Ensuring your employees are satisfied and feel appreciated is important in order to reduce turnover. Organizations need to focus on keeping employees happy and motivated in order to stay competitive in their recruiting and retention efforts.
One area that many employers fail to hit the mark on is instilling a sense of trust and confidence in senior leadership amongst its employees. Instilling a sense of trust and confidence in senior leadership is key to protecting your organization’s reputation and bottom line.
Although there are many different ways to build trust and confidence in managers and senior leadership at your organization, one simple way is to be a great listener.
Being a Great Listener—The Basics
Employees want to feel like their voices are being heard, rather than just being talked at. Experts agree that good listening typically comes down to doing the following three things:
- Not talking when your employee is talking
- Letting your employee know that you’re listening with active facial expressions and verbal cues
- Being able to repeat what your employee said
In addition to making sure you follow these three suggestions, be sure to promote open communication so employees feel comfortable talking to you about whatever issues may arise.
Listening to Employee Complaints
It’s inevitable that employees may have concerns or complaints that they’d like to share with you. When this happens, it’s critical that you handle the situation properly. Try to make every effort to put off your other obligations and make yourself available to hear your employees’ complaints. When listening to complaints, avoid making these mistakes.
Remember, listening to your employees contributes to overall satisfaction, improves trust in senior leadership and can strengthen retention.
