Giving positive feedback may seem straightforward, but when done with authenticity and intention, it can transform how your employees feel about their work and their contribution to your business. As a business owner, mastering this skill is key to building a motivated and high-performing team. Letâs explore how you can give positive feedback that resonates and drives meaningful change.
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The Power of Positive Feedback                          Â
Positive feedback isn't just about making your employees feel good. It plays a pivotal role in employee engagement, retention, and overall job satisfaction. When you offer meaningful and constructive feedback, you help reinforce behaviours that align with your business goals and values.
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Employees who feel valued and appreciated are more likely to stay with your company and perform at their best.
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Business owners often find themselves balancing various tasks, from managing day-to-day operations to driving long-term strategy. In the mi...
If you employ or manage staff in any capacity, youâll know what a sucker punch it can be when a great staff member turns in their resignation, perhaps out of the blue, or even hints at the idea of moving on.
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Finding great staff is like winning the lottery but keeping them long-term can prove tricky depending on a variety of factors. Post pandemic, weâre seeing trends that reveal keeping great staff is becoming even more challenging but there are some essential things you can do to keep great people in your team, longer. Â Â Â
The most obvious reason would be because theyâre great. You can trust them, they are reliable, they show up and they do great work and you donât have to worry about them â whatâs not to love about keeping great staff?
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The great players in the team you already have are part of what makes the fabric of your culture ...
âI canât make a decision because you have presented 2 great candidates â if we hired one of them weâd always wonder whether the other would have been better....â
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This was the exact words that came out of the employersâ mouth after we had carefully and meticulously conducted a thorough and rigorous recruitment campaign for them, providing a strong shortlist. So strong in fact that they simply couldnât (and didnât) make the final decision. Whilst the team rightly pointed out that we had done such a stellar job we made it difficult for the employer to choose, I found the situation fascinating.
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How does it sound to you?
Ludicrous? Funny? Typical?
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At first, I assumed that really they just didnât want to hire anyone, that it was a total waste of time and resources because they clearly had no intention of hiring â I mean surely one candidate stands ahead of the other for their needs?
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But as I reflected on this, I wondered how many other small businesses are letting indecision...
In a competitive market where applicants are in short supply and the struggle to even find one person who might be suitable for your role is real, itâs easy to think that there is no need to screen and assess applicants. Well, there is no one to screen, or so few applicants so whatâs the point, right?
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Actually, wrong. You see, despite there being far fewer applicants to chose from, the importance of making the right hiring choices hasnât changed. The reality is you canât outrun a bad hire. So even if there is only one applicant, hiring the wrong person is guaranteed to cause you more frustration, more stress and cost you more than hiring no one at all.
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When we had only a handful of applicants to select from, screening effectively is even more important because in these moments we can lose focus and clarity on whatâs really important, out of desperation, overwhelm and stress. We waiver on the previous non negotiables, and start to consider applicants who we know really arenât ri...
Did you know that up to 46% of new hires âfailâ? Thatâs right â almost half of employees who start a role with a new employer donât make it through 18 months, according to a study released by Leadership IQ.
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Whilst itâs easy to conclude that obviously the applicant has misled us, lied in an interview, is not able to do what they promised or for some other reason the fault lies with them, is that really the case?
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There is no doubt that making great hiring decisions is essential to creating the best possible team for your business, a team that is motivated, capable, productive and high functioning, but when we get the hiring decisions wrong, we are so often quick to look to others as the reason for this.
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In an era where we are âpanic hiringâ due to the lack of applicants in the market, a situation which is not likely to change in the short term, hiring the best person for the role can feel difficult, or even impossible, but itâs also why itâs so important to pay attention to t...
What are you doing to attract the right applicants in a tough market?
Hiring right in a tough market isnât anything new but we are experiencing a particularly challenging period for attracting great applicants to roles across the board.
If youâve hired in recent years, or are in the process of hiring in certain industries or locations right now, youâll know what weâre talking about.
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For some roles, gone are the days where you would be inundated with applications, right now itâs looking more like a dried-up oasis. Even the bad applications arenât coming through.
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You donât always want to hire anyone as a stop-gap because they could create more damage to your business and team in the long-run. Itâs still incredibly important to be considered and strategic with your recruitment processes.
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Business owners and managers alike are frustrated, desperate for help and uncertain about how to continue without finding the right staff (or any staff) for their under-resourced teams. Mayb...
We all know the feeling, weâre losing sleep, weâre avoiding the person at work, weâre angry, frustrated and tearing our hair out. We have an employee who is not performing, not showing up how we want them to at work or behaving in a negative way, a way that isnât sitting right with you.
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We canât always quite put our finger on the exact issue, itâs just not quite right, but itâs wrong enough to be consuming our time and attention. Or maybe it is more obvious, but we feel like weâre going over the top if we bring it up â we donât want them to feel like we are micromanaging them or pulling them up for something that feels petty and insignificant (yet the fact that itâs consuming our time and attention does in fact mean that at some level it is significant to us).
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So, we tolerate it, whether itâs behaviour, attendance, performance or something else, we tolerate it. We think maybe itâs not that much of a big deal, or maybe itâll be short term, or surely they will realise soon and fi...
Micromanagement at work refers to a management style that is typically excessive and controlling and usually exercised by a supervisor or manager. This management style focuses heavily on task-specific elements while often neglecting the bigger picture, such as overall outcomes, staff development, and collaborative teamwork.
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Micromanagement can impede team efficiency and arise from several underlying factors. These factors usually encompass a lack of confidence in team members' competencies, a tendency to seek control due to apprehension or self-doubt, and a need to maintain close oversight to ensure tasks meet personal expectations.
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Micromanagement frequently emerges when leaders encounter challenges in effectively delegating tasks, motivating their team, and fostering a culture of accountability. Although the motivations behind micromanagement might be rooted in aspirations for success, the approach inadvertently restricts autonomy, stifles i...
If you run a business or an organisation, the Code of Conduct is one policy you want to invest in.
Creating policies for your business might not be the most exciting task, we get it â but some guidelines are essential, and this is one of them.
 Having a code underpins and informs almost everything your business does, from communication best practices to acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. In this blog post, we explore what a Code of Conduct is, where and why it's useful, and how it can significantly benefit your business.
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A Code of Conduct is a formal document that outlines the guiding principles, standards, and behavioural expectations for all team members within your organisation. It serves as a set of rules and guidelines that govern interactions, communications, and behaviour between employees, management, and other stakeholders.
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A well-designed Code of Conduct promotes ethical behaviour, creat...
Understanding Motivation:
Understanding how to motivate your team can be one of the biggest challenges business owners, managers and leaders face. Finding the right people for your business is just the first step, once you have the players in place, getting the most out of them, motivating them and pushing for greater productivity and motivation is an ongoing pain point which can often feel like some sort of secret witchcraft.
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Our Usual Default:
For many managers, when thinking of ways to motivate staff, our automatic default is to entice them with some form of incentive, or show them recognition with some sort of gift, reward or show of gratitude. Some people even think that the bigger the gesture, the more expensive the gift or reward, the higher the motivation should be.
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Then, after outlaying the money, expecting a huge return on their investment by achieving high motivation across the team, they are disappointed, frustrated and resentful that their efforts have had no dir...
Free Employment Contract Checklist
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