Welcome to
...a series of tips to help you build business success through employee satisfaction and organizational culture
Tips 11-20
Articles adapted from Natalie Wickham
Tip 12: Take advantage of failures
When employees and leaders make bad decisions or mistakes, they have a prime opportunity to build trust. Showing authenticity and vulnerability is the best approach. Ignoring failures or, even worse, passing the blame, hurts trust. Don't gloss over these moments and hurry to find new solutions. Use them as opportunities to show you're human.
Tip 13: Provide flexible work hours and locations
Your employees aren't children. If you hired good people, you have to trust them to get their job done. Research shows that remote work increases engagement and boosts productivity. When your employees have the freedom to work where and how they need to, they feel trusted and respected. But make sure you're providing your workforce with the resources and support they need to be successful working remotely.
If you don’t have the right resources as an employee, speak up. Communicate your desired work environment to avoid burnout and achieve peak performance.
Tip 14: Throw going-away parties for exiting employees
Turnover is never fun or easy, but you can add some joy by celebrating an employee leaving for a new job. This allows coworkers to say their final goodbyes and ensures you're not burning any bridges. It also shows remaining employees that your organization values them and their hard work.
Tip 15: Support volunteer programs
Is there a cause your workplace is passionate about? Encourage employees to volunteer, even if that time comes during the workday. This helps employees feel like they're making a difference, which boosts morale. It's also an opportunity for new bonds to form and for relationships to strengthen.
Tip 16: Create a feedback-safe environment
Employees need to feel safe. They need to know that if they give feedback they won’t face negative repercussions.
This starts with building trusting relationships. It's reinforced by how people receive feedback. Different employees will have different comfort levels with both giving and receiving feedback. It’s important to be respectful and not force it. Use emotional intelligence to gauge whether a person is ready to give or receive feedback—and if you can’t tell, ask.
Don’t hesitate to communicate your comfort level with feedback as an employee. If you are seeking more feedback, speak up.
Tip 17: Ask employees how they prefer to be recognized
Recognition is critical to employee engagement, in fact when employees believe they will be recognized, they are 2.7x more likely to be highly engaged. But each employee is different. Take the time to understand how your employees and teammates prefer recognition.
Some employees prefer public recognition. Others shy from the spotlight and might prefer a private message or a thank-you card. Discovering each colleagues preferred method will help you give the most impactful recognition.
Tip 18: Find your champions
When an employee goes above and beyond or does great work, be sure to call out their success. This pumps up the employee while giving the rest of the office a chance to see what strong output looks like. It motivates others to step up their game. And when teammates consistently do this, a culture of recognition is built, actively boosting engagement.
Tip 20: Create feedback traditions
Culture is made up of shared traditions, habits, artifacts, and language. Look for opportunities to create shared experiences around giving and receiving feedback.
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