Employee consistency equals productivity.
Productivity equals success.
Every business will have a work environment with its own unique rhythm. In order to ensure business success, company leaders need to implement solutions and policies that enable employees to become well-familiarized with the workplace’s particular rhythm. In a recent blog post for HR Ring Leader, contributor Trish McFarlane explored this challenge, noting that promoting employee consistency specifically with employees who appear to have lost their passion and vigor requires leaders to go beyond traditional motivation techniques and alter the environment to one in which all employees can flourish.
McFarlane published another recent post outlining how to eliminate employee inconsistency and lessons for becoming a better business leader, coach and mentor. In order to create and foster an environment that enables employees to continuously excel, it is important that business leaders demonstrate consistency in the workplace. McFarlane outlined four steps in particular:
- Take an honest, critical look at how things are done in the environment established, identifying specific areas of inconsistency.
- Share the results of the analysis with employees so that they can learn the behaviors and work processes that need to be improved.
- Redefine expectations with staff and hold a team meeting to openly discuss changes.
- Shake things up by going beyond simple communications to visually demonstrate how something is different.
“As leaders, we tend to communicate that change is needed and even what needs to change,” McFarlane wrote. “Then, the staff are told to just get back to work. This does not inspire change. In order to get the ball rolling, think of some way to visually show that something is different. Whether that means changing some work assignments, creating a new work group, making plans to change the physical work environment or another creative idea, the point is that staff who see that something has already changes and for the better will be more likely to embrace additional changes.”
Strategies to Eliminate Employee Inconsistency
Poor employee consistency in the workplace can significantly hinder business success. In a recent Strategies Blog article, contributor Neil Ducoff offered numerous tips to eliminate employee inconsistency in the workplace, noting that discipline needs to be embedded into work culture so that employees are empowered to unvaryingly execute complex systems.
“When systems of any kind are compromised, inconsistent results occur,” Ducoff wrote. “Material waste, labor cost, missed deadlines, upset customers and stress all impedes forward progress. When inconsistencies get out of control, media coverage can do major damage to a company’s product, service and reputation.”
Part of the solution will likely involve investing in technologies such as a PBX telephone system or a professional answering service from AccessDirect, which can ease overburdened employees by passing some administrative duties on to third-party operators.
In order to avoid the often costly consequences of inconsistent business, Ducoff stressed that decision makers need to lead with a high level of accountability and encourage determination for each employee. This requires business leaders to take a personal interest in helping each employee succeed, and Ducoff noted that this begins with training and coaching. However, in today’s rapidly changing business environment in which the workforce is considerably more dispersed, having optimal leadership initiatives in place is challenging in itself. Yet, with a virtual phone system from AccessDirect, business leaders can utilize advanced find-me-follow-me functionality to maintain regular communication with the whole workforce therefore enhancing employee consistency.
