How to Create a Proactive Working Environment and Help Your Employees Improve
Leadership positions are something many people can’t help but dream of. Being a boss or any type of leader is thrilling. And people love power. But those sayings go “with great power comes great responsibility”, as well as “the one who wears the crown must bear the crown”. You get the gist. It isn’t easy work. Being a leader of a team requires you to motivate your team, inspire them and create a healthy environment people want to take part in. It isn’t easy to do, but it’s not impossible either. Here’s how you can create a proactive working environment and help your employees improve.
Create a Trusting Environment
Trust is the foundation of any kind of personal relationship, be it friendships, partnerships, or any sort of familial relationship. Everything you do is built on trust. And professional relationships are the same. Many studies show when your employees feel safe in an environment their quality of work increases, and it’s not surprising at all.
Creating a safe space is crucial. And to do that you simply need to interact with your employees. Let them be open with their thoughts and ideas. Brainstorm with them, and make their voices heard. Encourage them to share, and give them praise when it’s due. That way, your employees will feel like they matter, and they’ll respect you as their leader more, as well as work harder and thus become better at their job. A trusting environment is a proactive one, remember that!
Don’t Micromanage
Micromanaging can be very tempting. If you’re an ambitious person or a perfectionist of any kind, you can easily fall into the trap of micromanaging your employees. You want your vision to come true and want to do the best job possible. But micromanaging is counterproductive! It creates tension in the work environment, unlike the laissez faire leadership style where you give space to your employees. They’re adult people with their minds. And if they’re a part of your team already, if you trust them enough to employ them, you should trust them enough to make their own decisions and do their job on time.
Putting pressure on your employees, and managing their every move frustrates people, making them less productive, and you don’t want that now, do you? So let your employees do what they’re hired to do, and rest up a bit!
Take Action
It takes a lot of courage to come up with feedback in a work environment. Even if it’s the ideal type of environment, where people feel incredibly comfortable. Coming up to your manager with concerns just simply isn’t easy. So you need to make sure you know how to receive feedback properly and give a proper response. And if possible take action immediately.
If taking action on their feedback isn’t possible at the moment (or at all), communicate that to them effectively. Tell them why it isn’t possible, and when it will be. That’s how you keep trust within the company and create a proactive working environment. People will make sure to do their best when they feel heard, so don’t take it away from them.
Negative Feedback
As stated above, giving any kind of feedback can be hard, but negative feedback is especially something that isn’t easy to say or take in a work environment. And that is precisely why it needs to be encouraged. Negative feedback is that one thing that pushes you to be better, and lets you know where you can improve.
Creating a box of confidentiality, where your employees will be able to put their written concerns in, anonymously, can be a good way to start. That removes the stress of face-to-face communication and creates a trusting, proactive environment. But of course, some guidelines and boundaries should exist, as verbal abuse or anything of the sort should never be allowed. Doing this will help your employees relax around you, and help them improve, knowing they’re working in a safe, honest space after all!
Being the one who “bears the crown” isn’t an easy task at all, as stated already. But working with a team is very rewarding. Being part of a proactive system at work is lovely. Seeing that your employees are motivated, and improving in their work makes you feel proud in a special kind of way. It’s an environment where people just can’t help but want to work. Especially when you know that you’re the one who’s responsible for all of that. And you’ll be able to! Especially now, after reading this how-to guide, you can become the leader everyone dreams of having.
