People are the ultimate assets of any business organization. It’s safe to say that a company would not reach its full potential without its people.
Naturally, one of the major goals of the leadership team is to motivate their best people to stay. And there are a lot of factors that make professionals want to stay with their employer for the long term.
We’ve compiled them in this handy guide, and each week we’ll be outlining the best steps you can take to sustain each factor.
FACTOR 4 – CAPACITY-BUILDING
Step 1: Refer others to them.
Any healthy and functioning professional has the drive to make a positive impact in others’ experiences of their organization. They commit themselves to be there to do good rather than do nothing (or worse, do bad on purpose.)
You can affirm that value they place on their role by directing other people – whether fellow employees or potential customers – to them as someone who can help. Show them that you are confident in their ability not only to resolve concerns, but also to provide a great customer experience to the persons carrying those concerns. Don’t skip over them or downplay their status as a “go-to person”; instead, let customers know that they are to be trusted and relied on.
This kind of treatment will have a great effect on your employees’ self-efficacy, or their confidence in their own capability to succeed in a given task.
Step 2: Challenge them to suggest new things.
You have an entire roster of professionals, each with their unique perspectives and ideas. That is a tool you can use to both improve the organization, and the experiences of the people in it.
Challenge your employees to share those ideas in the context of transforming the organization into something better. It doesn’t have to be an entirely new thing; it could be a new approach to something that already exists. Give them the chance to share what they think should be improved, or what they believe is lacking in the organization.
As long as you emphasize that you’re relying on their creativity and ingenuity, the effect on their self-value will be significant. Recognize these talents within them and watch them grow from passive observers to sharp and insightful contributors.
Step 3: Create scenarios where they can lead.
If you’ll be depending on your people to exercise their inventiveness, you might as well let them take the lead in making their suggestions a reality.
For one thing, it maximizes their in-depth knowledge of their own ideas. They thought of it; who better to implement it? Also, they’ll obviously be personally motivated to finish what they started because they wouldn’t want to see their ideas go to waste. Finally, it breeds initiative among them. This is something that will help your organization in the long run as leaders retire, creating the need for potential leaders to move up and take over from them.
And yes, this can also work even if they’ll be taking the lead for plans that other people have already laid out. Just make sure to be honest about how much the project depends on their initiative, and they’ll definitely get the positive message of trust.
Step 4: Involve them in creating solutions.
The people in your organization are in an optimal position to mitigate threats and create opportunities for each other and for the company. Individually and as a group, they should have the skills necessary to do that and more. But they won’t feel any worth or value in these skills and in themselves as professionals if you don’t make use of their talents and efforts.
If you’re planning the creation of a solution to one of your organization’s challenges, involve every employee who has skills relevant to the task. Tap into different team members for different kinds of challenges so that everyone is getting valuable problem-solving experience. As you continue to do this, you will send a positive message of confidence and recognition of everyone’s worth.
Treating your employees like they are the most capable crew that can keep the ship sailing strong is a massive boost to their value. You build them up into confident professionals that can think creatively, initiate fearlessly, act independently, and tackle situations with a focus on problem-solving. And any employee who feels they’re being built up that way – and being appreciated for successfully rising to the challenge – will find little reason to leave.
Build up your people professionally – and make sure they know you value them for it. And of course, stay tuned in the coming weeks for more ways you can show your people that they matter!