How to Bring the Best in Your Employees (or to Bring It Back)

Employees are both of the tangible and intangible assets of the company. Best employees that work together harmoniously will wring the best of the company as well.

Boosting the performance of the employees in your company is not just a matter of motivation, but it is also a series of management skills that you have to possess as a manager or CXO of your company.

To bring the best of your employees, you first must understand that employees are not only an organizational component of the structure, but after all, human beings. This is something that even managers in big companies may forget sometimes.

It is not rare that the decline of a company is rooted in the failure of employee optimization. If you see the signs in your company and you believe that this is the time for a change, you might be right. Recognizing the problems in the employees in the early stage is the key for a successful solution.

As human beings are complex creatures that have different needs from one another, leaders should also assess the situation of each employee carefully. In the beginning, a subtle investigation is the best strategy to start, before making an obvious program for a particular division of the employees.

Here are some checklist that you need to do upon the effort to bring the best in your employees:

1. Listening

Listening is the #1 rule of this list because only by listening to your team that you can start to figure out what is the real problem. Recognizing a problem is important before really taking the right actions.

Read some on how to be a better listener in the general way, because everyone must master this prominent communication skill anyway. The right way to start listening is to ask the right question, and then make sure you don’t interrupt or try to steer the direction so you can get an honest insight.

2. Make sure they have already eaten

This might sound funny or odd, but the best leader has to make sure that the team has already filled their stomach before starting an important discussion. Some people don't like breakfast, but many people get agitated easily or at least find it hard to concentrate over an empty stomach.

It is decent enough to ask them plainly, “Did you guys eat something?” upon starting a meeting.

Making sure they have already eaten also means that you make sure your employees are living decently. This might sound like a social responsibility, but if they cannot afford their basic needs, the only result they can give you is their bare minimum. You can kiss goodbye to something such as loyalty.

3. Set up a program together

This program can be a retreat, internal seminar, or some competition with promising reward. You can invite a great motivator or influencer related to your brand niche to speak to your team in a mini seminar. Some competition (internal or external one) can also be a great idea, depending on how you communicate with them.

That being said, you must allocate a special budget for such a program. If you’re currently short of ideas, time, or budget, such a small dinner together with the team could also touch their heart.

Don’t forget to set up 3-8 key parameters that you want to see some improvement in. For example, you want to increase their creativity, skill, and leadership. Set up some score range and make sure that they are well-informed on the requirements.

4. Reward and (not) punishment

This should be the best way to nurture your employees at their best performance. Commonly, without the leaders announcing a new rule with punishment in it, employees are already anxious. Needless to say, the reward system works at most cases. Everybody needs recognition and you can always award a well-deserved one.

If the situation is getting worse on a particular person, a friendly reminder as a warning might be necessary. However, make sure that the purpose of the warning is still for the sake of their best.

5. Educate yourself as well

See a mentor or a coach, attend a seminar, watch a webinar, or at least read some books. Leadership starts from within and obviously every leader has to walk the talk. Let them see that you are also doing the real thing to set a good example.

6. Bring back their focus

After taking the team to some detour to give them a different perspective, it’s time to bring back their focus on a more serious meeting. Even so, you probably need to change your style on how to convey the message, as the previous style seems to be not so effective.

7. Evaluation

Just like any other business program, you need to assess and re-assess the efficacy of the employees improvement program monthly, or biweekly. Some pivot might need to be done during or after the process. Don’t forget to ask the employees or board leaders for their opinions.

Conclusion

Bringing the best in the employees, or bringing it back, requires both empathy and leadership. In most of the cases, employees just need to be redirected to the more suitable path based on the current trends and situation. With the right program, you will not only make the employees feel much better about themselves, but you can also gain more of their admiration, and eventually, better progress for your business or your company.