Management 101: Happy staff create happy customers

Today we’re all under so much pressure at work and at home. Many teams I work with are short-staffed and those who are there are having to work harder and longer, there’s only so long we can keep this up and eventually we start to run on empty, like a car running out of petrol - it doesn’t do us any good in the short or long term.

As a business owner or manager, it’s your role to create an environment that works for you and you team and you need to have an awareness of your team’s wellness. Look out for the signs in yourself or your staff.

It’s vital to start with yourself, just as on an airplane we’re instructed to put our own oxygen ask on first. If you are starting to feel resentful, find yourself starting to complain to friends or family and keep coming back to the same issues and if it’s starting to affect you out of work, it’s time to pause, shift your perspective and set some boundaries.

Firstly pause, recognise and accept how you are feeling. You can’t choose your emotions but you can choose how to respond to them. Try shifting your perspective, in moments of stress our perceptions can be warped and it’s easy to feel like the world is turning against you. Our brains are hard-wired to overreact in stressful situations.

Ask yourself in a month from now how much will this matter - and what about in a year? Imagine you are a fly on the wall or a bird in the sky, what do you see from up there? Is anything clearer?

Focus on what you can control and influence and try not to get stuck on things which are out of your control, this reduces your feeling of overwhelm and frustration and enables you to be more proactive and effective. These steps will help you to build resilience and the ability to cope with and bounce back from adversity.

When it comes to your staff, invest time in their wellbeing and create a supportive environment that considers the whole person and treats them as individuals. What are the things that make them want to come to work, or what might be the obstacles to them wanting to come in, is there anything you can do to make work more of fun and fulfilling for people?

On a day-to-day basis encourage positive relationships between colleagues and foster a supportive atmosphere where people are kind to each other. Doing nice things for other people releases oxytocin which makes you feel good about yourself. Encourage people to take their breaks and to get outside if they can, and to leave on time.

Proactively monitor people’s workload. Make sure that work is clearly defined, is well-matched to their abilities and that deadlines are acceptable. There’s a sweet spot where we are experiencing a moderate or higher level of pressure (this will be different for different people) and we are alert, stimulated, energetic, focussed, and decisive. Not enough pressure we feel bored, apathetic, frustrated and this can lead to low morale and underperforming.

Too much pressure causes stress, anxiety, can make us irritable and exhausted and eventually lead to burn out.

Strive for flexibility and forward planning - providing rotas as far ahead as possible, allowing people to swap shifts within reason, and make it acceptable to take sick leave for mental health challenges.

Finally foster a culture where people can come and talk to you and share their problems inside or outside work. Listen and be respectful and ask them what they need from you, whether that’s more support or training, time-off (for mental or physical health) or sign-posting to professional advice.