No matter what industry, or how large or small your business is, your employees need to be challenged in order to grow, advance, and contribute.
By challenging your employees, you empower them to take ownership of their work and be more invested in your business. Overloading them with tasks, by contrast, kills their desire to learn and, as described in a recent Forbes article, conveys that you don’t really need or value their unique talents.
How to Challenge Employees
Use these tips to challenge, encourage, reward and recognize employees to provide the results you’ve been looking for:
- Let them know the value of their contributions. Employees need to know, understand and believe in your goals and visions. Be sure that their roles align with your strategic objectives. Give them the answers to why they matter.
- Foster opportunities for career development. Allow employees to help determine how they can improve their jobs, build in their own challenges, and design their work and career paths for the future.
- Offer ownership and recognition. Seek regular employee input on ideas and decisions. Solicit – and implement – suggestions offered by team members. Develop a culture that permits every person to encourage one another to produce the best possible work. In meetings, online networks and company media, share how team members motivate each other. Be highly visible as you recognize employees and catch them doing things right.
- Boost esteem and self confidence. Expect everyone to communicate positively. Replace negative criticism with positive input. Trust people with responsibilities that make them stretch and grow. When people feel good about themselves, they do good work.
- Build loyalty by giving more responsibility. Provide stimulating assignments and let employees run with them. Facilitate and guide as needed, and then get out of the way. Within reason, allow people to make mistakes and learn from them. Tell them you expect great things from them – and they will shine.
As you continue to build your workforce, call on the experts at Talent Bridge to help you develop top-quality human capital solutions. With over 14 years in the Charlotte market and over 100 years of combined experience, we understand the local talent pool, and what it takes to optimize the strength of your team. Contact us today to learn more.