How often do you meet with your employees individually? How often do you talk to them, listen to them, and learn from them? This is one of the best ways to improve employee engagement and company culture. Yet, it is often neglected. When things get busy, it’s hard to do this. Sometimes, it even becomes the last thing owners and managers take the time to do.
What should I Talk to my Employees About?
The best way to engage your employees is to ask them questions and spend more time listening than talking. Even asking employees simple questions, such as:
- “What are your goals over the next couple of years?”
- Or “What part of your job do you enjoy the best?”.
- Or even “Do you have everything you need to do your work effectively?”.
And then genuinely listening to their answers, you’d be amazed at the difference it will make.
Caring For Your Employees Means Caring For Your Customers
Your employees are usually the ones that spend the most time with your customers – so they are the ones who know your customers best. When your employees feel cared for, listened to, and valued, they tend to treat your customers the same way. Also, you can utilize their knowledge of customers by asking questions, such as:
- “What are the most-asked questions by our customers”
- Or “What do you hear from our customers that you wish we would consider?”
- Or maybe “What would you like to see here if you were a customer?”
Learning more from your employees about what your customers want can even help shape the vision of your company.
Your Employees are Your Greatest Asset
Our employees are our most important asset if you treat them with the utmost respect, ask them the right questions, allow them to do their best, and let them shine. We can learn a lot from our team – if we just take an extra few minutes, ask questions and listen. When is the last time you took 5 minutes and asked a team member an important question? Showing you genuinely care and want to listen to them goes a long way in keeping them engaged and happy at work!
Want to improve employee engagement at your company? Thrive Business Strategies offers many training options, which can be customized to suit specific needs, to help you build, grow, and keep the best team possible!
__________________________________________________________________________
Cindy Piva is Founder and President of Thrive Business Strategies.