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Want your team to perform better? Encourage them to speak up, take charge and focus on results.
As a leader, you always want your team to perform their very best.
There is a fine line between positively encouraging them and pushing them beyond their limits.
The former will help you and the company in the long term, but the latter will create instability among employees, hence disturbing the workplace environment.
You should always look to positively motivate your employees, and a big part of it is lies in encouraging habits which can be helpful to all.
Here are some of those habits which will increase your employees' productivity:
1. Encourage them to speak up at meetings
Employees can feel intimidated in large meetings or around the higher-ups.
Explain to them that they should not wait for invitation or permission to speak. They need to make sure that everyone in the room knows they have something to contribute.
2. Encourage them to take charge
A lot of people, when faced with challenges, low team morale or a project roadblock think "there's nothing I can do in this situation."
Encourage your employees to take charge of the situation and prove themselves.
3. Encourage them to stay professional
No company wants a person who misses deadlines, gossips about other employees or forgets to answer e-mails. None of these behaviours should be encouraged in employees.
4. Encourage them to be on time
Not just because it is a nice thing to do but also because it will ensure their place at the conference table rather than in the back of the room.
5. Encourage them to record their accomplishments
Encourage them to keep a 'brag folder' in their inbox.
Managers are not always going to keep track of every single achievement, so they need to keep reminding themselves what they are capable of.
This way they can stay motivated and know their value even in the thick of it.
6. Encourage them to focus on results, not just activities
You need to make them think about the quantitative results of their work rather than just what they are doing.
For example, instead of thinking "last week's meeting was a success", they need to think "I negotiated a discount of 10 percent because of which our company will save Rs 10 lakh next term."
7. Encourage them not to compare themselves with others
It is common for employees to compare their talent as well as pay with that of their colleagues'. For instance, they might think a co-worker got a raise within a year of joining the company and they should, too.
Your employees should think for advancing within the company by focusing on what they have accomplished and what they can do with their new role, instead of whining about their co-worker's salary and raise.
8. Encourage them to solve problems
Anyone can just drop a complaint or whine, but the truly brilliant employee will be busy coming up with solutions to these problems.
9. Encourage them to keep on learning
Motivate them to learn about the company and even the world as a whole. They need to be asking questions, attending courses and conferences.
They should always be looking to improve their productivity, pick up new skills and learn something new.
10. Encourage them to stay positive
Libby Kane of LearnVest says, "You don't need to blind every passerby with your pearly whites, but remember that no matter how close your deadline or how heavy your workload is, other people will take their cues from you."
Encourage your employees to stay positive even if there is a problem at hand. Instead of fretting and letting the whole world know, encourage them to think on their toes and solve the problem.
If they cannot come up with a solution, ask them to approach their seniors or you to reconcile the issue.
If you successfully manage to encourage these habits in your employees, you are sure to end up making profits and becoming successful in the long run.
Lead image used for representational purposes only. Image: Reuters
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