Create a “Pocket of Excellence” that Allows Employees to Thrive

For your employees, create an environment that enables them to be their very best. Shawn Murphy, culture change and leadership consultant and author of the book The Optimistic Workplace: Creating an Environment that Energizes Everyone, calls the ideal environment a “Pocket of Excellence” and offers these tips for creating a situation that allows your employees to thrive.

• Make personal connections. Murphy says “The most important relationship has been neglected for too long—the relationship between employee and leader. Leaders need to spend time getting to know the whole person and not only the role a person fills on the team.” Take the time to learn each person’s goals, hobbies and even interests outside of work, and really get to know each person.
• Promote personal purpose. Purpose-oriented people are more likely to experience fulfillment in their work, and having a purpose makes them more resilient and able to tackle the slings and arrows of the workplace. Promote purpose by offering ongoing coaching sessions that help employees discover what’s important to them.
• Share the team’s success with higher ups. Provide regular updates to your boss and other members of management to let them know specifically what your team is doing to reach its goals. That recognition encourages employees to keep up the good work.
• Be clear. “For excellence to be possible, employees need clarity on personal and team goals. Additionally, work priority needs to be understood. Goals and priorities are essential ingredients for people to make meaningful progress in their work. Without a sense of progress, employees become frustrated, even disillusioned with their work and their boss, ” says Murphy. Each month, take time to review progress on goals and to reset priorities to keep employees working productively.

Shawn Murphy has over 20-years experience as an organizational change and culture transformation expert, author, teacher, and speaker. He’s been recognized by Inc.com and The Huffington Post for his thought leadership on developing leaders. Shawn was handpicked to be part of IBM’s elite Futurist Group that advises and gives input on topics related to new ways to work.