All businesses deal with people-from the biggest Fortune 500s to the smallest mom and pop enterprises. Thus, it is integral that business owners and employees become excellent managers of interpersonal relationships in every way-from communication to problem solving. But, clients are not the only ones who benefit from a positive interpersonal connections with the owners and executives of the businesses they encounter. Your dedicated staff can either help usher your company into success or be a key to your company's failures and it's all based upon how well you manage relationships with those under your employ. This is called "relationship capital." The more relationship capital you have-the more security you have. As allbusiness.com notes: "It takes everyone involved to make a business successful, and as the lead operator in your business, you're responsible for ensuring that each employee understands his or her importance to your business's success."
Here are 4 tips to help you build and maintain strong and positive relationships with your employees:
1. Be an open communicator. Maintain two-way communication between you and your staff. Keep a locked box in the break room where employees can leave comments and concerns anonymously and then make a concerted effort to discuss some of them at monthly employee meetings. Set aside one Friday a month to hang out with your staff after work. Take them to dinner or go out for casual drinks and just listen. Get to know your staff's wants, needs and anxieties and you will be one step closer to bettering the work environment and alleviating problems and concerns. Remember that keeping your staff happy is a priority to your business's success.
2. Keep your promises. Let your staff know that they matter to you by remembering what you promised to do. Whether you promised to give a day off or a big raise-it is your responsibility and obligation to give it to them when they ask for it. Failing to keep your word will not only damage the trust between you and those under your employ, but, it will eventually cause you to lose employees you can count upon.
3. Don't be afraid to admit your weaknesses. Employees will respect you more if you are candid. A good leader is not better for pretending to be perfect and free of error. When you admit your failures, you capitalize upon the opportunity to expose your human side and relate to your employees. Also, you communicate to your employees that you don't expect absolute perfection from them.
4. Always say thank you. Failure to show appreciation for the hard work, extra hours and unfailing dedication of your staff is one of the worst mistakes you can make. You may not always reward good work with bonuses, but, saying thank you will go a long way towards keeping up the busy worker's morale. Be specific in your praise, zero in on something they did with a particular client or job assignment. Take the holidays as an opportunity to give your employees gifts and bonuses to show how much you appreciate their hard work.
For more wonderful tips on how to make your business better, please email betterbizservices@yahoo.com OR visit our website: http://www.betterbizservices.com and review our list of products and services.
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