Achieving financial success through a high-pressure, vicious, and extremely competitive work culture may be effective for some companies, but for most, a workplace with positive emotional connections is more beneficial in the long run.
How do we keep employees emotionally connected at the workplace? Is there any way we can persuade them to be more productive without screaming and shouting all day? Sure, there is. Read on to find out more.
The importance of having employees who are emotionally connected
A recent research featured in a Harvard Business Review article revealed that a company’s emotional culture has an impact on teamwork, job satisfaction, financial performance, and other aspects.
Improved teamwork, better decision making, greater creativity, and higher engagement all stem from positive cultures while poor performance, turnovers, and general dissatisfaction arise due to negative cultures.
Even job seekers are aware of the importance of having positive connections in the workplace as more and more candidates consider emotional compatibility with their prospective employer a major factor when deciding which company to work for.
And to further cement the crucial role of emotional connections, a recent survey of American office workers indicated that positive work relationships and emotional connections in the workplace are a necessity, not just a luxury.
Bottomline: employees who develop good emotional connections in the workplace are more likely to stay longer with the company.
What do positive emotional connections look like in the workplace?
According to another Harvard Business Review article, the characteristics of a positive work culture are:
- offering support to colleagues, which includes showing kindness and compassion;
- inspiring one another in the workplace;
- treating co-workers with respect, trust, gratitude, and integrity;
- forgiving mistakes and avoiding blame;
- focusing on the meaningfulness of the work;
- caring for, being interested in, and maintaining responsibility for co-workers as friends.
How to Develop Good Emotional Connections in the Company?
Personality data is an important tool in creating a workplace that is conducive to good emotional connections for your employees. The assessment process aims to determine the employee’s style of work, motivations, preferences with regards to supervision and co-workers, and the like.
Let your employees know that the company respects and appreciates them.
Employees differ in their sources of motivation, the way they view work success or achievement, and even in how they derive satisfaction from their job.
Meeting these needs on an individual level is a step towards establishing a good emotional connection between the employees and your company.
Consider personality and work style as the basis for team structure.
Throwing a mix of individuals into a group without considering the personality and work style of each member is no longer an acceptable way of forming effective teams.
Apart from the fact that clashing personalities do nothing to foster good work relationships, top performing employees place a lot of importance on belonging to a team that works well together, because individuals understand and support each other’s needs.
This doesn’t mean a team has to have members with exactly the same personality type or work style. As long as the members complement each other, productivity and job satisfaction will increase.
Apply proper supervisor-subordinate matching.
A major reason why subordinates are satisfied with their jobs is having a strong rapport with their supervisor. This is why it’s important to place an employee under a manager who will understand the direct report’s personality, work style, and preferences and be able to properly handle any challenges that the employee might pose.
Revamp the workspace.
Have you ever considered revamping the workspace? If you want to engage with employees, you need to think outside the box, and do things differently every now and then.
For example, you can choose a different corporate meeting venue. Rather than hold meetings in the conference room of your office, go out! Outdoor venues are fresh, and they feature the most soothing and relaxing environment.
Employee retention, an important aspect of a company’s long-term strategies for success, is determined by how well employees develop emotional connections within the organization.
In fact, about 50 percent of employees have stayed at a job they find unsatisfying because of positive emotional relationships. Therefore, if you want your company to succeed and to hold on to your best employees, make sure they find emotional.
About The Author
This is a guest post by Maxwell Donovan.