July 24, 2019
Most of us spend more time with co-workers than anyone outside our immediate family. How we spend that time and how we profit from the experience is key to the success of individuals and the companies that employ us.
Both worlds are subject to great acts of generosity and openness, as well as pettiness and dark palace intrigue. The major challenge for any leader is to harness the energy, intelligence, and initiative of staff and not stifle creativity and experimentation. Every company’s self-generated culture must be adaptable to management’s demands and market realities.
Highlighted below are some of the wows—and woes—for any company. These are things that can add to a company’s success, and there are challenges companies face in ever-evolving environments.
Wows
Recruiting
The core of any workplace is its people. Therefore, the recruitment process is fundamental. Before recruitment begins, clearly define the position, skill set, years of experience, etc. necessary for the role.
While recruiting, companies need to be organized. Ask yourself who should be interviewing candidates. Is it better to have individual interviews or a panel interview? If there are individual interviews, does each interviewer have a specific area to discuss, or is everyone asking the same questions? Set expectations ahead of time with the candidate. With whom will they be meeting? How long will it take? After the interview, capture feedback. Prove you’re interested in them.
One great way to recruit candidates is through employee referrals. Who knows the company, its culture, and the work better than current employees? Many companies have referral programs through which the employees who refer candidates receive monetary compensation after a referral has been hired.
Annual Reviews and Development
Everyone wants to know how they are doing. While real-time feedback should be given, it is good to have formal yearly reviews. To make them successful, set expectations ahead of time. What will an employee be reviewed on? What are the yearly objectives? Make it collaborative.
Opportunities should flow naturally from reviews. What is next for the employee? How do they get there? Again, the more collaborative your reviews, the more successful. When employees feel empowered, positive results follow.
Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance can be different for each employee. Managers need to understand what it means to each person on their team. Employees often struggle with it. How can your company work with its employees to create the right balance?
Value
Management needs to gauge what matters to its employees. Outside of pay increases, title changes, and bonuses, what can you do to make people feel valued? Everyone wants to be recognized for helping the company succeed. Team lunches, team-building exercises, employee of the month programs, and thank-you notes are just some ways to show employees they matter.
Woes
Communication
It is vital to any company’s success to have open lines of communication. Today’s technology has, in some ways, made communication harder. It is easier to send an email to someone close by than it is to walk over and have a dialogue. Tone is more difficult to gauge, though, and so much gets lost in translation. Companies need to learn the best ways to communicate with employees, even overcommunicate. It can be better to hear the same message three times than zero.
With communication come vision and strategy, which every company needs. It is important to ensure all employees understand them, can articulate them, and believe in them. Keep them simple and relatable. Post them in common areas. Repeat them in meetings and emails. Have open dialogue about them. Relate key company decisions back to employees.
Work From Home
One of the byproducts of today’s technology is working from home. Companies need to determine how they can leverage technology to make it work. Does there need to be a shift in culture with regard to having a remote workforce? That needs to start at the top; senior management buy-in is crucial. The workforce is constantly changing. It is the organization’s responsibility to step up.
John Clark is director of analytics at Amtech Software. He can be reached at jclark@amtechsoftware.com.
