Listen to Those Who Know Best

Strong leadership, firm parameters and clear direction are necessary for a business to succeed, but that doesn’t have to equal an oppressive workplace. If your team aren’t having fun at work — that is, they aren’t engaged in the process and treated with respect — your business will not be successful.

A healthy work culture is simply a function of a few guiding principles: honesty, trust, dignity and respect. These 4 principles go together; reinforce one another, and when they are constants in a business, people become engaged in their work.

They’ll care, they’ll talk, they’ll laugh, and fun will happen quite naturally. In short, people are happy when they feel they are making a difference.

As an added bonus, significantly reduced employee turnover, increased productivity and decreased sick days will fall out of an improved culture.

As is such a common mantra in the issue of leadership these days, cultivating honesty, trust, dignity and respect becomes quite possibly the most important job of the leaders.

In order to learn from your employees, beef up internal communication.

That doesn’t just mean sending information to your team, but listening too. Take feedback seriously and respond thoughtfully. It’s crucial in cultivating a culture in which people feel motivated and secure.

To get the best from your team, and your business: 

• Enlist the support of your team if you want to realise dramatic and lasting results in a short timeframe.
• Involve your team, listen to them, learn from them and share with them.
• Keep communications flowing and work hard to build trust and mutual respect.