To a point employers do when promoting someone but is that enough? Are the people we promote the only employees we believe in?
Businesses succeed or fail depending on what their employees do and there must be ways to demonstrate our belief in those who deserve our trust. What are they?
Create a program that actively solicits employee opinion concerning the best way to improve the business. By "actively" I mean with predictable frequency which can vary depending on the department and by actually implementing some of what they suggest. Do this well and it will quickly become apparent that management does believe in and value the employees.
ReplyDeleteBut keep in real. If you do this over a period of time and do not find anything you can use you either have the wrong employees (unlikely) or more likely, do not value what they have to say. If that's it, they will see it too and you're dead.
John is right about the need to "keep it real." Most employees see "suggestion boxes" as a joke. There is no closed loop to what they suggest be done.
ReplyDeleteBuild closure into whatever program you have that asks employees what they think. Without it it's a one side conversation that won't go on for long (the employees will shut down.)