You should not simply manage your workforce today; you need to cultivate good relationships in order to reap the rewards of productivity and high retention rates. 

A lot of business owners overlook the importance of this. However, authentic business relationships stimulate growth and innovation, as well as advancing commerce. It’s not just about momentum; it is about creating and sustaining relevancy. 

The benefits of building relationships with your employees

Let’s take a further look at some of the key advantages of this:

• Increased productivity – Employees who feel valued and have good relationships with their leaders work more efficiently. They will put their best foot forward and this causes higher performance levels and productivity.  They will also feel comfortable telling you about any issues in the workplace, for example, if they feel you need to leverage iPhone rentals for improved communication or if they have trouble with the software of choice in the workplace.
• Higher retention rates – Holding onto your best talent is so important. The last thing you want is for one of the competition to poach one of your most vital employees. By building a loyal relationship, you can reduce the chances of this happening significantly.
• Less absenteeism -Workplace conflicts and stress can equate to high levels of employee absenteeism. Focusing on your employee relationships can reverse this.
• Increased motivation – When your employees are vlaued and enjoy work, they are more motivated.
• Increased revenue – Ultimately, this all comes down to making more money for your business. Less days off, more money made, and such like this all comes down to higher revenue.

Building these great relationships

In order to make the most of the opportunities that are created by great relationships, leaders need to move from managing and living with an entreprenurial spirit to being someone that invests in people and values relationships in the workplace.

There are two supporting characteristics that need to be deployed. The first is to lead your workforce with the purpose of leaving a legacy that holistically supports better relationships through trust and reciprocity.

The second is to work with an honest purpose, and this requires giving to grow, sharing, and being committed to collaboration, which is where a good software platform can really show its worth. 

If this is the case, though, why are businesses not being committed to building these great relationships with their employees? Well, this is probably because you are still stuck in the templates of business past.

Do you recognise that these relationships do not start with others? They start with you!

To sustain relevancy, you need to invest in yourself all the time. This investment will demand you to find the correct people who are able to further teach you and guide you to invest in yourself.

You need to ask yourself: how are you going to nurture and develop relationships that invest in joint success for the future rather than just thinking about what you need right now?

You also need to look at how you can create a workplace whereby there is a culture of reciprocity in relationships. To do this, there are some key questions you can ask yourself relating to the two supporting characteristics mentioned above.

Questions relating to legacy:

• What is the legacy that your promise has generated for everyone around you?
• Do your workers believe that their jobs are opportunities to shape their legacies?
• Do your partners, clients, and customers believe this too?

Questions relating to your general purpose:

• How do you give back to your employees?
• How are you going to share your experience and expertise beyond your day-to-day work?
• Do your external partners, clients, customers, and employees believe that your business promotes giivng back to people and sharing? 

There are a number of other things that you can do to make sure you build a healthy relationship with the people that work for you. This includes the following:

• Dealing with small problems before they become big ones
• Having a learning attitude
• Having one-to-one interactions with your employees, creating a sense of support
• Be empathetic and value your employees
• Implement autonomy; give your employees enough space and room to complete their tasks
• Respect your employees and the opinions that they have 
• Be friendly to your employees; you don’t need to share your weekend plans and personal issues with them in order to be friendly
• Appreciate your employees – you would be surprised by how much of a difference a simple “thank you” can make 
• Merge the gap in communication; good communication ensures that your employees’ needs and sentiments are understood