Top Tips for Building a Rapport with Your Employees

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Being a boss or a manager is very hard.

You are responsible for running the business, ensuring deadlines are met, and of course, ensuring that everyone on your team works together to meet their obligations at the same time.

This can make it easy for employees and their bosses or managers to grow apart. After all, you are the workplace version of the teacher at school, making sure everyone is doing their work properly. In 2022, however, some new-age ideas are making their way into the workplace, which is helping bosses and their employees to see each other as people while helping to build a more enjoyable work environment.

So, if you are a company owner or manager who is struggling to connect with your team, read on to learn how you can break down those walls. 

Talk About Things That Aren’t Work-Related

This sounds obvious, but it slips through the net of many employers. When your staff go home, they have lives, interests, families, and other things that make them feel good about themselves.

So, rather than talking on and on about that work deadline, ask them about themselves. Of course, don’t be overly formal, as this may warrant them to feel a bit creeped out. Just ask how they are, how their family is etc. Talk about your own too. This will help with building a team for your business that are more friendly and will help them to realise that you truly value them as people.

Appraisals

Everyone who has ever worked in an office, or a similar setting will know how beneficial it can be to get appraisals. 

This will help your employees to feel valued and will hopefully boost their productivity. However, it can be hard to identify when it is the best time to give appraisals. Once a month is a standard rate of giving appraisals, but if you have an employee that does something outstanding, give them an appraisal on the same day. As obvious as it sounds, try not to do so in a meeting setting, as this can take time out of the day that could be better used elsewhere. Simply give them the appraisal in passing and talk about it in meetings if you want to. You could even dedicate a segment of the meetings to offering appraisals if you want to. 

Be Available

In the same line, most people early in their working lives will have had a boss or manager who was intimidating and difficult to open up to. This can go towards creating a very toxic power dynamic, which can lower productivity and create a lot of workplace hostility.

While this may once again sound simple, always be available to your employees. Aim to have your office door open and, if they send you an email with a grievance or issue, be sure to respond to it promptly. Or better yet, talk to them about it in person. 

This will help them to feel more empowered to raise issues with you, which may have a significant bearing on their workplace performance. For instance, if you have an employee whose mother has just gone into hospital, this will undoubtedly be playing on their mind. By being available, you allow them and yourself to discuss how to move forward with their workload around this issue, and how best you can help them emotionally. This is a better approach than burying your head in the metaphorical sand until your employee breaks down and leaves the workplace as they cannot take any more work due to the emotional upset.

Acknowledge Them

Once again, you may be snorting at the idea that you don’t say hello or goodbye to your employees, but many managers don’t, which can lead to that toxic workplace experience. 

When you arrive in the morning, be open and say hello to everyone, and ask them how they are throughout the day. This will allow them to see that you value them and that you are interested in engaging with them on a personal level. Of course, you should also say goodbye to them in the evening.

Days Out

This is a piece of new-age management that is taking off and is helping bosses to connect with their staff. Days out can have a focus around work but always aim to have a day out with your staff at least twice a year, to help build those out-of-office relationships. This will allow friendships to blossom, which will carry over to a better workplace environment for everyone.

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