Building good values at the office

When it comes to building a good work environment, you need to start with your office values. Small business owners are the face of their company and their employees will reflect their personality to their customers. Good office values start by building a good mission statement and keeping that at the heart of your organization.

Another way to build office values is to demand respect for everyone in your office. Your employees should understand respect and they need to respect their co-workers, customers, clients, and themselves. If you don't like the way an employee is treating people, call them into your office and talk to them about it. Let them know that certain behaviors are just not tolerated.

Good values come from practicing compassion and honesty in the office. When an employee comes to you with a problem, make time to truly listen to what they are saying. Give the employee your full attention and discuss how you plan to make things better. Use some of the things they are telling you as you plan for the future. Honesty is also important in the office. Employees value your opinion and they don't want you to lie to them. If you don't like the work they are doing, offer suggestions on how they can change it and make it better.

A simple way to build good values in the office is to share a laugh with your employees. Humor is one of the best ways to break the tension between upset employees; it instantly changes the mood of someone that is upset or out of sorts. If you can keep the office in a light-minded manner, people will be excited to come to work and they will continue with your company for a long time. Humor helps to keep the employee morale up, which can be a big relief during busy seasons or times of high-stress. When employees start to get overwhelmed with their job, their morale decreases and they start looking for a new one. If you can keep some humor in the office, you can get to some of those employees before they are completely burned-out.

Family-values are another way to show your employees respect. When you create a family-friendly work atmosphere, employees instantly recognize this and they respect the company they work for. You can easily create a family-friendly work environment by offering flexible hours. Flexibility with schedules can really help out employees that have family commitments during or after the work-day. Host office parties and encourage the staff members to bring their families. Try to host office parties quarterly so you can truly get to know the family members of your staff members.

Your attitude has a big impact on the way your employees work. If you come into work each day with an aggressive or upset attitude, it will radiate to your staff members. No one likes to have their orders barked at them and they certainly do not appreciate a manager that cuts them down all day. While you are the boss, you need to draw the line between being the critical boss and being the fun boss. You can find a proper balance and establish a comfortable work atmosphere for all of your employees. Give each employee 5 minutes during the day and simply stop by their desk to check-up on them. Find out how they are doing with their work and also with their personal life. When you show your employees you care about them as a person, not just an employee, the recognize this and will work harder for you. It is easy to build good values in the office, just take a look at the way you interact with people and determine if you have good values to start with.