An organisation’s ability to achieve excellence depends on the capacity of its leadership to articulate the company’s vision to its people and how best its people are contributing to bringing it to life. It is no wonder that the workforce of any company is considered its biggest asset, and the majority of powerful business leaders are those who have a symbiotic relationship with their teams – a relationship that is built on trust and conviction towards a common goal. So, here is what employee-centric organisations do to get it right.
Work culture that fosters growth and productivity – for employer and employee:
Creating an environment that is conducive to employee excellence does not happen by chance; it needs to be actively worked upon constantly. Leading organisations demonstrate a commitment towards their employees’ future by investing in knowledge development to ensure that their skills are updated and relevant, and that engagement methodologies are effective.
Reports of the Great Resignation and the trend of Quiet Quitting indicate that the traditional levers of talent retention, such as compensation or promotions, while important, are not enough. Employers increasingly need to pay close attention to employees’ needs, by reviewing their productivity, engagement, and sense of belonging. Organisations today are also developing mechanisms to ensure that their senior management teams are better involved in coaching employees one-on-one and taking a keen interest in the employees’ career trajectories. This leads to improved respect, communication, and collaboration within the organisation.
Building trusting and dedicated teams require open channels of communication within the workforce. To develop a healthy organisational culture, organisations must train their managers on building cohesive teams in the new normal and deploy new-age tools to manage productivity.
Employee delight and motivation:
For an organisation to delight its customers, its internal stakeholders must be delighted as well. Motivated employees are more likely to make additional efforts and consistently act towards organisational objectives, and they do so with a positive attitude. Management, therefore, must take initiative to reinforce positive employee behaviours which in turn lead to positive outcomes.
‘Communication’ is the fuel that opens up channels of collaboration and is important for organisations to understand what motivates their employees and align their rules, policies and organisational structure in a way that renders space for the employees to work well. This can be done by establishing robust mechanisms to communicate more with their employees and enable them to exchange innovative ideas to boost their morale. Encouraging deliberations, open-office culture and allowing employees to ask for clarity on subjects or decisions as well as make suggestions, helps to set the grounds for a formidable and symbiotic relationship between the employer and the employees.
Additionally, employee benefits and wellness programs to ensure well-being are important for a healthy workplace. Companies must establish robust rewards & recognition program as it goes a long way in ensuring that employees are motivated to contribute towards achieving organisational goals. Recognition also helps boost employees’ confidence in themselves and subsequently increase loyalty towards the organisation.
President & CEO, Canon India
Periodic course correction:
Much like the analogy of a captain constantly monitoring and correcting the direction in which his ship sails, organisations need to devise an evaluation mechanism to ensure that employees are on the right track to achieving their goals. Often, business leaders make the mistake of thinking that major efforts and investments may be required to build employee satisfaction. But in reality, most often it is the minor adjustments to the existing business machinery that helps to get the organisation propel on the path to success. To use another powerful analogy – the difference between a successful shot in golf versus a shot that is unsuccessful is usually just a matter of a few degrees in the angle at which the club hits the ball. In other words; small, intelligent changes can give organisations big results and foster an environment of growth and well-being.
To conclude, employees are the most powerful brand advocates a company can possess, hence they must be nurtured in the best way possible to play their part as one. Employees are the truest representatives of the organisation, its ethos, and offerings, even more than its investors and customers. It all begins at home, and that is where successful organisations stand out.