business advice
BUSINESS WOMEN SCOTLAND 15
ask the expert
SQUARE CIRCLE HR LTD • TEL: 0141 248 7826 • WWW.SQUARECIRCLEHR.COM
Alison Welsh is a Director of Square Circle, a human resource consultancy
and employment law company. Email Alison with your HR queries and she will
answer in following issues of BWS magazine. e: [email protected]
How do you rate on the Soft
and Fluffy Stuff?
At the BWS live event we talked about
differentiating factors for businesses today.
Richard Branson recently quoted “Clients do not
come first. If you take care of your employees, they
will take care of the clients.”
Leadership and Engagement are common terms and
both are very wide-reaching subjects, however being
able to listen, sense how others are feeling and to
communicate with empathy are highly recognised as
effective leadership traits.
There is strong evidence to support that leaders who
display strong social skills, empathy, and who are able
to inspire others are the most successful leaders.
This is often referred to as the ‘soft and fluffy stuff’
which a lot of businesses struggle with.
In simple terms this can be just remembering to
make the time to have regular meetings with your
team, to discuss organisation targets and progress.
To listen to how staff are feeling and involving them.
Having ‘social’ time together can be very beneficial to
the ‘well-being’ of the team.
Understanding ‘the human element’ and taking
time to reflect on where you would be without your
employees can be very powerful. To regularly involve
people in the operational management, to listen and ask
for their feedback is a strong motivator.
Consider how you recognise and reward effort,
commitment, good performance and loyalty, often an
informal gesture or a token of appreciation can mean
a lot. In our world of 24 hour constant communication
and fast pace of working, employees often struggle to
manage their work/life balance with stress and poor
mental health increasing in the workplace. Thinking about
how you can offer flexibility in the workplace can help
people manage balancing home and work life better and
has been shown to lead to greater productivity.
As with most effective people management
interventions it usually comes down to communication
and top level organisational awareness and involvement.
The key is making the time to really listen and have
meaningful discussions. Evidence seems to support the
notion that employees who feel valued, know that their
employer cares about their well- being, who can see
how they contribute to the success of the organisation
and who receive regular communication, will be more
loyal and committed in the long run. It also helps make
for a happier and more successful working environment.
Square Circle can help you explore your ‘soft and
fluffy’ side, to assess where you are now, identify
the people culture in your business, find out if there
is a sense of well-being in the working environment,
explore where you would like to get to with your
business and to help you have a people plan to
achieve your goals. n
Contact your Consultant or Alison Welsh on
0141 248 7826 [email protected] for more
information or a no obligation discussion.
Post a question to Alison on the BWS website
at www.bwsltd.co.uk/ask-the-expert