Over the years, we have found that the right staff are output-focused, are motivated by productivity, and need their leaders to help them focus on finishing jobs.
Once they finish a job, they get “job satisfaction” and this lifts their morale and self-esteem.
However, we also found that if staff have got dozens of small things to do, it actually causes them stress.
The best way to help them reduce stress is to ask them during your daily huddle meetings about the particular job they aim to finish that day before they clock off. Once they are able to finish their goals for the day, this will lift their spirits.
Here are three more pointers to help you reduce stress among your staff:
- Establish consistent daily huddles as it will help you and your staff identify which jobs can be finished today and not to start others until one is finished at a time.
- It’s important to schedule work over 12 months so the workload is spread and doesn’t come willy-nilly. Having a job sit on the job register unattended can cause stress.
- Don’t encourage your staff to start a job until all missing info is in because having 20 half-finished jobs on their register can also cause additional stress.
We have seen companies send their staff off to motivational seminars, have pep talks, or listen to motivational speakers. While they are helpful, these only address their symptoms and are only a band-aid solution.
They may lift their spirits for a few hours but if the underlying cause is not addressed then nothing will change once they get back to the office.
If you want to implement a culture of high performance which leads to high levels of self-esteem, job satisfaction, and fantastic staff morale, then focus your staff’s attention on finishing jobs and attending only to 3 jobs at a time.
If they have more than 3 jobs on their “To-do” list, then help them prioritize the top 3 to focus on and ignore the rest. Try not to put jobs on their “To Do” list if they won’t get to them for a fortnight. This causes more anxiety.