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One of the great needs of each of us as humans is to be valued. We want to feel that people care and appreciate us, whether it is our spouses or partners, our parents or children.
So, it is also equally true that people want to be valued at their place of work, where so much of their time, energy and activity is spent.
I have outlined in a previous article that any manager should regard their employees that report to them as their most valuable asset. This is because it is primarily your employees that achieve those results expected of you by your organisation.
So, what does this actually mean? It means you should be taking care, appreciating and valuing each of them.
It is probably true to say that you can have an uncaring organisation, but a caring manager, and those employees can be motivated and have a high morale. Equally you can have a caring organisation and an uncaring manager, and those employees will usually be demotivated, with low morale and doing the minimum. Engagement in employees is all too often down to the one who manages them, and your care and appreciation of them will usually increase engagement, while a lack of it can reduce it.
As their manager, which would you prefer?
So, if you do care about your employees, then you need to show it. You need to show them the value and appreciation they deserve. The benefits are usually increased productivity and goals achieved. Or they want to stay working for you because you are simply a great boss, and they are happy and fulfilled at work.
So, here are five ways to show appreciation and value to your employees:
1. Praise and give appreciation to them regularly. It could be done individually or in front of the team. Also, make sure it is specific and based on a job that they have completed. Mention something that they did really well. Praise, appreciation, recognition – these always come up as no.1 motivators in employee surveys. Just do it.
2. Ask their opinion on a decision you need to make. Involve them, get ideas and solutions from them. Yours may still be the best, but the fact that you have asked them shows that you appreciate their knowledge and thinking. Again, it gives them value.
3. Celebrate achievements. Christmas is a great time to do it. Take them out for a dinner or lunch. Give a speech telling them how well they have performed in the year, outline some of the goals you have achieved. Better still, invite your line manager to come (maybe he or she will take it out of their budget!) and ask them to give a speech thanking them all, together with outlining the team’s achievements.
Again, not only are you valuing each of them, but you are also saying ‘We are winning!’. This is powerful. Everyone wants to be on winning team.
4. Christmas can be a tough time for some people. Bereavement in the year, or even in the last 2-3 years, or marriage/relationship break ups, separation from children, all of these can be difficult for people and some of your employees may be going through this.
So, why not a have one-to-ones with each of them and see what they are doing over Christmas. See if this leads to a deeper conversation over what they might be facing. You may or may not be able to help any who will find Christmas a difficult time, but the fact that you listened and perhaps sought out ways to help them will give them a lift, because it shows you care. This builds loyalty and they will want to give a return for you at some stage (although this should not be the primary motive.)
Listening to and helping employees in difficulties and challenges they are facing can be very powerful.
5. Develop them. Provide them with opportunities for training, or coach them yourself. Find money in the budget for them to take a qualification, or perhaps just contribute towards it. This demonstrates value for them that you want to raise their knowledge and skills and help them to improve in their career. As Richard Branson said on Linked In “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”
Just choosing one of these would be a step in the right direction. Doing all five before Christmas will definitely see your reaping the benefits with your team’s productivity coming into 2025. It really is up to you.
Richard Pheasant is director and lead trainer of Bespoke Business Training. He has been involved in training several thousand managers since moving into business training nearly 13 years ago, both in UK, Europe and the Middle-East. Previous to that, he lectured on leadership at a university in the Arabian Gulf.
He is currently writing his first book, “Leadership For Managers Unlocked!”
