The #1 reason most people leave their jobs is a lack of recognition.
Genuine, timely recognition helps to retain talented workers - those who will go the extra mile - creating high-performing teams. Your workm8tes want genuine verbal recognition – so consider giving them a ‘shout out’ for a job well done.
On the flip side, if a worker feels like they are doing more than their share and not being acknowledged for it; or if a worker is given recognition for work they did not do, it can be very damaging to team morale and performance.
Recognition is important - and so is accountability.
Having a high level of accountability builds trust between team8tes leading to improved work performance and productivity.
Remember, accountability works both ways – your workers are accountable to deliver and so are you.
Showing up to meetings, providing feedback and recognition, communicating well, answering questions, co-designing solutions with your m8tes, making decisions and delivering on your word are all ways to support your workers, so that they can get on with their work.
We've developed the tools to help you build high levels of accountability and trust with your team8tes by working together to design solutions, plan, set and communicate expectations, recognise and reward effort, and most importantly deliver.
Together you and your m8tes can create a stress-free, safe and productive workplace.
Accountability
Accountability fuels success.
It is difficult to achieve but is very important.
When you hold all workers accountable for doing what they are supposed to do, it breeds trust among workers and teams. High levels of trust are important to create thriving and high performing teams.
Accountability boosts worker performance by enabling task ownership. It helps workm8tes have value in and take pride in their work, and helps them to understand how they fit into the bigger picture. These are all features of well-designed jobs.
On the flip side – not holding workers accountable sends the message that the work isn’t important and has little value, and that reliability isn’t necessary. This can result in complacency in your team.
We’ve outlined the key elements of accountability in action to guide you to create accountable, safe and high-performing workm8tes.
Recognise & reward your workm8tes
The #1 reason most people leave their jobs is a lack of recognition.
We all need to feel appreciated. When your workm8tes feel appreciated and recognised for their individual contribution, they feel valued, they’re more engaged, motivated, have higher job satisfaction, are less likely to resign, and more likely to go the extra mile for you and the business.
The trick is to do it well.
While it's crucial to recognise major accomplishments, don’t overlook the power of the everyday thank-you to motivate your team.
Our research shows workers’ value genuine verbal recognition more than financial reward. Annual bonuses become expected, yet are not often seen as genuine appreciation, but rather as an entitlement.
We’ve developed a guide for how you can deliver recognition with impact.
Making change stick
Change and process-improvement is a key part of creating no-stress, safe and productive teams. But getting change to stick can be difficult.
Solutions that are designed by your workm8tes and teams lead to better and longer lasting results that are sustained over a longer period of time.
By involving your workm8tes in co-designing solutions to problems gives them ownership – they now have skin in the game.
Importantly, the insights that your workm8tes will bring are invaluable and may be surprising. We also know that solutions designed by those who actually have to implement them are better and result in longer-term sustainable change.
We’ve got some tools to guide you through.
Close the loop - communicate often
Communicating change and keeping workers in the loop is essential to making change stick.
Planning calendars and conversations that close the loop with workers are two ways to ensure no one is left out.
Make a plan
An annual planning calendar that sets out the expectations and key milestones of the year ahead is a useful visual tool to keep everyone in-the-know and held to account.
You may already have an annual calendar, but if not, this adaptable template is a useful starting point:
Make sure to get workers’ input into what they want to see on the calendar.
Share the calendar with workers, but also put it up on the noticeboard so that all workers have a visual reminder of what is to come.
Respect the calendar!
Make time every month to update the calendar if needed. It is only useful if it is kept up to date and you actually follow it.
Having a clear plan for the year ahead can help manage work demands, avoiding repeated requests on worker’s time by coordinating activities to avoid duplication and periods of peak work demands. It is also a useful reminder to do those things we should do but tend to drop off the priority list – like a spring clean or policy review.
Tell it how it is
The importance of clear, honest and timely conversation with your workers cannot be overstated.
Many workplaces like to send out an all-staff email informing workers of changes. This works well in some industries – but not manufacturing. Your workm8tes want face-to-face communication.
Regular one-on-one and team meetings provide the opportunity to connect. If there is a particular issue, challenge or change – keep it on the agenda, and keep talking about it until it is resolved. Use our honest feedback communication guide to help you tell it how it is.
Just like your conversations about workplace change, including conversations about wellbeing and work-related stress in your regular meetings helps shifts it from the taboo to the norm. Regularly talking with your team8tes about what causes them stress at work (and taking action to address it) is the key to creating a thriving, stress-free, high-performing, and safe workplace.
Take a look at the guide we've developed for you so you can keep no-stress on the agenda.
Want to know more about how to communicate with impact?
Take a look at the guides we've made for you in the communication toolbox.