5 WAYS TO SET YOUR EMPLOYEES UP FOR SUCCESS IN 2015Tips, suggestions, and inspiration from GennGlobal

INTRODUCTION You’re probably familiar with New Year’s

resolutions, but you might never have thought to adapt these principles to your work.

Work-related goals are more likely to be achieved than many typical resolutions because you’ll have the opportunity to be consistently working towards them.

This year, resolve to make your company stronger than ever by investing time in your team. Next, we will discuss 5 ways to set your employees up for success in 2015.

GET TO KNOW THEM BETTER

Getting to know your employees on a personal level is a great place to start.

Having a good idea of who your employees are as people is a vital part of fostering a team environment.

If one of your goals is to find ways to increase your employees’ productivity and quality of work, knowing their individual learning styles, personalities, and work ethic will help guide you.

Because everyone responds differently to various teaching techniques and reward systems, it is important to know the best ways to motivate your team.

WORK YOUR EMPLOYEES’ OBJECTIVES INTO THE COMPANY’S

Your employees want to know that their contributions in the workplace are having some sort of positive impact.

Therefore, it is a good idea to ask for their input about company-wide decisions when it is appropriate to do so.

If you increase your employees’ involvement with the company, it is likely they will care more about the company as a whole and about the individual work they do every day.

SET MANAGEABLE GOALS

Here we get to the real difference between New Year’s resolutions and creating goals at work: Work goals should be realistic and manageable if you

hope to achieve them. New Year’s resolutions are often highly personalized

and unrealistic, whereas work goals will lend themselves to the success of something greater than an individual.

The goals you set for your team should strike a balance between reasonable and challenging so that your employees can actually experience growth along the way.

You’ll also want to work with each employee individually to carefully adjust goals to meet their needs and challenge them.

HAVE A PLAN AND STICK TO IT

Setting important goals will be fruitless if you don’t hold your employees accountable for their goals and plans for improvement.

Have a strategy in place for keeping track of your goals. For example, you might consider holding weekly

or monthly meetings with your employees to check up on the progress of their goals.

How these goals are achieved isn’t necessarily the most important thing—making sure your employees’ goals are being completed and that their skill sets are growing is.

PRAISE GOOD WORK

Praising the good work of your employees is important for keeping their level of motivation high.

Try starting with positive reinforcement: Reward your employees when they have done

something that contributes to the overall success of the company.