The relationship between a boss and their employees is unlike that of a romantic relationship or that between friends. You want to have positive relationships between you and your employees, but you need to make sure they’re appropriate and not showing any signs of favoritism. These are things you can do for the best relationships possible between you and employees.
Perks
Perks can really add to an employee’s morale and good feelings about your leadership. You may already offer quality benefits, but you can go some steps further. A perk that has become popular for companies to offer are health and wellness programs. Employee wellness programs promote healthy lifestyles among employees. This helps your employees to remember how important taking care of their bodies can lead to better work performance and more overall happiness. You can also include perks such as rewards for meeting certain quotas. Have fun with this and let your employees have some say as well.
Be Encouraging
You can achieve far more by being positive than by being critical. While employees always have room to improve, you should be more focused on what they’re doing right, which is probably far more than what they’re doing wrong. You can point out areas of improvement on an individual as well as a collective basis. Being encouraging can also come from telling your employees who are struggling about how you empathize. Even if you have different ranks, you’re all on the same team and can support one another by recognizing this. Your positive words could help an employee aspire to and reach positions in their careers that are higher than they ever dreamed of.
Ask for Their Input
Nothing makes people feel quite as good as knowing their opinions are valued. When you have a tough call to make or just need some general work advice, ask employees for input. You don’t need to ask absolutely everyone, as all the opinions at once can be hard to comb through and make it hard to come to a decision. This can make your employees feel better about coming to you for advice, as they’ll know that you don’t have an air of superiority that makes you unreachable. Your employers should look up to and respect you, regardless of if they’re older or younger than you. However, that respect should never be gotten out of fear or mind games. You can show that you’re a great boss by having strong expectations of your team and keeping up an aura of positive energy around them.
If you want more help improving your employees, or even yourself as a business owner, contact us today and see how we can help!