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Give your Employees the Freedom to Speak Up

by Biashara Kenya

For a healthy work environment, proper communication is an absolute must.

If you don’t give your customers the freedom to speak up and be honest, there will be miscommunication, lies, misunderstanding, and other negatives in your office environment. Companies that let employees open up are more focused and united. That is what you should look to achieve.

Encourage

Employees are generally quite scared of speaking up. You should take the lead and let them know that it is safe to share. Start speaking up yourself and your employees will follow suit. They will know that it is safe to talk about their fears and mistakes without worrying about judgment. Once they start sharing, you will be able to tackle problems with ease.

Reward

This is a continuation of encouragement. Taking the lead is part one. Encourage communication further by rewarding those who actually step forward. A smile and a thank you will take you a long way. Plus, it will help the others open up. Always reward honest speech.

Innovate

Support communication by introducing new ways. Team activity is an excellent way to start. Bring your team together for work and when you have to take a break. You can do that in many ways. Start thinking!

Don’t group your employees in twos and threes. Make teams and give them individual projects to do. Team building is one of the best ways to encourage communication. Also, don’t divide your employees department-wise. Encourage inter-department mingling, too. That will help you build strong teams and in the end, a strong business.

Be Constructive

Criticism doesn’t always have to be destructive. As the leader you should point out errors such that your employees improve instead of getting disheartened. Be open and understand why an employee made a mistake. Honest criticism may help you but it can imbibe fear in your employees. Also, don’t ever judge anybody. Judging people will only cause negative effects. Encourage your employees through constructive criticism.

Employees want to be open and it is important that they be honest and able to communicate. That can happen only when you encourage it. Encourage your employees to speak their mind without fear by ruling out judgment on all levels. If your employees don’t communicate with each other and with you, your business will soon crumble.

Entrepreneurial Learning

Communicative employee base is the secret to a healthy business. Let your employees know that it is safe to communicate and share their mistakes, fears, and ideas. Encourage communication by being constructive, helpful, and open.

Image courtesy of [Stockimages] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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