4 Tips to get to Know Your Employees Better

Employee engagement starts from engaging with your employees on a one to one basis. Here are 4 tips to get to know your employees better.

1. Understand their strengths

When you focus on the strengths of your employees, it encourages you to spend more time acknowledging when your employees shine, rather than trying to fixate on what their limits are. While it is true that most managers will focus on the areas of improvement during performance appraisals, this means that we spend more time on our weak areas in order to turn them into strengths. If employees do more of the things that they excel in, the things they are not proficient in will not be much of an issue.

2. Develop social relationships

A Gallup research showed that just 30% of employees have a best friend at work. Those who do are seven times as likely to be engaged in their jobs, are better at engaging customers, produce higher quality work, have higher wellbeing, and are less likely to get injured on the job. Employees with more social relationships and friendships at work are more engaged and perform better than those who lack social connections. As a manager, you can create an environment where social relationships develop.

3. Get personal

What does it mean for a manager to build a personal relationship with your employees? It means that you know enough about each individual so that you can tap into their preferences. For instance, does the employee like to be assigned work or takes initiative on things that  need to be done? Does the employee prefer leading or following others? Do they work best alone or in a group setting? When you know what your employees prefer, you become a part of what engages employees at work.

4.  Be targeted

Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time? Similarly, do you know where your employees want to be in 5 years’ time? Make it your business to know what roles your employees aspire to obtain and help them get there. When you become a partner who helps employees get to their career goals, you unleash their engagement and gain their loyalty. 

Source: http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/127043/friends-social-wellbeing.aspx

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