If you expect employees to share information critical to the business - You need to share information critical to their role and daily needs
If you expect employees to speak up to help you - You need to openly communicate with your employees and allow them time to engage with you
If you expect openness and honesty from your employees - You need to provide transparency and accountability to your employees
If you expect happy and engaged employees - You need to engage with your employees positively
If you expect employees to know who you are and address you respectfully - You need to introduce yourself to your employees and show you’re invested in learning their name and discovering who they are
If you expect employees to do everything you say without question - You’ve created an environment of uninspiring fear where learning is limited
If you silence employees who offer new ideas and provide valuable feedback - You will end up with employees who abandon effort, and unhappy customers
If you treat your employees like they’re a meaningless joke - You will end up with employees who show apathy and disrespect
If you ignore your employees desire and efforts for career growth - You will lose employees who cared enough to want to make a difference, and you’ll retain those who only offer the bare minimum
If you shame and blame your employees instead of exploring underlying issues, seeking to understand challenges, and co-creating possible solutions - Are you even remotely interested in investing in your entire team who turn up, do the work for you, and look to you as a role model?
If you benefit from the results of your employees, but only acknowledge a select few - Your uncelebrated employees lose belief and pride in their work and results are impacted
If you treat high performers like they don’t exist, you’ve got it wrong. If you treat underperformers like it’s all their fault, you’ve got it wrong. If you consistently exalt some employees and ignore others, you’ve got it wrong. Everyone matters and deserves your invested acknowledgment and help
If it is beneath you to carry out the functions of the role of your employees to help when required and promote teamwork, why are you above the inherent requirements of the role of the people you lead?
If you’re silencing the voice of the employee, eventually the employee voice will only be negative, affecting employees, customers, and business
If your values include empathy and compassion, you need to demonstrate these to your employees
Neither you or your employees know everything. Neither you or your employees are perfect. Neither you or your employees should be treated disrespectfully. However, it is a leader’s responsibility to proactively encourage and create an environment of healthy respect, where ideas and opinions are welcomed, feedback actioned or addressed, and culture is defined, built, nurtured, and provides psychosocial understanding and investment.
You work for your employees, your employees don’t work for you. If in doubt about this, swap roles with your employees for one month
Frontlines run businesses.
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