How To Improve Communication In Your Workplace

12/29/2023 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Communication is vital in the workplace. Whether it’s between you and your employees or your employees and your customers, communication should be at the forefront of building your business. Once you have good communication skills embedded in your business, the rest will follow.

Communication throughout your business takes time and effort to build. If you’d like to improve communication, you’ve come to the right place. Here are some tips on how to create excellent communication skills in every aspect of the business.

Know Your Staff

Whether you have a handful of staff or a whole building full of staff, it’s your job to communicate with them. Knowing your staff well will help you to support and encourage them. Have regular one-to-one meetings with your staff to discuss progress and how you can support them in their role.

The more you know about their lives, the easier it will be to understand how they work. Simple gestures like making working hours more flexible or allowing staff to work from home can make a big difference and you’re likely to find it won’t affect production rates. Running a productive business is paramount for all business owners.

Keep Employees Informed

Your employees are an integral part of your business. They deserve to know what’s going on when changes happen. It’s inevitable for businesses to go through changes- good and bad.

Your staff should know what to expect from their jobs and how changes will affect them. During tough times, your voice is never more needed by those you employ. Guide them through the storm and keep their spirits up.

Utilize Technology

Everyone working in one office isn’t the norm anymore. You may have staff working from home, staff with hybrid roles, and even some staff on the road. It’s essential to find a communication tool that allows you to stay connected with everyone, no matter where they are.

This is where field service management can come in handy. It will allow you to stay in communication with each member of your team and ensure that every job is done to the best of their ability.

Constructive Criticism

There will be times when your workers aren’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Your business reputation is hinged on the work that comes from your employees. If your employees need to be doing better work, you have to address the issue.

However, it’s vital that you do this tactfully. Instead of pointing out errors constantly, be sure to offer your support. Offer additional training and demonstrations to ensure your workers have examples of what perfect work looks like.

Offer Praise

One of the best ways to get the best out of your staff is with encouragement. Everyone wants to be appreciated for the work they do and valued for the time they give. There are many ways you can do this for your staff.

From verbal appreciation to gifts of thanks, and more. How you choose to praise your staff for good work is up to you, as long as you make sure they know.

Open Door Policy

Do your employees feel that they can talk to you? As an employer you have to be approachable. Let your workers know that you have an open door policy and you’re willing to listen when they need you to.

Life can get complicated at times and your workers should be able to tell you about important things going on in their lives. It could be the reason for their distraction or mistakes. However, there is a difference between an agony aunt and an employer- you should always be the latter.

Ask For Feedback

If you’re offering constructive criticism, you should also be able to take it. Your employees may have some valuable insights that could propel the business forward. It’s worth remembering that your employees will often deal directly with your customers.

As they spend time with your customers, they’ll get to know them well and gather information about what they want to see from the business. You can use this knowledge to continue to provide what your target audience wants. Additionally, your employees may have feedback on how you operate as manager. Be willing to listen.

Note Strengths and Weaknesses

As you get to know your workers, you’ll pick up on their strengths and weaknesses. As an employer, it’s vital that you use your employees strengths to build the business. Your employees will also be happier playing to their strengths.

However, it’s also important to offer help where weaknesses are concerned. Your employees may feel daunted by challenges but they will thank you later. Investing in your employees by strengthening them will only lead to strengthening your business.

How You Communicate

How you choose to communicate with your employees could have a direct influence on the results. Be mindful of the way you communicate. If you are too critical or too harsh with your words, the natural reaction is to be defensive and continue as normal.

If you want your employees to listen, do it in a way that speaks to them. Break the ice and make them feel comfortable talking with you. When you have a good working relationship with your employees, it will be easier to address the complicated issues.

Team Building

Nothing helps team communication more than team building activities. It could be bonding games at work or it could be spending time together outside of work. The better your team knows one another, the better the flow of work will be.

If you have employees that work in-office and from home, having communication platforms like Slack can help employees to chat and get to know one another. You can also consider setting up an employee spotlight email where each one employee says something about themselves every month. It’s a great way for teams to find common ground with each other.

Communication is a huge key for any successful business. If you’ve found this article helpful, take a look at the others.

Lifestyle, Tips

Top Tips for Running a Productive Business

12/26/2023 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

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When you go from working from home to running your own business, everything changes. You will have an office or warehouse to run, employees to think about, and operations to manage. This can make your working day change completely. Running a larger scale business needs to remain productive, or else it will begin to impact your company profits, which is the last thing that you want to happen. Productivity is vital, as it will reflect on how well your employees work individually as a team, as well as how effectively your business operates.

Running a productive and successful business will rely on a variety of components that you, as the business owner, will need to consider implementing. From communication and workflow to your business plan, many things will improve productivity in your business. To help you on your journey, here are some top tips for creating a productive business.

Create a business plan

A business plan is a really important document. While you might not relate it to productivity, it is very much relevant. A business plan is a document that benchmarks where you are now in your business or the starting point if it is new. It will outline the strategy and objectives that your business has, in a clear and concise way. This will ensure that you give yourself and your employees direction to guide all activities, as well as keep everyone motivated. People can work better, harder, and more effectively when they know what they are working towards. A business plan will also ensure you know what your strengths and weaknesses are, what your competitors are doing, the state of the industry, what your ideal customers need, and much more. This will ensure that all your actions and tasks have direction too.

Keep your team motivated

Your team will make a huge impact on the productivity levels of the business. They will also have their own individual productivity levels, and it is your job to coach your team and keep them motivated. When your team is well looked after, when they feel valued, when they know what they are doing and are well equipped to do their job, their productivity levels will soar. You need to make sure that you treat your employees well and with respect. Provide them with good incentives and clear objectives to get the work done.

Automate processes

Automation is an important tool that you could be using within your business to help make it more productive. Every business will have several tasks that are easy and mundane to complete. It can be a waste of time and money, and employee motivation to leave your employees doing these tasks when they don’t need to be. Automation has become significantly sophisticated over the years, and there is a wide variety of tasks that you can set up so that your employees do not have to be bogged down with repetitive tasks. Automating processes can increase efficiency in your business, and improve productivity as employees can work on more important tasks, and mundane ones can run in the background.

Keep track of work and employees

You don’t want to micromanage your employees, but there is a line where keeping track of work and employees is important and can increase productivity. You should consider what systems and workflows you have in place so that you can make the lives of your employees easier. These processes should also have an easy way for you to view their work and time, for example, with a time clock for small businesses. This will help significantly when it comes to signing off items and reducing bottlenecks, as well as helping you to have real-life data to use in employee reviews. These are important as you can discuss, with evidence, what your employees are doing well and where they can improve. When you do this, and work with your employees, you will be able to increase productivity.

Delegate

Many business owners find delegating work difficult. This is usually because they like control, and find it difficult to let go and trust in others. This is completely understandable when you are the business owner and are used to doing it all yourself and want to ensure the very best for the company. However, there comes a point where doing everything yourself does more harm than good, and is unproductive. You can start small, and delegate unimportant tasks. Then you can see the success and learn how to best delegate. Then you can increase the amount you delegate so that you can run a business that operates smoothly. This will help your productivity as a business owner, as well as the overall business.

Productivity is vital in any business that wants to thrive in its industry. Follow these top tips to help you get started with increasing productivity.

Lifestyle, Tips

Whirlpool Tubs vs. Air Tubs: Differences Explained

12/26/2023 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

After a day you’d rather forget, there’s nothing better than soaking in a warm, jetted bathtub for the three Rs…rest, relaxation, and relief. And if we’re being honest, it’s a wonderful treat even if you’ve had a great day. But, as you shop for that dream tub, you’ll find yourself deciding between two common types – whirlpool tubs or air tubs. Both provide a luxurious spa-bathing experience with jets and bubbles to pamper your body. However, some notable differences between these two technologies go beyond superficial features.

Once you understand the main differences, you’ll then be able to select the style that’s best for you, your needs, and your lifestyle. You can zero in on your perfect tub match by comparing critical factors like the jet and bubble action, noise levels, size configurations, and costs.

Whirlpool tubs use strong water jets to vigorously massage your body. The jets pull water from the tub and shoot it back out at various angles to target different areas. The power of the jets can be adjusted to your liking, from a gentle caress to a deep tissue massage. Most whirlpool tubs have between four and eight jets. The motor and jets are usually concealed under the tub.

Air bathtubs, on the other hand, inject streams of air underneath the water rather than relying solely on water jets. You’ll feel the steady stream of air bubbles flowing over your body for a soothing effect. The bubbles are released through tiny air jets lining the bottom and sides of the tub. Air tubs tend to have more jets, often over 100, creating a bubble bath from every direction.

Considering Size and Depth

When shopping for your dream tub, you’ll also notice differences in size and depth capacities between styles.

Whirlpool tubs need to be deep enough to cover the water jets, usually around 18 to 22 inches. They tend to have higher walls to conceal the motors and plumbing. Some models allow you to sit partially reclined with your head resting comfortably. Given the deeper basin and seat configurations, most whirlpool tubs are designed for one or two bathers.

Air tubs come in varying depths and sizes to accommodate soaking and stretching out. Models meant for two people range from 60 to 72 inches long but may be shallower at around 13 to 16 inches deep since there is no need to submerge the air jets. The shallow depth allows more flexibility in bathroom layouts and prevents you from needing a step stool to get in and out.

Considering Noise and Cost

You’ll also notice a difference in noise levels. Whirlpool tubs produce more noise, as the powerful jet motors churn up the water. Air tubs operate much quieter as the air pumps hum gently under the surface.

In general, most air tubs run around $500 to $3,500, with budget tubs starting under $1,000. They’re simpler systems with fewer mechanical parts. Whirlpool tubs range from $1,000 into the multi-thousands, given the more complex water pumps and jet assembly involved. Luxury and custom models with advanced controls or multiple seats can run over $5,000.

Choosing the Ultimate Relaxation Tub for You As you weigh your options, consider your budget, bathroom space, and desired relaxation mode. Do you want targeted massage action from water jets or gentle bubble envelopment from an air bath? Can you accommodate a large sunken-in tub, or do you need to save space with a compact rectangular model? Determine what’s most important for your home and bathing needs. Then, let the relaxation begin once you slip into your new whirlpool or air tub!