‘I have trust in you’ – These simple words can make all the difference in how you make your employees feel about themselves, especially when they are having a bad day. Every good leader prioritises the well-being of her/his team over everything else. After all, having top-notch products and services isn’t enough to grow your business. You need your team to reach your target audience, stay ahead of your competitors and achieve your business goals.

You must ensure that your team is thoroughly engaged in their work without an ounce of dissatisfaction. A happy team leads to better productivity. So, implement the following seven strategies to boost your employees’ performance effectively.

1. Design a long-term career plan for your employees

Let’s say you started as an essay writer in an organisation. Five years down the line, as you gain more experience in this field, you would want to improve your career development via a better designation. What if the organisation doesn’t have any such long-term career plan for its employees? You are most likely to switch jobs to maximise your income and career growth.

As per Gallup’s State of the Local Workplace, 85% of employees are not engaged at work, resulting in a $7 trillion loss in productivity. Your employees will do their best only if they are engaged and motivated. You must design a long-term career plan for your employees, so they move up within the company. Provide training and resources to help your team become talented leaders in the long run.

2. Engage your employees

As per the American Institute of Stress, 12% of employees call in sick because of job stress. Stress is unavoidable when you are at the workplace. But, engaged employees can tackle this stress way better. Employees involved in their jobs stay longer at their work, show up with energy and are more productive.

How to improve employee engagement?

• Put every employee in the right role.
• Give them the required training to build a culture of accountability and trust.
• Have a clear career path or role ready for your employees.
• Use both formal and informal strategies to check on them every week.

Whether your clients need law assignment help or a ready-made slideshow, actively engaged employees are what you need to keep your clients satisfied and happy. Employee engagement also builds a healthy work culture, thereby motivating your employees to do their best every day.

3. Give employees autonomy over their goals

Every business has goals. And good leaders should be on the same page as their employees to reach these goals. Make your team aware of the company’s goals and expectations. Then ask them how they would want to contribute to its success? You will be surprised by all the brilliant ideas that most of your employees have up their sleeves.

It is important to involve each employee in their own goal-setting process. Encourage them to make their goals within the organisation to lead the company to a higher productivity rate ultimately. For example, you discover an employee making silly grammatical errors in her report. So, instead of accusing, you can advise her to use a spell checker so that she can keep a check on her mistakes and deliver an error-free report.

4. Understand the diverse styles of team members

You will find different types of people working at your organisation, and one method of motivation or leadership will not work for all of them. You need to understand the diverse styles of your team and tailor your approach towards them accordingly. For instance, let’s assume one of your employees work better on first-person keywords such as ‘rate my paper.’ So, try assigning these kinds of keywords to that employee.

Similarly, you don’t have to overexplain your projects if your employee prefers little to no supervision along with straightforward communication. If an employee works better with their headphones on, let them be. Why bother your employees when they are just trying to get the work done?

5. Hold your employees accountable for their actions

You may have to be strict or even dole out warnings as and when required. As I said earlier, there are different types of employees in the workplace. So, don’t be surprised if an employee keeps missing deadlines or deliver inaccurate reports. Let them know that they aren’t doing the right thing, and there will be consequences if they repeat their mistakes. When you don’t say anything, the employee assumes that it doesn’t matter if they slack off.

6. Build a fun, positive work environment

As per a survey by Robert Half, 71% of people said listening to music makes them more productive. According to HubSpot, nearly 86% of employees reach peak productivity when working alone. In short, you need to build a fun, flexible, and positive work environment where your employees feel valued, motivated and heard. Also, make sure your employees get to let their hair down and have some fun at times.

Here’s how you foster a fun workplace:

• Host engaging team building events where employees can play, laugh, and solve problems together.
• Send your employees gifts to show that you care for them.
• Greet your team because a little hello goes a long way.
• Offer consistent praise and recognition to the deserving ones.

7. Communicate authentically and effectively

Imagine this for a moment.

You want to buy shirts from a new company online. But you want to clarify some doubts first. So, you call them up several times and not once they pick up the call. Would you go ahead and place your order here without clarifying your doubts? Most probably, no. It’s the same thing in the workplace. Your employees will not be able to boost productivity if they aren’t heard or valued. Communicate authentically to earn the trust of your new and potential employees.

Communication plays an integral role in the professional world.  It reduces confusion and makes things easier for everybody present in an organisation’s hierarchy. Also, efficient communication doesn’t mean you have to call for unnecessary meetings and kill your staff’s valuable time.

Wrapping Up

To all the leaders willing to make it big in their industries, it’s time you focus on your employees’ well-being and peace of mind. Employees try their hardest when they feel motivated, valued and happy. So, implement the strategies mentioned above to boost engagement, employee performance and the productivity of your business. Be a good leader who cares for the team.