With the dental team returning to the practice, Kelly Games lists five simple ways principals and managers can keep employees motivated.
People often like to flit from job to job, believing that the grass is greener. They hope they will one day find the happiness and suitability to their wants and lifestyle needs.
However, they may have already found it previously. If only their employers had done a better job at keeping their employees engaged.
Engaging your team should go far beyond staff appraisals. It’s about keeping that momentum, energy and passion alive.
Ensure each member of your staff has a purpose and when they get up in the morning they are thinking: ‘Great, I’m going to work!’
In addition, a happy team that loves their job, will also want to stay within your business for the long term. Practices with a high staff turnover often find that going through the recruitment process over and over again takes up a lot of time spent finding the right candidate. And the subsequent training costs money, too.
If staff aren’t happy within the business even after all of your investment, they will simply leave and take those new skills elsewhere.
In any business, staff retention is always something to aim for. So ensuring your employees fall in love with their job is absolutely key to business success.
It is easier said than delivered. There are, of course, lots of challenges that you may be up against. Whether that’s budget, contrast in personalities, the current climate or limits in what you can offer your staff.
We’ll explore some simple changes that can help you retain your staff and boost their love for the job.
Model leadership
What takes businesses to the next level is quality management or leadership that creates a positive workplace culture.
Although it may not be in your nature, showing emotional empathy towards your staff can drive positive employee experiences.
If you’re modelling respectful behaviour within your practice and creating a safe, non-judgmental environment, this can go a long way to really enthuse engagement amongst your team.
If you’re a trusted leader, your team is more likely to be motivated by your honesty. This will, in turn, inspire the culture and productivity that you desire for your practice.
Do your team have a sense of togetherness and are you or your senior management staff approachable?
The likelihood is that the stronger the working relationships are, the better the leadership is within a practice.
Appreciate
Without regular recognition, your team can feel under-valued and under-recognised for their efforts. Even if they are just ‘doing their job’.
Just turning up on contracted days, your team members make a difference and contribute to your business.
Saying ‘thank you’ from time to time can have a huge impact on morale. However, it should be personal, so that it draws your team in and recognises that each individual is doing a great job.
If you offer staff rewards for their hard work (and you should!), tailoring them can add a personal touch. Whether it’s a beauty voucher or a ticket to a sporting event, they will appreciate the thought that goes into the gift.
It’s important that you are genuine and authentic. This includes matching your tone of voice and facial expressions to convey your appreciation.
Bring ideas to life
Innovation is critical. Not only for business development but also for the effectiveness of your employees.
Your team spends a lot of their life in work. Allowing them to be creative within their job roles can really help them to flourish and feel valued within the team.
It is also a blessing, offering you fresh ideas to ongoing problems. Or uncovering more efficient practices and use of resources.
It’s important never to brush off an idea, even if you’re too busy. This is really discouraging.
It’s always worth discussing the pros and cons of implementing an idea and to involve the employee in the change journey.
If you cannot implement an idea, let them know why you can’t achieve it.
If you involve your team within the practice’s future goals, your employees will feel more involved with the company journey. And they can put their own stamp on it, too.
Communicate inclusively
This may seem like a no-brainer. But communicating in the work world is massively overlooked.
The lack of communication within businesses causes a lot of upset and sour working relationships. This can consequently result in increasing staff turnover.
Treating everyone equally, regardless of their role or level within the practice, is vital for inclusivity as a team. Managers or senior leadership is the biggest hazard within a workplace.
Trust always works better than fear. Managers should know that their role is purely for supportive coaching and mentoring, not authoritative behaviour. This can have the opposite effect!
Clarify employees’ career goals
If you knew you were walking into a job where there were no development prospects or increased responsibility over time, would you take it? Probably not!
Ensuring you clarify your employees’ goals is important to establish how you can continue to engage them with their job.
Are there courses that would interest them, or would they like to be multi-skilled within the practice by adopting different roles to keep their working week diverse?
Knowing what makes each employee tick and understanding their career goals is a good engagement tactic. Make sure you act upon it accordingly.
Consistently check in with each member of the team to ensure they are still happy and feel like they are achieving their aspirations.
Help them to keep striving by asking them how they want challenging next, or how they would like more involvement in growing the business with you.
Utilising their experience, their talent and their skills will keep them engaged and will hugely benefit the practice. This will also help you to retain good team members who are happy and challenged in their working environment.
How can CODE help?
The experienced Total HR team at CODE can help you make changes. These changes not only increase your team morale, but provide you with engagement options and what works best for you and your employees.
For more information on CODE’s Total HR service visit www.codeuk.com/hr or call the team on 01409 254 416.
