Do You Trust Your Team? Their Productivity and Engagement Depend On It

“Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report: 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, 40% less burnout” (Harvard Business Review).

The final piece to our three-part puzzle of leading with hospitality is possessing the ability to make people feel important. Trust is one of the best ways to do that but before I go into examples of how to make people feel important, let’s recap what we’ve been talking about recently in the blog. 

The first two vital pieces to leading with hospitality are making people feel welcome and comfortable. These two components relate to your ability to maximize productivity, enhance your team’s culture, and ultimately drive desired business results. 

Without those first two components, the final piece is hard to layer into the mix. 

Why?  

Few individuals, let alone teams, are likely to be compelled or to have the confidence to step up, sacrifice, put in the extra effort, or most importantly, conjure up the stick-to-it-iveness essential to battle through adversity unless they feel welcome and comfortable. 

Remember, we’re all human, and understanding human nature and behavior is the foundation of becoming a great leader.

If you’re successful at making people on your teams feel welcome and comfortable, making them feel important propels your team into the next hemisphere of productivity, fulfillment, growth, success, and results.

As people begin genuinely feeling their value and importance to you and to the organization, you’ll see their confidence level increase. As they feel more confident, their thoughts will turn into purposeful, intentional actions.

They’ll be loyal to the organization because they become emotionally invested and connected to the people, the mission, and your purpose. 

When talented people become committed, confident, and purposeful, the sky’s the limit for their success, happiness, and contentment.  

Here are three ways to make sure people on your team feel important:

1. Ask for perspective and insight.  You hired your employees for a reason. They’re smart and capable, with ideas of their own. You’ll make them feel important when you invite them to share their own perspectives and insights, not to mention you’ll learn some new things in the process. Remember all of us are smarter than any one of us. It doesn’t matter where ideas come from, it just matters that they’re great ideas. 

2. Trust people before you know you can. There will never be a perfect time or moment to hand over the reins or responsibility officially. Most people will rise to the challenge when someone gives them the opportunity. The challenge for you, as a leader, isn’t whether they’re ready or not. Instead, are you ready to provide an opportunity? 

3. Delegate and separate. Once you give them the expectations, let it go, like Elsa in Disney’s Frozen. When they know they’ve been left alone to complete their tasks, duties, or mission, you’ll have elevated their effort, their conscientiousness, and their performance.

“Pretend every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, 

‘Make me feel important.’  Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” 

~ Mary Kay Ash 

Have a great day.