The structure of the modern workplace environment is changing rapidly, and the sterile offices and suits of the past are now moving through an evolution. Positive corporate culture is becoming an integral part of business, as it affects almost every aspect of a company from the top down. From recruiting top talent to improving overall employee satisfaction, company culture is the backbone of a happy and productive workforce. We wanted to dive into how you can get the most out of your workforce, and who better to speak to than Dallas Dance. Dallas Dance is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur who believes in authentic leadership and the power of being bold and courageous to achieve big goals and solve tough challenges. Together, we went through a list of the five top tips on how you can get the most out of your workforce, no matter how big or small.
Start Change at the Leadership Level
As the saying goes: lead by example. Dallas Dance explains that positive company culture begins with leadership, as leaders set the tone for how a company operates, treats its employees and rewards excellent work. Great leaders can inspire trust and admiration from their employees simply through their actions. If you want your employees to come in early and show initiative, be the first person in the office in the morning so they can see your example. If you want your team to be positive in the face of adversity or challenges, be the first one to suggest a solution-finding brainstorm. Dallas Dance suggests that one of the best ways to set an example for your team is to deal appropriately with disappointment and failure. Let’s face it, every team is going to fail sometimes, and being able to drive your team towards a solution-oriented culture and not a defeatist culture will be crucial to fostering positive problem-solving. When you open yourself up to opportunities and focus on a solution, you are much more likely to find one.
Be Invested in Your Employees
The second way to get the most out of your workforce is to be invested in your team. Too often, leaders do not care to invest personal time in their team to understand where they are and how they’re feeling in their positions. Dallas Dance explains that coaching is an important part of leadership and can enrich a sense of fulfillment in your employees. Setting up one-on-one meetings with your team will allow you to review their progress and offer direction and guidance as needed. One of the biggest missteps that leaders make is not allowing an open door for honest communication. Learning more about your team and driving them to succeed according to a personal metric and not a comparative one offers people a sense of direction and motivation to excel in their jobs. Doing this also gives you an opportunity to keep your employees happy and redirect them into roles and positions where they can thrive.
Involve Employees in Brainstorming Sessions
Every team, whether it consists of three 3 or 50 people, has brainstorming sessions and monthly meetings—at least they should. It has been common practice among traditional leadership teams to make important decisions without consulting the rest of the team, but this is a crucial mistake. Now, we are not saying to allow everyone to vote on an issue that weighs heavily on your organization, but strongly encourage being open to new opinions and ideas. Dallas Dance says that the benefit of this practice is that you may see things from a perspective that you had never previously considered, and it allows you to see who the linchpins in your organization are. If your team works directly with clients and partners, they have a unique perspective that provides them with key insight into your business. Too often, teams have great ideas on how to improve your business but have no platform to share them, so create one for them. When your employees’ ideas are implemented, it gives them a great sense of fulfillment at their jobs, knowing that their opinions and ideas are valued.
Invest in Education and Further Learning
One of the easiest ways to strengthen your team is to invest in their learning and education. This way of thinking is relatively new to corporate culture but is easily one of the most important. To be productive, you need to get tasks and projects completed, no one will argue with that, but if your team feels stagnant and task-driven, the likelihood of them sticking around for longer than a few years is slim. Dallas Dance explained that people like to grow and feel a sense of achievement and value in their work, and one of the best ways you can do that is pay them to learn and help them build up their resume with your organization. Will some employees, now equipped with better skills and experience than before, leave your company for better prospects? Sure, perhaps a few. But many will stay for the investment you are making in them as individuals. Not only does this imbed a sense of loyalty in your staff, but it is cheaper to maintain your present workforce than it is hire new ones. You are giving your employees valuable skills that will only serve to elevate your business. It is a win-win situation.
Allow for Some Freedom of Expression
Lastly, give people the freedom to express themselves and tell you what works best for them. We have accepted the factory format culture of the upper echelons of a company telling employees what to wear, when to come to work, and how to act when they are there. Of course, there are regulations and guidelines in place to make everyone feel safe and comfortable, but being amenable to different lifestyles, habits and perspectives is key to a happy, productive workforce. Dallas Dance explains that if you have an employee who works best from home two days a week and still produces incredible work, let them. If you have no clients coming into the office and your employees want to wear their slippers in the wintertime, let them. All of these are negotiated and will rely on several key factors that are particular to your office and corporate culture, but they are all worth investigating and making room for.
Leading a workforce can be a very challenging but rewarding experience. Dallas Dance hopes that trying to find methods of implementing these tips into your work environment will help to make your workforce even more productive.
