Ever wonder what makes some businesses thrive and others have trouble getting off the ground? The answer is the employees. Your employees are your biggest asset and getting them more involved and engaged in your business is the key to attaining your business and profitability goals.

Successful businesses value their employees and respect their opinions. Engaging employees in management and decision-making helps employees understand how their roles fit into the organization and empower them to be more accountable for their own performance as well as the performance of the business.

Fostering a culture of employee involvement is good for the entire company and has several benefits including increases in:

• Employee motivation
• Customer and employee satisfaction
• Productivity
• Profitability and growth
• Attracting and retaining employees

This article will outline the importance of engaged employees and ways to get your employees more involved in your business.

Ways to Encourage Employees to be More Involved

1. Build Strong Trust with Your Employees

Trust is an important element in any employer/employee relationship. If an employee doesn't trust their manager, the company suffers because the employee is unlikely to remain in the job. To develop trust with your employees, you should:

Communicate openly and honestly with employees - Apprise them about what’s happening in the company. Share both the success and failures. If you only share positive developments, employees will believe you don’t appreciate or trust them.

Assign projects to individuals you know will perform well - You hired your team for a reason so give them the opportunity to best use their skills and abilities.

Have an open-door policy – Pro tip from Jeff Arnett; CEO of Arnett Credentials; an event security product manufacturer “make yourself available to employees and be open to their suggestions. By showing employees you care about their opinions, they are more likely to contribute new and fresh ideas to help the company move forward”.

Encourage employees to speak up - Make it clear to employees they should be comfortable saying anything to you without fear of judgment.

Serve as a resource for ongoing learning - A good manager wants to help employees reach their goals, even if it means moving into another area of the company. Encourage the personal development of your employees. Offer professional advice and find opportunities for them to learn new skills.

Acknowledge good performance and always offer feedback - A simple thank you goes a long way. Recognize employees for a job well done.

Show trust to your employees - Trust is a two-way street. Show your employees you have faith in their abilities. Empower them to take responsibility for their work and give them the autonomy to complete their tasks.

2. Stay Connected with Your Employees

Communicate with your employees through team huddles, scheduled meetings, and open discussions.

As a manager, you should not only connect with employees overwork. Find out what matters to each employee personally and professionally. Make an effort to get to know them on a personal level. By learning about their families, backgrounds, personal goals, and hobbies, you can develop a stronger rapport with them.

Let your employees know the positive impact they make in the business every day and show them how their work has helped the business attain its goals. Perhaps looking at customer reviews and feedback based on their experience from working with you and your team would be a great way to encourage motivation.

You can add them to your website or simply share them with the team to show what customers are saying. When looking at these, it will show their hard work is contributing to the business and will motivate them to keep performing well. As seen below from SmartMoves’ website; reviews make a difference and give employees a sense of belonging.

Don’t assume you know what employees want. Ask them. Giving employees a voice helps them feel a part of the company. Create employee surveys asking their opinions on the work environment, management style, and other important aspects of what it is like to work for your business. 

Gathering feedback is only one step. You also need to act on the feedback by making appropriate changes to the work environment. Employees will feel valued if they see changes as a result of their feedback. Even if you don’t make any changes, follow up with employees to make sure they know you heard them.

3. Incorporate Team Building Activities

Developing a strong team of employees gives them a sense of greater purpose. Holding team-building activities regularly will encourage employees to value teamwork. They will see how working together towards a big goal can be very satisfying. This will translate into the work environment.

Pro tip from Sacha Ferrandi, founder and Principal of Texas Hard Money and Source Capital Funding: “Team building activities help employees get to know each other on a more personal level. While they may see each other every day in the office, they likely don’t interact on anything other than work tasks. In addition, it can remove invisible barriers between employees across different levels and departments and allow them to interact”.

Team building activities can help encourage employees to become more involved in decision-making. Employees will see the impact their decisions have on the team. Asking employees for input on important business decisions shows you respect and trust in their opinions. You will be able to make better decisions because employees will provide open and honest feedback.

Summary

Involved employees can transform a company by instilling employee loyalty, reducing hiring costs, improving productivity, and spurring growth.

Because employee involvement is a key ingredient for business success, ensure your employees feel their contributions are appreciated and they are a valued part of the company.

Use the tips in this article to encourage your employees to be more involved in the business/ Get to know your employees better, learn how to engage them, and empower them to move the organization forward.

This article has been written by Karina Mojica. Karina Mojica is a contributor editor for 365 Business tips and a marketing expert for an online kitchen and bathroom faucet supplier. She has a degree in Marketing, with experience in PR, and social media marketing.