If you want your employees to be engaged and energized you must believe deeply in the power of relationship building, authentic recognition and continuous learning in your organization. The best companies — the ones who are at the top of their respective industries — recognize and reward their talent for their good work day-to-day, minute-to-minute, at every touch point. Recognition can and should take on many forms – it doesn’t just have to come in the form of tangible gifts and rewards.
More than ever, people want to be enabled with learning and skills that make them more marketable. They want to be looked in the eye and acknowledged for their hard work with an authentic and personalized thank you.
Here are a few ways to build authentic relationships with your employees:
Provide skill development to enhance your relationships both internally and externally
By providing skills to your people in the form of learning and training, you are investing in their future and their growth. When your talent is provided with the skills and knowledge to better serve your customers, not only will your talent feel enabled and recognized, but it creates exceptional experiences for your customers. When your customers are happy, your relationship with them grows, and as a result and you are more likely to have loyal, raving fans – and that’s worth investing in!
Communicate with your talent openly and authentically
Make communication with your talent a habit, by scheduling designated touch-point meetings, such as weekly check in meetings or monthly report reviews – whatever the form may be, it is important to commit time to one another and honor those commitments.
Get to know your people beyond the job they do
When you get to know your people on a personal level, it makes them feel valued, acknowledged and cared for, which builds your relationships, fosters loyalty, and motivates them to greater success.
Building business relationships with your colleagues and clients may seem simple, but in order to strengthen and grow those relationships it is critical to go beyond just the surface level of ‘knowing’ them. For instance, do you know about your colleagues’ families, pets, hobbies, etc.? Some people may think, there’s no time for the personal in business, but if you’re not getting personal with your team members, your business is losing money and ROI.
Treat each employee uniquely as they want to be treated
Creating personalized and authentic relationships with each and every member of your team will be sure to strengthen your business practices and make you a better leader, team member and generally a better person along the way.