How to Create Healthy and Happy Workplaces

By Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt, PhD
The Organizational Doctor TM
www.paulgerhardt.com

No matter where you work or what you do, chances are that if your boss is a great leader, then you will also be inspired to be great in what you do too. In every organization, there truly is enough success for everyone. It is great leaders that realize that when everyone is truly inspired to give their very best–hearts, minds, actions and attitudes to their work, then profits and productivity increases. It is human nature to want to do things that are meaningful. A leader sets the tone and EARNS employee loyalty–one person at a time.

Employee turnover, absences, slowed productivity, arguments, and lower creativity are all signs that there is a leadership issue. Most people truly want to be good at what they do. Sometimes we all get caught up in a cycle of getting things done or “business as usual” which may mean we are missing out on doing things that make the biggest difference. It could also mean that we are causing damage to our organization by neglecting the most-important element of doing business, which is maintaining meaningful relationships.

We lead people and manage things. Leading people requires that we take a look at how our own actions affects others. If we have good employees that do bad things, it is probably our fault in one way or another. Something as simple as not giving someone the benefit of the doubt, may cause them to sabotage your success some way. Every person needs to feel genuinely valued and their work needs to be meaningful, praised and recognized by onlookers regularly.

The primary objective of any form of business is to be able to find several resources which can help in developing customer satisfaction and increased profitability. When it comes to increasing profitability there are two objectives which are paramount – increasing and keeping them – while keeping production costs low.

These two goals are easier met if the organization has a team of highly skilled leaders. The best way to have leaders that are highly skilled is to train them. The fact is, it does not matter how skilled and able the leaders of an organization are at present as change comes at a blindingly fast pace. What may be the most applicable skills today may be obsolete by tomorrow. Keeping leaders abreast with the changes that occurs means giving them regular training whenever they need it.

However, no matter how productive organizations are, there will always be areas that need improvement to help to influence the bottom line. One area where improvement is certain to affect the company’s performance is improving the employees’ training to ensure that they have all the up-to-date set of skills for their job.

Training has a crucial role to play in the organizational environment and is crucial in taking the organization to another level. This is of special importance for the management and executive level employees. Training plays a part in boosting the ROI of an organization though it is often the area that is neglected. There are many organizations that consider training as an expense they can do without instead of an investment. There are many businesses that would rather cut the expense associated with training rather than improve their leaders’ productivity and competency.

As the present economic situation demands that organizations put in more innovation and effort to keep and increase their customer base, they need to pay more attention to training. Competent and productive workers are considered very important as they help to steer organizations closer to achieving their goals. This is because proper training means the organization gets to produce high quality leaders to lead their quality workers who produce great products, increase production and decreased costs.

So how can training result in higher ROI or return on investment?  There are some facets that can help organizations benefit the most from training.

1. Decide objectives for training. The fact is training, to be beneficial to the organization, must be given not because the head honchos say so. There must always be reasons for implementation of any training programs, the goals of the training and the length of time the training is to be conducted.
2. Training must be carefully planned and thought out. Although training can help organizations increase their profits, it must not be a hindrance to operations and routine.
3. Training must be considered an investment. Organizing a training program is not as simple as it may seem. It requires evaluating numerous things like the cost of the training, materials needed, finding the best trainer for the program, finding a venue, and many other things that will require finances. The money that will be spent must be viewed as an investment that will pay off in the future instead of a drain on resources.

As I always remind my clients, happy employees are loyal employees. Loyal employees are inspired to give their very best to the organizations they work for. Smart leaders know they must EARN loyalty from those whom they lead. When leaders are healthy and always doing the right thing for the right reasons, then followers are more likely to give their genuine hearts and minds to their work.

The health of each employee is largely created with our minds. When we are happy and feel like we are making a REAL positive difference, then we lower the rate of absences and increase productivity. It makes just good sense to find ways that in the long run makes leaders take a new look into who they are and how they do things. Leadership training is the key.

Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Paul L. Gerhardt. All rights reserved.