There’s a saying among business owners that if you take good care of your employees, your employees will take good care of your business. Successful business owners know that this is true, which is why most business owners and bosses strive to create an inviting and accommodating company culture. I’ve wrote short posts several times on this topic:
When employees are satisfied and happy, they will spend most of their time working and improving your business. On the other hand, employees who are stressed out will most likely spend their time grumbling and complaining and won’t have much of a positive impact on your company.
(Pixabay / StockSnap)
The steps to good customer relations are quite simple as long as you are genuine and sincere about doing them the right way. Here are just a few of them:
Communicate Properly
Communicating well with your employees is one of the best ways to build a rapport with them. Written messages are effective in many cases, but they can also contribute to discord because they can be misunderstood so easily. Without the benefit of facial expressions and other nuances, these communications may come off differently than intended.
This is why an open medium for communication which utilizes both written and verbal methods is preferred. For example, it is best to do a face-to-face meeting when talking with the team and still have someone write down the minutes so that people can read them afterward in email form. And texts and emails may work well for mundane conversations, but more fraught topics should be discussed in person. So the bottom line here is to communicate frequently and openly, but make sure that you are choosing the right medium for doing so.
Eat Together
Just like within families, dining together can foster camaraderie and improve the closeness of a team. If employees see you (as the boss) eating in a separate place all the time, they may feel a barrier between you and them. This could cause them to be hesitant to converse with you and may even create some tension. If you try to join them when eating every once in a while, not only will they feel more at ease with you, but you will also learn the personalities and unique traits of your employees. You don’t have to do it for every meal, but eating with your team every so often can earn employee respect, and build trust and unity.
Schedule Outings and Team Building Sessions
Team building activities and outings are as cliché as company activities get, but they are there for a reason. They are effective, not because you are forcing your employees to group up and have fun, but because they give you and your workforce a chance to share a goal and a meal away from the workplace. By having a joint activity away from work, you and your employees can see a different side of each other, which helps everyone remember that their coworkers are human beings with thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Internalizing this can help everyone work together more effectively and may even calm tensions between coworkers.
The trick here is consistency. No single effort will revolutionize relations, but an ongoing effort to spend time with and cultivate respect for your employees will pay dividends. Happy workers are productive ones, so you can expect to see your company blossom when you invest in good employee relations.
