It’s called a work “family” for a reason. These are the individuals that we spend the majority of our time with, and whom we collaborate with on a daily basis to achieve common goals. Encouraging social interactions not only makes the office a more enjoyable place to be, it also increases the understanding and quality of communication between employees.
Enjoy!
Vincent Scaramuzzo, President, Ed-Exec, Inc.
We spend more of our waking hours at work, interacting with our colleagues and clients, than we do at home. As social creatures, those we work with become a second family. As in any family, there are times where everyone gets along and times where it seems that everyone is on edge. If conflicts are not appropriately managed, morale can suffer, causing top talent to begin looking elsewhere. The burden usually falls on team leaders and managers to keep everyone moving toward a common goal in both the best and worst of times.
One of key ways to maintain company morale, with the ultimate goal of retaining top talent and maintaining productivity, is to first understand the ebb and flow of emotions within groups. From there, begin to develop ways to reinforce the organization’s mission and vision through fun and effective team building.
The days of punching in at 9:00 a.m. and punching out at 5:00 p.m., with set breaks and time for lunch are over. Technology allows us to be more efficient. It also allows us to work from virtually anywhere, thus extending most employees’ workdays way beyond the time they leave the office.
It is impossible to expect your teams to sit at their desks all day with their noses to the grindstone, only interacting with each other during scheduled meetings or on breaks. These types of expectations are antiquated and are a recipe for talent retention disaster.
While managers and team leaders may find activities such as March Madness brackets and Fantasy Football teams to be distracting, allowing for this type of fun has shown to help retention rates. It is during activities such as these that team members who may not typically work together are able to interact and share a common interest. Through these interactions, the topic of work enviably comes up, and it is these conversations that spark innovations and collaborations.
There is a delicate balance between work and play, but if your team is consistent in doing their work, and doing it well, there should be little to no need to micromanage work versus fun. Encourage the balance by starting staff meetings with something social to create personal connections and model that you can have fun and get work done.
It is proven that encouraging fun at work increases morale, productivity and retention. Modeling the appropriate times for fun within the workday and allowing for conversations to occur will help your organization not only attract, but retain top talent.
Have you lost a great candidate recently to a counter-offer?
Maybe you lost them to a competing offer? The competition for exceptional talent is at a fever pitch right now. If your interview funnel has been less than satisfactory and your pool of qualified talent is drying up I invite you to a complimentary consultation on how to attract great talent on a consistent basis AND how to procure them so you don’t lose them to competing offers. Reply to this email to schedule. I promise that in our call together you will leave with 2 or 3 ideas that will greatly impact your ability to find, attract, and procure the top 10-15% of the candidate pool on a consistent basis.
Vincent Scaramuzzo is the President of Ed-Exec, Inc. A leading Education Search Firm. He is also a contributing author to various education publications regarding Academic Search. As a specialist in the education field for over a decade, Scaramuzzo works nationally. He can be contacted at vincent@ed-exec.com 860-781-7641.
*Not all articles are original works of Vincent Scaramuzzo or Ed-Exec, Inc.*