Managing a team of varying personalities and characteristics can be challenging but communication is one of the most important ways to keep your employees happy and motivated. It can be difficult to ease tension with your staff sometimes but if you follow these steps, it should be a whole lot easier.
- Be Clear and Consistent
When you offer advice, explain the rules or provide instructions, be clear. Ambiguity is one of the most stressful things to occur in the workplace. Be consistent, also. If you’re always changing your story, you’ll add unneeded pressure to your employees because they’ll never know what it is you actually need from them.
- Be Fair
When there are conflicts among employees and you need to step in, handle with care and diplomacy. Sometimes conflict can be a matter of small misunderstandings and it might just be your job to stop it before it gets more serious than that.
- Listen
From an employee’s perspective, one of the most frustrating and de-motivating things that can happen at work is the boss just doesn’t listen. When someone’s trying to tell you something, hear them out and consider with genuine interest what it is they’re trying to express. They work in the trenches and might have important things to say about things you’re out of touch with.
- Ask Questions
Not only does asking questions show you care, it will also help you gain a new perspective. Sometimes reconnecting with the group is a necessary thing for the boss to do. Asking questions to make sure you know how things are going also opens the door for comfortable two-way communication in the future.
- Avoid Getting Too Personal
Having a friendly relationship with your employees is a good thing. But you want to avoid getting too personal, which includes disclosing too much information, asking for too much information and showing too much emotion. These things have the potential to cause a loss of respect and boundaries between you and them and thus all authority will cease to exist.
Open communication with your team is a key factor to overall business success but it can be difficult sometimes. You’re busy and up against your own deadlines, taking the necessary time for proper communication just doesn’t fit into your schedule. But spending some time to implement these 5 steps can turn it all around for both you and your employees.
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