Let\u2019s face it, not all workplaces are created equally. Some companies feel more like extended families, and everyone that works in a place like that reports having categorically higher job satisfaction, with predictable effects on productivity and morale.<\/p>\n
Obviously, you want your business to be like that. A place where your employees come to work, yes, but a place they also enjoy coming to. One that\u2019s not filled with angry whispers, infighting and tension, but how do you create such an environment?<\/p>\n
While there are no simple answers to that question, if you follow the tips below, you\u2019ll be well on your way to creating a happy, harmonious, productive work environment:<\/p>\n
Encourage Ideas From Everyone<\/strong><\/p>\n Many managers claim to have an open-door policy, but in practice, most simply don\u2019t. Not because they can\u2019t, but because they don\u2019t really know how.<\/p>\n The first, best way to create a happy, harmonious environment is to encourage your employees to think outside the box, and outside the relatively narrow definitions of their job descriptions. You and your management team cannot and will not come up with every great idea your company pursues. It\u2019s a waste of time to even try.<\/p>\n Instead, encourage any employee to bring any idea to the attention of management. What happens next will probably shock and surprise you. Your employees undoubtedly have a whole raft of great ideas you and your management team would have never even considered, and while you may not be able to implement all of them, if you pay close attention to them, you\u2019ll find no shortage of ways to increase your firm\u2019s productivity and thus, your bottom line.<\/p>\n The important thing here is that when an employee brings an idea to your attention and that idea gets implements, you\u2019ve got to recognize that employee\u2019s contribution in a public and meaningful way. Doing so will reinforce the \u201copen door policy,\u201d and encourage further participation from even more of your employees.<\/p>\n Give Regular Feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n Most employees dread being called into the manager\u2019s office, because at most companies, that usually means they did something wrong. Flip the script here! While it\u2019s true that most employee praise should be given in public, you should encourage your managers to meet with their employees one on one on a regular basis, just to touch base, provide feedback, and give praise where praise is due.<\/p>\n Doing that will put everybody more at ease, because being called into the manager\u2019s office isn\u2019t synonymous with getting chewed out for something, and that\u2019s going to do great things for the work environment in general.<\/p>\n Encourage Stronger Interpersonal Relationships<\/strong><\/p>\n Google has a great way of doing this in the lunch room, that even has its own name. They call it the \u201cGoogle Bump.\u201d<\/p>\n All the chairs and tables are set slightly too close together, so that it\u2019s all but inevitable you\u2019ll bump into someone when you take your seat or get back up, and odds are it\u2019ll be someone you haven\u2019t had a deep conversation with before.<\/p>\n By encouraging those kinds of \u201cbumps\u201d you create more opportunities for people to strike up spontaneous conversations and get to know each other better, which improves the work environment overall.<\/p>\n Hand in hand with this, if you\u2019re in the habit of having your managers dine separately from your rank and file employees, stop that process immediately so that management is more accessible to your employees, and vice versa.<\/p>\n There are, of course, plenty of others, but if you just implement these ideas, you\u2019ll be amazed at how profoundly they\u2019ll impact your work environment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s face it, not all workplaces are created equally. Some companies feel more like extended families, and everyone that works in a place like that reports having categorically higher job satisfaction, with predictable effects on productivity and morale. Obviously, you want your business to be like that. A place where your employees come to work, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6,645,751],"tags":[796,750,935],"class_list":["post-4033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employee-motivation-2","category-motivation","category-office-motivation","category-productivity-tips","tag-796","tag-750","tag-935"],"yoast_head":"\n