If you’re looking to boost your team’s morale, acknowledging three specific issues might do the trick.
A recent survey by Accountemps, a staffing service for temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals, identified the factors that have the strongest negative impact on employee morale. The top three are: a lack of open communication, micromanagement and the failure to recognize achievements.
So, how can you prevent those issues from getting your team down? Rosemary Smyth, owner of Rosemary Smyth and Associates in Victoria, offers these three ways:
1. Decide on appropriate communication methods
If you think regular morning meetings with your team means that communication in your office is just fine, you may want to think again.
“Teams get used to [morning meetings],” Smyth says. “And then it just turns into ‘that morning thing’.”
Team meetings are a great way to communicate, but only if they serve a purpose. Be sure to prepare an agenda for each meeting and decide on a time to meet that’s good for everyone. If your assistant calls clients during the first hour of the day, that is not a good time to meet. A team becomes engaged when everyone feels involved.
Open communication is also a matter of understanding your team’s boundaries when it comes to messages from the office. Do members appreciate receiving text messages from you after hours? Do they want to be checking email when they are on vacation?
You might prefer to work this way, but that does not necessarily mean your team will be on board. If you have certain expectations about method and frequency of communication, especially during personal time, Smyth says, you should indicate this when you are interviewing people for positions on your team.
2. Delegate tasks effectively
While you want to ensure projects are completed correctly and thoroughly, you also want your employees to understand they play a part in your success. Balance these considerations by being clear with instructions for each task, assigning a deadline and being available to answer questions.
Also, if you want to check in on the progress of the assignment, Smyth says, ask your team member for a good time to do so.
Avoid taking back an assignment once you’ve delegated it to a team member.
3. Give praise when it is due
While everyone appreciates a steady salary and the possibility of a bonus for a job well done, it never hurts to have your hard work complimented. Make the effort to recognize your team members’ achievements. This is especially effective if you do so in front of clients.
For example, if a client compliments you on your latest newsletter, introduce him or her to the marketing assistant who organized the content. Let the client know how much you appreciate the assistant’s hard work.
Your team member will welcome the praise and your client will see first-hand how well his or her trusted financial team works together.