Know How to Support Your Team in Times of Need
The past two years have been tumultuous, to say the least. We’ve all made it through a lot, but it’s put a strain on the relationships that bonded our teams together during COVID. For managers, supporting teams during these times of need is particularly important for employee productivity and retention. What can you do to support your teams for the challenging times that lie ahead?
Best Ways To Support Your Team
5 Things Managers Can Do Right Now to Support Their Team
Managers can have a real impact on employee morale, engagement, and ultimately productivity. Your goal should be to provide stability and empowerment in the face of all the changes we’ve seen over the past two years. How can managers pull this off? We have five suggestions to help you weather any storm:
Express gratitude and appreciation to your workforce.
Good managers praise more than they punish. We’ve seen how a lack of appreciation and gratitude can lead toward employee disengagement and ultimately a Great Resignation. Small acts of kindness, appreciation, and even affirmation during this time can help support your workforce. You’d be surprised how even the small act of saying, “Thank you,” can motivate a team.
Provide support at the individual level
If you’re a good manager, you already understand how employees’ needs differ. Give thought to whether the work environment and the job path meet the goals of the individual as well as the team. Are you providing the flexibility and the growth that the employee needs?
Involve your employees in the decision-making process
The old days of top-down management just don’t work anymore. It’s important now to engage your workforce in the success of the organization by asking for their input. Simply leading a conversation with, “What are your ideas about…?” or “What do you think of…?” can show employees that you value their input in a way that’s very motivating and engaging. It shows your workforce that they are trustworthy members of your important team.
Give your employees new responsibilities
This may feel counterintuitive when everyone is stressed, but some employees may welcome the distraction of a challenge. The key here is to offer the employee the new assignment but also give them the latitude to decline the additional responsibility with no penalty if they feel too stressed. The new responsibility may give the employee the confidence they need when they’re struggling. Your job as the manager is to understand your employee enough to know whether giving them more work is just stressful or more engaging.
Establish a time for team bonding, even if your team is remote
This could include virtual happy hours or coffee breaks, story sharing, lunch and learns, or anything else you can think up that your employees would enjoy. (Remember, this is about them.) You could start up a trivia game over lunch. Or, set up a themed show and tell sessions where people share their pets or kids or pics from their favorite vacation. The idea is that even the most remote member of your dispersed team feels like they are a part of something bigger than just themselves.
How Are You Supporting Your Team
The Custom Group of Companies helps managers and their staff by providing top talent to round out your team. Talk with us today about how we can help alleviate the burdens of your existing staff.