Three things to achieve a psychologically healthy work place

Creating a psychologically healthy work place can be amongst the most important, yet challenging things a company or sales team can achieve. Throughout my career I’ve witnessed environments that are both psychologically healthy and psychologically destructive and there’s a few steps you can take to achieve the former.

1)     Set tangible, realistic and achievable targets

My belief is that psychological insecurity in the workplace is often created and exacerbated by people not knowing what’s expected of them. Nebulous targets can lead to confusion and anxiety whereas tangible, achievable targets provide structure and comfort. It’s very important to set targets, it’s even more important to make sure they’re achievable. Many organizations will purposely set targets they do not expect people to hit. The idea is to “stretch” performance and if an individual achieves 80% of target, the company is happy. The issue with this is that it fosters a sense of underachievement. Whilst the company may be happy with 80%, the employees feel they’re constantly underachieving. They also gaze around at their colleagues and disconnect with these targets when they realize only the top 5% of the organization come close to hitting them. There’s certainly nothing wrong with stretching performance and striving for excellent but if only 1 in 10 of your people are hitting the targets you set forth, something’s broken.

2)     Open & individually tailored communication

It’s one thing having an “open door policy”, it’s another making sure everyone is comfortable walking through said “door” and sharing their opinions. People communicate differently, and people respond more effectively to different communication forums. Whilst one employee may be confident enough putting their hand up during a company round-table discussion, another might be too intimidated to do so, but have even more valuable inputs to share. It’s essential to tailor your management style to suit the person you’re managing for a number of reasons and psychological health and engagement is one of them. If you truly understand what motivates / demotivates your employees and what the most effective way to communicate with them are, your employee engagement will be strong. I encourage you to look at each employee you have and ask the question: “How can I most effectively communicate with this person?” If you don’t know, find out. Once you do know, write it down and make sure you communicate with them in that fashion at least once a month. I’ve always been a fan of utilizing different communication “forums”, such as:

• Monthly team meeting
• Monthly one-on-one
• Offsite catchup – coffee, lunch, beer, shots
• Soliciting ideas / opinions via email
• Peer level one-on-one meetings
• Reverse mentoring (a leader being mentored by someone more junior)

3)     Growth, development and recognition

Stagnation and lack of development are among the top reasons people leave their current roles. Not everyone is motivated by the same type of growth, but all good employees are unified by a desire to develop. As a leader, your job is to make sure you’re developing your staff each and every day. Three things you can do achieve this:

• Training is king, regardless of your level of experience
• Set a clear promotion structure so everyone in your organizations knows what the next steps look like and what they need to do to achieve that
• Don’t keep people in the same role for too long. A structure that allows people to evolve in their role every 24 months, keep things fresh and avoids stagnation.

Recognition and appreciation are fundamental human needs. Employees respond to appreciation expressed through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work is valued by others. When employees and their work are valued, their satisfaction and productivity rise, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work. Praise and recognition are essential to an outstanding workplace. People want to be respected and valued by others for their contribution. Everyone feels the need to be recognized as an individual or member of a group and to feel a sense of achievement for work well done or even for a valiant effort. Everyone wants a ‘pat on the back’ to make them feel good. Recognition also inspires trust, nearly 90 percent of employees who received recognition or thanks from their boss in the past month indicated higher levels of trust in that boss.