In my last video post on workplace resiliency, I told you about the importance of helping your people feel like they’re in control, and I gave you the simple, yet powerful, strategy of finding ways for them to take action. Today, I’m continuing on that theme of helping your people feel like they’re in control. This time the strategy is to let them make decisions.
Let them make decisions, even small ones
Workplace resiliency grows when people feel like they’re in control, and making decisions, even simple one, helps people feel that way. One of the easiest ways to put people in situations where they are making decisions is to ask questions that offer options. As in “Would you like to do x or y?”
Would you like to work from home on Mondays or Fridays?
Would you like to cover the phones or respond to email queries?
Or you can ask for a decision using an open-ended question.
When can you have this completed by?
Or When are you going to meet with Client ABC?
I think you get the idea.
This small action of letting your employees make decisions may not seem like a big deal, but don’t for a moment think that it is ineffective in building workplace resiliency. Quite the opposite, in fact. Research shows that when employees feel like they have some modicum of control, they become more resilient. And making decisions is one very simple way to feel in control. Try it with your staff, and see for yourself.
Both this and the previous video tip in this series focused on tools to help people feel like they’re in control. Given that workplace resiliency is directly related to people feeling like they’re in control, what other ideas do you have that can make employees feel the same way? I’d love to hear from you. Please share below.