Helping the employee be their best.
There are many different ideas on how to get the best out of employees. Schemes from rewards (gifts and money), team outings, competitions with great (read expensive) prizes, to trophies all try to coax more (and higher quality) work out of the employees.
I found a fantastic method of helping out the employees and it didn’t even cost a penny.
Correct, no financial cost. But, for some, a huge ego cost.
For reasons I cannot totally figure out, I have got significant resistance from some managers for this method.
The Answer? Encouragement and Praise
Before you start sputtering and guffawing at this…hear me out! Your positive comments need to be far greater than negative comments.
According to John Gottman, relationship guru at University of Washington:
“That “magic ratio” is 5 to 1. This means that for every negative interaction during conflict, a stable and happy marriage has five (or more) positive interactions.”
Granted he was talking about marriage but I have found this same ratio to work with employees. Employees can get so discouraged as they only hear of problems from their management. Over time this subtly wears them down and they start giving up on being successful in their work.
Better Than Pay Raises
Don’t get me wrong, you cannot underpay an employee and use positive comments to the as a substitute for money. But…some managers have used frequently increases in pay in order to keep the employee happy. That does help dramatically but it does nothing for the employee on a day-to-day basis.
You can get huge loyalty from your employees but giving them positive feedback. All, yes I mean all, employees want to know where they stand and your positive comments are helpful.
Danger
I want to clarify something that I have seen happen with positive comments that can be a problem. Any feedback you give to an employee or fellow worker must be genuine and accurate. People have a good BS meter and giving positive comments to an activity that the employee knows was not that great will destroy everything you have said before. You MUST be accurate and sincere with the comments.
For managers, there is a great need to point out issues that need to be addressed. That will make the employee feel more secure because they then know exactly where they stand.
When you address problems, make sure you include a path forward to remedy the situation. Or, ask the employee for their view on how the problem can be addressed. Even though the discussion is negative, the overall discussion will be positive.
I want to know when I am messing up (and I mess up all the time!). When done in a non-threatening way, it is good to know how I can improve myself. Just put yourself in the position of the employee when you are handling negative issues and that discussion will be productive.
A Better Workplace
Millennials get many negative comments from others about their “strange” ways.
However, I found Millennials have a good perspective on life and they want something better than having work dominate their lives to the exclusion of almost everything.
I have worked with great Millennials who work very hard and their results are fantastic. They just don’t want to give up their entire life for work!
We can do this together…we can build a fantastic environment that makes the work experience great!
Go forth and make the workplace great!