- Solid relationships within your organization are the key to a stable business model.
No business can succeed without strong internal relationships. While you do not (and should not) be best friends with your employees, it is important that you and everyone gets along so that people can feel happy and supported in the workplace and to create a positive atmosphere. Issues and conflict will occur, and this is to be expected, but there are still steps that you should be taking to strengthen internal relationships, which will not only help the company to find success but also ensure that you and your team all come to work feeling happy and able to enjoy one another’s company.
Encourage Communication
As with any type of relationship, communication is key to success. This means that you need to encourage communication with and amongst staff, which you can do with an open plan office and by engaging in friendly conversations. You should absolutely show an interest and enjoy conversing with staff, but this should never be at the expense of work, and you should retain professionalism at all times.
The benefits of better communication are massive. You will reduce turnover, improve productivity, lower error rates and help boost morale.
Provide Feedback
It is hard for an employee to know where they stand if they are not receiving regular feedback. Regular feedback is a great way to strengthen bonds, improve employee performance, and to support staff so that they feel happy and a valued member of the team. In addition to providing feedback, you should also encourage and be able to accept feedback – this creates a culture of self-improvement which will lift everyone up and create stronger relationships.
Provide Career Development
Following this point, you should also take the time to learn what each employee wants to achieve in their career and then find ways to help them to do this within the company. Relationships will be stronger, and employees will stay put when they feel that their manager has their best interests in mind and that they will progress under their wing, whether this is through training, role variation, or promoting from within.
Team Building
Team building is a highly effective way to strengthen bonds between employees and can make a huge difference in the workplace. These events and activities will strengthen relationships, build trust and allow staff to have some fun, but you should also look to encourage informal events like drinks after work as these can also be highly effective at creating strong bonds (just be sure to retain professionalism at all times!).
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Start A Bike to Work Scheme
A healthy workforce is a happy workforce, but it can be incredibly challenging for people to exercise throughout the week when they have a full-time job. You can help out by starting a bike to work scheme with Cycle Solutions, which will help staff to make savings of around 40% on a bike and accessories (they can then make further savings by cycling instead of driving). This can also bring unity to the team as well as help to improve your green credentials, so it can certainly bring many perks for both the business and your employees.
Be Transparent & Involve Them in Decision Making
Relationships in the workplace can break down when there are clear divisions between management and employees. This is often because they can feel that they are being kept in the dark, which will always create negative feelings. You can prevent this by being completely transparent about what is happening with the company as well as by including them in the decision-making process for certain strategic decisions. In addition to helping them to feel valued, this could also be useful for bringing new ideas and different viewpoints to the table.
Be Fair & Consistent
Following this, nobody likes to feel that there is any kind of “inner circle” in the workplace or favorites. This is why you must be fair and consistent in your approach as a manager, which will help to ensure the people feel equal and supported and will help to create a positive and supportive atmosphere in the office.
This post should give you a few ideas for ways in which you can improve internal relationships in a business. It can be challenging because you need to retain professionalism, but you also need to have strong relationships so that everyone feels happy, valued, and supported at work and to create a positive atmosphere in the workplace.
