Appreciate the superheroes in your team before it’s too late

Employees are the most important asset of an organization, yet they are highly undervalued. Seldom do leaders pay heed to appreciating the efforts of their employees, whereas in reality those efforts are the real reason behind any successful business. Each team has its own set of superheroes; people who are working day in and day out to help your business become the best!

But, do you take time to appreciate those efforts? If you are not, then this is perhaps the worst mistake you are making. Like the famous saying goes - a bad leader can take a good team and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the rest to lose all motivation.

“Want to become a leader who gets things done? If yes, then stop using email to manage work and switch to ProofHub .”

You would not want to become that leader. Would you? This is why I say appreciate the superheroes in your team before it is too late. And, here are some simple, creative and effective ways to show your employees how much you value them -

• Don’t just throw money, let their efforts be known

In today’s time, it won’t be wrong to say that it’s not the money, but appreciation that makes the mare go for employees. Because, money they can get anywhere, but appreciation and a good work-environment is what makes the difference!

As the leader of the pack your job is to not just throw the money or offer a raise to the employees every year based on their performance, it’s more about showcasing their efforts in front of everyone. This not only gives the boost those best performing employees need to continue putting their best efforts, but also inspire others to follow their footsteps as well.

It’s like creating a healthy competition within the team, where everyone is looking to outshine the others. And, win the race to appreciation at the end of the day!

• Give them the feeling that they are being valued

There’s nothing better for an employee than the feeling that he or she is valued by the employer. Even today a ‘Nice job’ comment from the boss gets me going and focus on delivering even better results at work. And, that’s what I follow when dealing with my marketing team at ProofHub.

I never leave an opportunity to make my team members feel that they are the real heroes who save the day for the company every single day merely by showing up at work. I try to contribute towards their personal and professional growth in the best way I can, at my level.

How do I it? By provide them with opportunities. Opportunities for financial growth by offering performance based incentives. Opportunities for career growth by encouraging them to learn something new, join an online course or whatever they feel can help in improving their skill set.

• Engage, connect and communicate

Are you a leader or a boss? Now you might ask - what’s the difference? Well, the difference lies in the way you handle your team. A boss is someone who gives orders and makes the team follow those orders. A leader is someone who takes the team together in every decision and gets things done together.

A leader is someone who connects with the employees on a more human levels and gets to know each personality type in the team. It’s important to know who’s The Hulk in your team, who’s the Hawkeye and who’s The Iron Man - that’s how you can designate work to make the most of their skill set and abilities!

The best way to do it - communicate and engage with them to gain their trust. Make them feel at home while they are at work, so that they don’t hesitate to put forward their creative ideas, discuss with you if something is bothering them - in short inculcate that feeling of ONE BIG FAMILY at work!

• Thank them for their efforts

The best way to make employees feel appreciated lies in the most basic form of etiquette - Thank You! Never leave an opportunity to thank any team member for what they are doing for your business.

A small thank you email from the manager or the leader of the business can go a long way to put a positive impact on employee performance. After all, who does not like getting recognized by the top tier for his or her achievement?

Don’t leave thanking employees for the annual day or R&Rs. Make every day employee appreciation day by showering them with words of praise wherever they deserve!

Every team needs solidarity and able leadership to make the most of their capabilities. Even superheroes like Iron Man, Hawkeye, The Hulk, Spider Man and The Black Widow were not able to keep things together without the able leadership of Captain America!

That’s what you are - the Captain America of the team with the job to get the best out of each team member. And, the best way to do it is by recognizing their talent, and most importantly appreciating that talent by assigning them to the job that fits the best for them!

Originally published at Huffington Post.

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Vartika Kashyap runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. She is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s been featured among LinkedIn’s Top Voices for the year 2016. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.

Also follow our company page @ProofHub to get the recent updates about our tool, published articles, motivational quotes & presentations.

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