The previous tips can make you a better listener. The tips that follow will help your employees talk to you, openly and honestly.
-
Don’t keep employees out of the loop.
By definition, your employees are insiders in your business. They should all have a stake in seeing it succeed and grow. Keeping them out of the loop, both for good news and bad, is a quick way to make them think you don’t value their opinions and ideas.
Keeping employees in the loop doesn’t mean you need to go into great detail. If you had a bad quarter, your employees probably aren’t going to care that the rubber futures in Paraguay caused a softening of the international latex market causing your plastic widgets to sell for three cents less per piece. But, they will care that your company showed a lower than expected profit, or a higher than expected return.
-
Just a couple of concluding thoughts.
Keeping the lines of communication open shows that you value your employee’s opinions and that you want them to be invested in their company. Making sure the lines of communication remain open between you and your employees should be a primary management task.
“We don’t recruit engaged employees. Engaged employees are created,” says Lisa Wojtkowiak, client relationship manager with the Opinion Research Corporation, part of Infogroup. “It’s our job to engage our employees from day one.”
Take the time to listen to what your employees are saying, both directly and indirectly. Many times the best way to get an answer to a question is to let someone else come up with the question in the first place.
This article has been edited and condensed.
Simon Crompton is an entrepreneur running several online businesses. Currently focusing on his marketing firm, Threecolors.blue, he is also a trained journalist sharing his knowledge via several internet blogs. In his spare time he’s an avid programmer and videographer. Connect with @PermanentStle on Twitter.
© YFS Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Copying prohibited. All material is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited. Sharing of this material under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International terms, listed here, is permitted.
