Creating A Positive Work Environment

Employee motivation and productivity is heavily influenced by their environment and one of the most important factors to getting it right is ensuring you are setting the right tone within the workplace.

Recognise Hard Work

Recognizing individuals’ achievements and hard work not only encourages and motivates them to keep doing so but also instills the fact that hard work is acknowledged and appreciated within the organisation. This will then strive other employees to work harder too. Staff meetings are a great time to acknowledge achievements and hard work of employees.

Show Trust

Your instinct may be to micromanage and have everything exactly as you want it, but that will only create a negative or tense environment for everyone else. Your employees can be left to feel they are constantly being watched and judged. It is so important that you let your employees do their jobs and trust they will do it well, you did hire them for a reason! It is good to check in regularly with your team and employees to see how everyone is getting on, are there any struggles or set backs but this needs to be done in a supportive way not controlling and negative. By doing so, your employees will feel they can confide in you and seek advise rather than shy away and not share thoughts or opinions. Encourage your employees to voice their ideas. This will show that you value their thoughts and suggestions and will make them feel confident in doing so. From this you can also discover hidden talents within your workers that you never knew they had.

Set an Example

As the Manager, you essentially set the tone for your employees and the mood within the workplace. Your employees will react to your mood accordingly. Be positive and encouraging towards your employees by always listening and communicating with them. Should one of them approach you with a work issue or setback, set the tone of the conversation in a positive way such as “what can we do to make this right” as opposed to “what did you do wrong”. Although identifying mistakes can be a positive exercise, again its all about the tone you portray when having these conversations with your employees.  Once you create the positive work environment, maintaining it becomes a lot easier.

Provide a Balance

Maintaining a professional environment is important—but that doesn’t mean it has to be gloomy. A happier employee will always perform better. There are many ways you can be both fun and professional. Encourage employees to take breaks during the day and they’ll be happier and more productive. Implementing dress down days, staff lunches and team building days are all simple things to introduce that can have a massive impact on company morale and the mood within the workplace.

Communication

Strong communication between a boss and their employees is essential for a positive working relationship. Your employees need to understand what you want them to accomplish, but you also need to have an idea of what they expect from you. There should be an equal amount of communication from you and your employees.

Creating a positive work environment will yield far better results for your employees and your company.