Categories: Uwin Iwin News
Employee Behaviour Management

The past 24 months for organisations and its workplace dynamics have been altered, and decentralised work environments has come to stay. It has changed organisational operations at all levels and strategic adjustments have rejigged the “traditional” work system we are all familiar with. This is a disruptive change which has necessitated learning how to work under new and different circumstances. There is a significant number of staff choosing either ‘remote work’ or ‘flexible hybrid work’ options in offices now, and collaborative, innovative, agile, and inventive solutions are being utilised to keep workflow going uninterrupted. This choice is because of the need for flexibility and autonomy in their work roles.

Both ‘Remote and Hybrid or Flexible workers’, are expected to perform just as well as their on-site counterparts, to meet their professional obligations, and there is a need for employers to manage the dynamics of these work options. Keeping these set of employees engaged and motivated comes with understanding the limitations that comes with managing them remotely. According to a survey based on 2,000 participants in April and May by Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), the key challenges faced by remote workers and their managers is communication, collaboration, isolation, and FOMO- fear of missing out on information, opportunities, and promotions. (Source: Decentralized Workforce: Fundamental Drivers & Engagement in the New Workplace  – Incentive Research Foundation (theirf.org). The solutions to these issues are germane to achieving an optimal work force for organisational success.

Behavioural management is an element in the workplace utilised by employers or managers of organisations to increase employee satisfaction for increased productivity. The overall goal to organisations aside from increasing productivity, is to encourage a positive work culture. Good managers apply the methods of support and encouragement to drive positive behaviours. There is no guarantee that this works all the time. The aim or focus for employers and mangers, is to keep growing the potentials of their employees/ workers, correct their deficits and keep them driven without demoralising and disengaging them. A major element that has been identified to be problematic is the coaching methods adopted by managers. Not understanding the source of the employee’s behavioural issues can sometimes make coaching ineffective. Desired behaviours can be achieved from remote or hybrid employees by expanding the repertory of strategies for positive results:

Adopt both feedback and coaching approach: Using a mix of both feedback (top-down communication), and coaching which is more of a collaborative process and helps improve performance. This strategy helps mitigate behaviours that will hinder success and develop skills that are more productive.

Promote Employee Potential: Encouraging the acknowledgment of praiseworthy and innovative potential is a positive behaviour driver and motivator. Employers and managers help influence how employees view themselves, through positive motivators such as commendations, acknowledgements, and awards. This creates a reinforced behavioural pattern of commitment to tasks and going above and beyond in their duties.

Empower your Employee: Micromanaging employees for every assigned task or duty is not an ideal positive behaviour driver. As a short-term strategy micromanagement is useful for training new employees, increasing performance of underperforming employees and controlling high-risk issues but it is not ideal for long term behaviour management. Micro-management in the long-term cause’s low morale, high staff turnover and reduction in productivity. Proper delegation of duty is a better positive behavioural re-enforcement approach.

Where delegation is applied, it is also instructive to include:

  • Having a vision board for the goals of the organisation.
  • Developing a policy and procedures manual.
  • Developing solid lines of communication between managers and subordinates.
  • Expect some employee errors.

Make failure a learning process: Even the smartest and most diligent employees are not immune to failure, failure is inevitable. Everyone makes mistakes in their professional careers, and employers or managers are tasked with the duty of framing those situations correctly. Discussing failure as a learning opportunity instead of berating an employee reinforces loyalty and commitment. Employers and managers need to teach failure as a necessary part of growth and innovation.

Remove bottlenecks & barriers: Barriers are not good for any workplace. Having less barriers or none at all makes for a healthy productive workforce. Employers and managers must show respect to their employees and create easy channels of communication, an ‘open door and communication’ policy proves as an effective method. Managers must be good listeners and where there are conflicts, they should be tackled sooner rather than later.

Motivate and Reward: Creating a fair work environment where rewards and recognition are properly applied have a positive impact. There must be adjustments made in the implementation and application of rewards and recognition to be more inclusive in workplaces, where all work type categories are qualified for Reward & Recognition based on talents, contributions, and achievements.

Uwin Iwin Incentives Pty., Incentive Programmes | Uwin Iwin Performance Incentives is a pan African full house incentives company that has over 28 years’ experience in providing companies/ organisations inspiring incentives solutions in Africa. We work with our clients to unlock their market potentials and improve their performance in productivity. Our vision is to provide first class incentives to organisations, by using our innovative modern rewards solutions in the business market. Solutions that give a high market share size which translates to higher productivity and performance for our clients. We look forward to the opportunity to form strategic partnerships with you. For more details, please contact us at info@uwiniwin.net

Are you ready to take your business and team to the next level?