Team Building Tips

Let me start off by asking you a question. As a manager, what would you say would be the perfect work environment? As a manager, my perfect work environment would be a workplace where the employees loved what they did, loved coming to work, loved working as a team and loved upper management. I know one way to accomplish this: make the workplace a home away from home.

Most employees love their home life. If they don't, show them what their home life should be like. Your workplace should be a model for all the other workplaces.

The reason for writing this article is I was reminded of the song "Home On The Range." Let me give you just a few of the lyrics: "Oh give me a home.....where seldom is heard, a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day." Who wants to go to work when they hate their job? Who wants to work when their bosses are oppressive? I'll tell you who, no one....unless you're a masochist.

If you want to have the ideal work environment and the ideal employees, you need to create a haven. Your employees should not hear discouraging words and they should feel like their "skies are not cloudy all day." Discouraging words and cloudy skies are two reasons for employee turnover. Here are a few things you can do to make the workplace a home away from home.

1) As a manager, always be an encourager. Remember to tell your employees they can do it, or great job. Words are very powerful. Life and death are in the power of the tongue, so make sure you speak life with your words.

2) Respect your employees and make them feel like they are important. The best way to make your employees feel important is to listen to them. Also, respecting your employees will in turn make your employees respect you.

3) Make the workplace fun. Encourage your employees to work together, get the job down and have some fun. Encourage your employees to be creative and come up with ideas. Ask them for ideas on working smarter, time management, employee moral, teamwork, and having fun. This will make them feel important and some of the best ideas come from employees and not upper management anyway.

4) Give your employees a sense of meaning, purpose and accomplishment. If employees feel what they do is meaningless, they won't be working for you too much longer. If employees feel what they do has no purpose, again they will soon be gone. If employees feel they aren't accomplishing anything, their employment with you will soon end.

5) Pay your employees what they are worth. About 65% of job seekers are seeking a new job because they feel they are underpaid. Make sure you are reviewing job performances at least once a year and giving substantial raises accordingly.

These are just a few things you can do to create the ideal work environment. Get creative and come up with some of your own as well. Better yet, ask you employees for ideas.

Mike Bova is the Madison County Advertising Director & Business Columnist for Eagle Newspapers in Syracuse, NY. Mike owns several websites including http://www.upstateshopping.com The Upstate New York Shopping And Business Directory. Mike has spoken in front of many business groups, shattered a lot of sales records, conducted several sales training seminars and trains corporate sales staffs how to sell more. Mike is launching his own site soon.