CX and EX are all over business media. It’s almost as if we’re realising the importance of experience for the first time.
Improved productivity is reliant on your employee’s experience and how valued they feel, while increased turnover is about how your customers experience the service you provide. And your brand reputation is, you guessed it, all about experience. So three of the biggest factors in your business today are reliant on experience in one form or another.
In this post we reveal 7 ways to make your workplace part of a culture of positive and fulfilling experiences for everyone who walks through the door, picks up a phone, or logs into your systems?
Image: Min An
Encourage and respond to feedback
When you actively ask employees to speak up, it sets a precedent that there will be open conversation and appreciation for ideas. When it’s expected that feedback and other contributions be given and that they will be listened to by senior members throughout the organisation, every voice becomes equal and individuals start to assert themselves. The quickest way to silence people is to make them think they’ll never be heard. Let your teams know they do have a voice.
In a contribution to Forbes, Carol Kinsey Goman says:
‘In teams where all members feel personally appreciated and where their input is respected, people participate more deeply.’
When a person is valued and their experiences and concerns documented, that person can feel that they are a part of something, rather than someone who simply clocks in and clocks out. Their feedback provides leaders with insight into what is going on, presenting more opportunities to address and improve performance and service. Facilitate conversation by listening.
Provide the right tools
Invest in tools that make it easier for your employees to succeed and excel. You have the power to ultimately set the ambitious apart – allowing everyone the opportunity to be their best.
The transition to omnichannel solutions for everyday activities must be on your road-map if you’re not already in the process of implementing it. And it’s important to emphasize the right tools and omnichannel solutions in this plan because integrating additional tools upon additional tools is not the answer.
Choose carefully considered integrations that solve your problems and support long term strategies. Adopt a SSOT solution so that you and your teams are empowered with the confidence to deliver to right information every time.
Don’t buy into every solution – but do invest in the ones that make life easier for everyone, improve the customer’s experience, and have longevity. No one has the time to retrain employees in systems that simply don’t measure up. Take the time to have the right conversations and make the solution part of the strategy for every member of your organisation.
Image by: Pexels
Grant ownership over success
When Simon says, ‘put your hands on your head’, put your hands on your head. When he says ‘hire for success’, hire for success.
‘If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.’ Simon Sinek
Empowering your employees starts with the hire. Are you choosing your people-power based on who is the right fit for your company and the teams they’ll be part of? Empower your teams by celebrating the people who use initiative day after day and those who communicate authentically in order to drive growth and ensure new success stories can be told week after week.
When it comes to achievements, many employees do not expect recognition, gone are the days of bell ringing and Christmas bonuses. Praise is seldom given when expectations are so consistently high. This culture of fighting to keep your job, rather than striving to do it well has changed the energy in a lot of organisations. But not all. Some are doing well at recognising the skills and achievements of employees by giving them ownership of those successes.
Put trust in your employees by giving them the opportunity to carve out their own success stories and enjoy making their customer’s journeys more enjoyable.
Celebrate victory and make it part of your company culture to acknowledge the efforts of your teams and of the people who go above and beyond. The ones who sweat the details.
Create and share relevant and contextual content
Employees need to be able to access the content and documentation relevant to their roles. They may also choose to create content to share with their teams or the wider organisation to inform about the things they’ve learned, the obstacles they face and the feedback they’ve received.
By using a knowledge management platform that understands and responds to user behaviour, you can provide your teams with the relevant knowledge they need to keep up tod date with company procedures and to guide customers seamlessly through inquiry to deliver an outcome and confidently disperse information and answers.
More than just providing access to content, have those two-way conversations and invite your teams to engage.
Empower your employees with insight an ownership of their knowledge
From new starter, to long-term employee, there’s always something new to learn or a conversation to be part of. Enable your teams to actively seek to understand your business and operations by giving them quizzes and guides.
Use these tools to enhance the effectiveness of processes and help staff monitor and understand performance.
KIQ Cloud incorporates the use of quizzes and wizards to help your employees and teams learn, more, test their knowledge and enjoy the process of finding out answers for themselves.
Finesse the interaction with your teams by using your platform to give people tools that enhance their abilities and build their confidence.
Photo by: Janko Ferlic
Optimise performance by encouraging learning
Onboarding is one of the biggest issues faced by companies of all sizes. It’s often overlooked and leaves employees feeling unprepared for their roles and nervous about talking to their colleagues. It’s one of those things that no one ever seems to have time for – but it doesn’t need to be that way.
When onboarding is an engaging and simple part of the platform used in your business every day, there’s no need to feel nervous or unprepared. Incorporate training and company updates into the common vernacular and it will cease to be a daunting concept.
Offer interesting ways for your teams to keep updated and give them the opportunity to learn more and become leaders – encouraging them to ask questions. Listen to them – that’s the most important thing. No matter what technology you have or how many staff – listening is key to everything.
Illustrate what growth looks like
If you want long-term team players, you must show them what long term looks like. Let them see the progression, the perks, the opportunity.
Give your people the room to make their own decisions, even if they make mistakes, allow them to find their zone and manage your expectations.
It’s okay to pull them up on their mistakes, but don’t dwell on them. Everyone starts somewhere and every one of us fails, so let them fail and watch their determination as an employee who is nurtured to do better – rather than one berated into failing again.
Celebrate all successes not just hitting targets and provide a visible path for growth
The size of your business will dictate the best way to talk to your employees about their progress; but also allow teams the space and freedom to pat each other on the back. Snack Nation hold weekly ‘crush it’ chats before knock off on Friday, where team members can acknowledge those who are doing great work, making their jobs easier or simply inspiring them. It’s a really nice way to keep the personal, human side at the core of the company culture, and that reflects in how you treat not only every team member, but customers too. Rewarding with good vibes and a nice incentive to come back fresh on a Monday and keep pushing.
Fundamentally – you empower your people through your company culture – through putting people first and investing in the future by creating opportunities for success.
When it comes to delivering that through knowledge management – Knosys are here, so get in touch for an obligation free chat or demo.
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