Having an understanding of your employees can go a long way toward helping you make decisions when it comes to your business. However, there are right ways to go about knowing your employees better, and you want to make sure that you use these methods as opposed to ones that could come back and cause problems for you later.
Here are some ways you can get to know your staff and increase the productivity of your business.
Send out a survey
Some employees might be more comfortable answering questions about themselves in a survey report rather than in person. Creating a way for them to share any concerns they might have about the business, what they hope to get out of their careers, and more can be much easier to answer on paper. You’ll want to make sure that you put in some effort into making questions fun so your staff is more likely to spend time submitting quality answers.
Manage with a mentor mentality
A manager tells people what to do, while a mentor takes the time to get to know what drives their employees, their hopes for the future, and how you can help. You can do this from the very beginning by asking employees what they hope to get out of their particular role and how you can help them. You might also help them develop additional skills or offer to introduce them to others within your industry. With this in mind, you’re likely to learn more about them and why your company appealed to them in the first place.
Plan events
You should make sure to plan some events outside the typical workday for your employees to get to know each other and you outside of the office. While hosting a company happy hour might seem like the go-to method on how to connect with your employees, but it can often be much better to have some events that would appeal to your staff. You might want to send around some ideas and see if they would be interested in any of them. Also, encourage them to come up with their own ideas so they are more likely to come into these events with an open mind.
Take them for lunch
It often helps to provide some individualized attention to your employees if you can. Not only can you get a good idea of how the company is doing and any changes you might need to make, but you can also create loyalty between you and your employees—which is likely to last for a long time. The more you can spend time showing your staff that you care, the more you will have a chance to see where you can improve your management and your business.
In summary
Knowing your employees can make a big difference when it comes to your business and how you want to make changes. It is worth your time as a business owner to get to know them and to develop a relationship that will last.
