As any businessperson knows, running a company isn’t merely about increasing the bottom line. Of course, it’s important for a business to make a profit (unless you’re running a non-profit organization), but it’s also important for it to be a good place for people to work. If your employees aren’t happy, then you might make a profit in the short term, but your company will not survive the long run. So how do you empower your workers and lead them without force? Here are a few tips:
- Change your attitude: If you have always been focusing on profits, you need to make a change and become more people-focused. Profit-making may have been the main aim of the businesses you worked at in the past. But this doesn’t mean that this has to be the main aim of your
- Hire the right people: It’s not just you who needs to change your attitude. This change has to be reflected in everyone you hire in your company, especially those who are in managerial positions. Try and hire people who have good communication skills. Your managers should be able to sit down with their teams and really listen to them, in addition to making themselves understood.
- Gauge the atmosphere: Most people can tell when the atmosphere around them is relaxed and friendly and when it’s tense and argumentative. You need to be aware of what’s going on in your offices. Keep track of how things feel within your workforce. Do you have two managers who are at loggerheads (and bringing their teams with them?) Or is there a feeling of cooperation between departments?
- Try an icebreaker: Different companies go in for different types of icebreakers. There are companies who will send two employees who don’t know each other out for lunch together. Then there are companies who conduct drumming workshops which are fun for everyone and induce a feeling of cooperation. Think about what you can do within your company.
- Change the décor: It’s funny to think that something so simple can have such a powerful effect. If your carpet is threadbare, your windows are cloudy and the paint on your walls has faded, you need to make some changes. And they don’t have to be expensive. Just a trip to IKEA (or any other inexpensive furnishing store) will yield throw rugs, paintings, plants, curtains and various other things that can make your office more homey.
