It’s a bit of a cliché to say that if your staff are happy, then they will do good work, but you’d be hard pressed to find an office where this is actually true.
Sticking closely to rules and regulation for the day to day operation of a workplace is fine, as long as the additional rules for health, safety, and wellbeing are also being met. But actually infusing your staff with trust and confidence, is going the extra mile.
The most freeing and joyful experience that I have had as an employee was working in a department that was full of creative people, with a boss who really understood their team.
A great example, and good memories
There was once a team which was headed up by a great boss (you know who you are!). When starting a new project they would say “go for it”, “you’re perfect for this”, “I believe in you”, “this is going to be amazing”, and all manner of things with excitement that was infectious. The boss was easily approachable, friendly, and really listened to you if you had a problem. All issues were discussed in an easy way, and solutions were found that worked for you so that you could get your work done and handle anything else going on in your life.
There were several people in the office with medical conditions, young families, older families, sick pets! Each time something came up, you had the confidence as an employee that you could move your hours around, go and work from home, or take a day off. As long as you let the team know what you were doing and why, and ensured the work still got done in time and to the correct standard, that’s all that mattered.
The dress code was relaxed, we regularly had meetings over coffee outside of the regular office, and when a job was finished, or some achievement was gained by anyone, we stopped and CELEBRATED! When I got my first round of applause from my colleagues, I was stunned into silence! But it filled me with joy.
I can imagine how some managers might think of all the ways that their employees might abuse such an open management style. But from my experience, with this (quite large) group of people, everyone was on board with doing their work well. Nobody took liberties or lied about their whereabouts – as far as I could tell, there was never any need. When you were given that trust, you wanted to impress the boss, and your team, and therefore everyone was performing exceptionally.
Short but sweet
I only worked in this team for a couple of years, the time flew by! Now I’ve moved on to other things, and so have many others. That experience will never be forgotten by me, and I hope that I will instil the same mindset in others in the future.
Treat your colleagues like family. Trust qualified people to do the jobs they love. Dress comfortably so that you can think! If someone falls behind, find out the reasons and understand the root causes of the behaviour. Discuss problems like adults. Create solutions that benefit everyone. CELEBRATE SUCCESS – even the smallest achievements are building blocks to the larger ones.
Header Photo by Canva Studio from Pexels
Julia Barnard MBA 