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Nobody likes to work in an environment where the team members and your manager are just not interested in listening to your concerns. Yes, I am talking about the ability to share, feel and understand the feeling of others at the workplace. In other words, the ability to empathise at the workplace is extremely essential both for the employee and the company.

Suppose, you appear to be disinterested in working on your project due to some personal problem. But, your manager is just not concerned about the reason for this disinterestedness. Moreover, you are unable to share your problem with your colleagues as well. Now, this kind of working environment is certainly not wanted by an employee.

It is vital to develop an empathetic atmosphere at the workplace because it simply increases the productivity of the employees. In addition, this is an essential trait that every manager should possess if he wants his team to excel above others. It gives a feeling to the employees that there is someone to listen to their woes. Hence, developing the quality to empathise is beneficial at the workplace.

Let us understand few simple ways in which you can develop the quality to empathise at your workplace.

1. Develop the Ability to Listen: While working in your office, it is essential to develop the ability to listen to your team members working around you. Now, listening is just not hearing but understanding the meaning behind the words. It is to be noted that even by watching the body language of your co-workers; you can understand their mood and state of mental being.

However, in the post-Covid-19 scenario, you might wonder how to develop this feeling of understanding and sharing the feeling of your co-workers. These days, remote working has become the order of the day for most companies. It is also to be noted that the concept of remote working has brought about feeling of demotivation and low morale among the employees. So, it has become all the more important to develop this feeling of empathy in you in order to survive in this uncertain and unpredictable work environment.

Here, you can take the help of video conferencing to understand the feelings of your team members. Video conferencing once a week helps to cultivate the team building spirit and you can easily listen and comprehend the views and ideas expressed by your team members. It is to be noted that even teleconferencing is helpful wherein you can understand the true feeling of the other via the tone or pitch used by the individual.

2. Ask Questions: Simply listening to your co-workers is just not enough. It is vital for you to ask questions either at the workplace or while working from a remote location. When you ask questions, your team member gets the feeling that you are concerned about him. This in turn will lead to a conversation between you and your colleague disclosing a lot of things both at the personal and professional level. Thus, when you begin to converse you get to know several things about your co-worker which gradually helps you to empathise with your team member.

3. Remember that people have feelings: It is to be noted that while working overtime to achieve deadlines, human beings have become more or less like a robot. You need to remember that every one of us has feelings and emotions which when subdued can be extremely harmful for the growth of the individual employee and his organization. So, the next time, do not ignore a smile or a sign of acceptance from your co-worker, instead go ahead and talk to him. Only when you talk and comprehend the feelings of your co-workers, then can you truly empathise with them.

4. Only gradually, can you learn to empathise: Cultivating the quality to empathise at the workplace is necessary but unfortunately, it cannot be developed overnight. It is a human emotion and hence, unless you feel for the person next to you; you can never learn or acquire it. The ability to understand and share the emotions and feelings of your team members has to come from within and it can certainly take time to develop. You need to have patience to listen to others and understand their concerns both personal and related to work. All this cannot happen at the click of a mouse or at one go; it will take time and you need to constantly endeavour towards talking and starting a cordial conversation with your co-workers in order to understand their feelings and emotions.

Therefore, do not undervalue the importance of empathy at the workplace. Employees who feel that their voices and concerns are being listened to, tend to contribute actively towards the productivity of their company. Employees look forward towards working in a workplace which is compassionate and empathetic towards them.       

The sudden outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19 in 2020 across the globe has prompted employers to look towards the well-being of their employees. Most of the employees while working remotely from home are experiencing ‘burnout’.  Now this feeling of burnout could allude to physical exhaustion, fatigue and tiredness which when ignored could lead to mental health issues as well.

What leads to employee burnout?

Primarily, as an employer, you need to understand what leads to employee burnout. It has been noted that even employees who are highly productive experience the feeling of burnout. The following are the key factors which lead to employee burnout:

1. Foremost employee burnout happens when his needs are not met either personal or professional.

2. The burnout can also happen when the employee feels disconnected with the company’s goals and objectives to be accomplished.

3. Employee burnout generally happens due to workload or stress at the workplace.

4. It is to be noted that even adverse circumstances at home can also lead to employee burnout.

Having identified some of the major factors responsible for employee burnout, let us identify its symptoms:

• Inability to connect with the co-workers or team members
  
  
• Physical exhaustion
  
  
• Negativity at workplace
  
  
• Reduced efficiency at workplace
  
  

Impact of Employee Burnout

You must have comprehended by now the severe impact of employee burnout on the company’s turnover. It has an adverse impact on the quality of service/goods, profit and performance of the company. Moreover, it leads to employee being absent and availing his health premium more often.

Ways of Preventing Employee Burnout

You must have realized by now that either rotational shift or remote working and other factors can lead to employee burnout. It is one of the major factors responsible for reduced productivity at workplace and low employee morale. Hence, employers need to be considerate and find ways to prevent and tackle employee burnout.

1. Motivate employees to complete their work within the schedule or stipulated period: The fast paced work environment has made it mandatory for the employees to work round the clock to achieve deadlines. Employers felicitate and encourage employees who work hard and achieve goals. However, what employees get to lose here is something to be laid emphasis upon. In the race of achieving deadlines, employees work overtime and become physically and mentally exhausted.

Here, it becomes imperative for the employers to encourage employees not to overwork beyond the working hours. For instance, the employees should not work for more than 50 hours in a week. Employees should try and finish their work within the given working hours instead of staying back late in the office.

Even during the lockdown period, employees should not stretch themselves beyond the working hours otherwise it could lead to work-life disbalance.

2. Set flexible working schedules: One major aspect which helps prevent employee burnout is the setting-up of flexible working schedules by the companies. Especially, during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, most MNCs and start-ups have given the flexibility of working from home to their employees. Moreover, employees while trying to balance chores at home can easily manage work schedules when given flexibility.

Most employees are working parents and have to look after elder parents and school children; this can be easily managed along with work when given the flexibility to work by the employers. All this helps in making the employee happy and preventing burnout.

3. Set absolutely clear guidelines: These days, while working remotely from home employees tend to feel disconnected with the organizational goals and objectives. Here, the manager of the team needs to ensure transparency among the team members to keep them motivated and thus encouraged. The manager needs to hold regular talks using software tools such as Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp and others to keep the feeling of one team intact. This will ensure that the employees feel that the company is still looking after them and thinking about them.

In simple words, the employer should converse with the team members and keep them updated with the goals of the company and the techniques of achieving them within the stipulated period.

Therefore, to conclude, employee burnout is a major issue today faced by several employers due to the remote working environment. However, it can be easily handled when its symptoms are identified and accordingly action taken to rectify it. The employer simply needs to motivate the employees and make him feel an essential part of the company’s growth story to prevent burnout.   

A successful team leader is an asset for an organization or an institution. We all have heard that leaders are born not made. However, there are certainly some skills which when acquired can groom you to towards becoming a successful leader. In simple words, leadership qualities can be acquired which help you to become a successful team leader in your organization.

Who is a successful team leader?

A successful team leader is one who inspires his team members to work passionately towards achieving the goals of the organization.  He is the one who helps find a solution when everything fails to work. A team leader is the person who recognizes the essential skills of his team members and assigns them tasks accordingly. In this way, he creates value for the organization. 

Essential Qualities of a Successful Team Leader

The top 10 qualities of a successful team leader are the following:

1. Communication: The first and foremost quality which sets you apart as successful team leader is your ability to communicate with your team. A successful team leader should be able to communicate his plan of action and the targets to be achieved to his team members in a succinct and simple manner. Your communication should be such that it should leave no doubt in the minds of your team members. Clarity in your communication and the ability to convey your message across to your team is what makes you a successful team leader.

2. Confidence: One of the significant traits of a successful team leader is his confidence. Yes, you have to exhibit confidence in your words and actions so that your team members believe you. If you are not confident enough of your actions then you might put your team in doubt as well. So, remember to exude confidence which help you to garner the support and trust of your team members. This quality will also help you grow in the organization in the long-term.

3. Respectful: As a successful team leader, you need to realize the worth of your team members. You need to be respectful of your juniors as well as the members of your team. You cannot earn respect unless you show respect to others. This will make your team members repose their faith and trust in you. A respectful team leader earns fame and recognition in the organization as well.

4. Empathy: Empathy has emerged to be one of the significant traits of a successful team leader especially in this uncertain scenario of Covid-19. The sudden outbreak of Covid-19 created economic instability and an uncertain environment. Under such circumstances, a true leader is one who enquires about the well-being of his team members. An empathetic leader is one who is concerned about his team members and openly discusses with them about their problems. Empathy is one such quality which will help you in building trust and lasting relationships with your team members.

5. Transparency: This is one of the true leadership qualities essential for you to be successful as a leader. You lead by example only when you are transparent about your values, mission and the work culture. Transparency also helps you to build strong relationship with your team members. You need to clearly state what your goals are and how you will accomplish them along with your team members. In this way, your way of functioning becomes transparent and your goals can easily be visualized as aligned with the goals of your organization.

6. Accountability: You, as a successful team leader need to take full responsibility for your actions and that of your team members as well. When a project gets completed as planned and the team delivers, the credit of success goes to the entire team. But, when the project falls short of expectations or does not meet the set target, then you, as the leader have to take full accountability for the failure. Not only that, you also investigate the reasons for the failure and try to find a solution to it as well. This is where the differentiating factor comes in! A successful team leader, takes the onus, fills the gaps and creates a culture of accountability in the organization.

7. Delegation: You have to learn the art of delegating work if you want to become a successful team leader. Yes, you heard it correct! It is very easy to work on your own but difficult to get work done from others. You should be aware about the behaviour, specific skill sets and the attitude of your team members. This will help you in assigning projects to your team members.  Moreover, the team members also understand the responsibility given to them through the projects assigned to them. In simple words, proper delegation is one of the requisite skills of a leader.

8. Resilient: You must have been resilient to be able to face the unexpected crisis of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Believe me, if you are resilient, then you have the capability of facing even the toughest situations in your life be it personal or professional. The outbreak of the pandemic brought uncertainties with it, which affected every individual. Only a resilient leader would be in a position to maintain his composure and face the uncertain economic scenario with grit and determination. The ability to bounce back is not ingrained but it can be learned gradually and with the passage of time.

9. Passion: An outstanding quality of a successful team leader is his passion to do things. It is your passion which will make you excel in whatever you do. As a leader, you have to stand out in the crowd and it is your passion which inspires you to do tasks at hand in a perfect manner. It is your passion which drives you towards excellence in no matter what you do. So, do not underestimate your passion for your work or any other activity. Your passion is your driving force to excel as a team leader.

10. Trust and Empowerment: As a successful team leader you have to learn to have faith in the ability, potential and capability of your team members. The factor of ‘trust’ goes a long way in developing relationships with your team members. Once you evince trust, in return, your team members will show trust in you.  Moreover, you also need to empower your team members by assigning responsible work to them. You need to have faith that your team will perform well even in trying circumstances.  

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, if you want to be a successful team leader who need to possess some distinct qualities such as empathy and passion in you. Moreover, a true leader is one who takes onus for the failure of his team efforts. You need to gradually inculcate these qualities so that you become competent enough to face even the toughest circumstances in the business scenario.  

Have you come across instances where you have looked forward to attending meetings? Do you generally achieve the targets set for the meeting? If no, then you need to comprehend the reasons behind ineffective meetings. Such meetings not just waste time and effort but also hamper productivity. So, the next time you decide to organise a meeting with your team members, remember to keep the following strategies in mind.

How to make your Meetings Effective?

It is generally believed that meetings are a waste of time. However, when conducted in a proper and planned manner, meetings can turn out to be fruitful and effective. So, let us briefly gothrough the strategies for making meetings effective at the workplace.

1. Have a clear objective: The first and foremost strategy for an effective meeting is that you should have a clear objective in mind. This implies deciding upon the topic of discussion. Are you going to discuss about the launch of a new product or service? Or are you going to talk about the rising number of service issues coming up with your customers? Else, you could discuss about the declining revenue of your team? Now, whatever is the objective, it should be absolutely clear and communicated accordingly to the employees who are going to attend the meeting. So, in other words, when you have a goal to achieve you will certainly end with success.

2. Have an agenda for the meeting: When you have an objective or goal to discuss, it becomes easy to outline the agenda for the meeting. A well-planned meeting with an outlined agenda is the key to a successful meeting. The following is the list of essential points to be included in the agenda:

• The vital topics to be discussed in the meeting
• Time and location of the meeting
• The number of participants who will attend the meeting
• The allocation of topic to every participant to prepare and speak
• The objectives to be achieved from the meeting
  
  

It is necessary that you send these essential details to every participant of the meeting so that the meeting goes accordingly as planned and turns out to be a success.

3. Introduce variety in your meeting: Meetings often happen to be very boring and uninteresting. Another strategy for making your meeting effective is by introducing variety in it. You must be surprised and curious to know the meaning of variety in this context! Let me elaborate this for you. You need to introduce some unique features to your meeting which can be done in the following ways:

• Try and select the meeting venue outside the office premises
• Bring in some interesting food
• Celebrate birthdays or anniversaries at the meeting
  
  

Engage the participants in brainstormingBelieve me, introducing the above mentioned steps will help you break the monotony generally experienced during a meeting and will make your meeting a success.

4. Make space for creativity: Another significant strategy which can result in effecting meetings is that you should give some space to creativity among the participants of the meeting. There could be an instance where a participant comes up with an innovative idea to a service issue resolution. Or else, there could be an instance where participants come up with genuine ideas or notions particular to a product or service. Remember, all this can happen only when the participants are actively attending the meeting instead of just passing the time in a monotonous manner.Hence, you should allow the participants to exhibit their creative zeal and energy in the meeting.

5. Try and avoid multitasking in the meeting: This is one aspect of our daily lives which is difficult to avoid in the meeting room. But believe me, if you can restrain the participants of the team from working on the laptop and attending phone calls simultaneously, you can make the participants much more attentive in the meeting. There are other ways of doing this as well. For instance, you can assign specific role to each participant of the meeting such as who will be the facilitator, who will taken down the minutes of the meeting and so forth. Ensure that your meeting has a time frame to which the participants adhere to. In other words, another effective strategy is to make the participants simply focus on the agenda of the meeting instead of managing their call logs within the meeting.

6. Have an interactive question & answers session: An interactive question & answer session is another vital strategy to make meetings effective. This also helps you to surmise how much the participants have been able to comprehend the objective or goal of the meeting. This further facilitates in understanding whether the meeting has been successful or not. An interactive question & answer session not just clears the doubts but also bears testimony to the fact that the meeting has been effective in achieving its goal/ goals.

7. Always remember to follow-up: A meeting can only be termed as effective when there is a proper follow-up done by the organizer of the meeting. Once the meeting has been concluded, you must ensure that a proper follow-up is done. You must prepare the minutes of the meeting and share them with all the participants of the meeting. Also, do a proper follow-up of the tasks assigned to any of the participants of the team. Effective meetings ensure that the discussions held are converted into action thereby resulting in the productivity of your team efforts.

8. Using online technology to conduct meetings during the pandemic period: In the present scenario, when most of us are remotely working from home conducting a meeting with the team members becomes a challenge. However, you can overcome this challenge by using the latest online applications such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WatsApp and other tools. Technology has indeed helped in overcoming the obstacles brought forth by the pandemic in the business environment.

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, try and overcome the general assumption that meetings are a waste of time and effort. The next time you decide to hold a meeting try and arrange for a planned meeting by deciding the number of participants, time and place of the meeting and most importantly the agenda beforehand. 

Every employee who works hard expects appreciation and recognition at the workplace. You must have also come across instances, where you worked really hard on a project to make it a success. In return, you must have expected a pat on the back or applause from your manager. And when you receive acknowledgement and recognition for your hard work it gives rise to a feeling of satisfaction in you. However, appreciation and recognition efforts should remain consistent throughout the organization.

Why is Gratitude Necessary?

Leading with gratitude is an essential leadership skill and it has acquired all the more importance in this period of pandemic.  This unprecedented outbreak of Covid-19 has brought with it unnecessary work stress; the need to maintain work-life balance, job insecurity accompanied with fear and chaos. The adverse impact of this pandemic is highly evident and the employer should resort to acknowledgement and appreciation to ensure the well-being of his employees.

What are the benefits of Gratitude?

In simple words, gratitude implies saying ‘thank you’ or acknowledging a deed done. So, when you as a manager acknowledge the hard work of your team member, you show gratitude to him. This act of gratitude has far-reaching effects. A crisp list of the benefits of gratitude has been prepared below:

Benefits of Gratitude at the Workplace

• It helps to enhance the morale and motivates the employee to work better.

• It helps to improve the quality of empathy and reduces negativity.

• It aids in employee performance thereby improving productivity.

• It leads to improved relationships among the internal and external stakeholders of the company.

• It leads to employee retention.

Benefits of Gratitude at an Individual Level

• It helps to improve relationships.

• It improves the mental well-being.

• It leads to feeling of joy and satisfaction.

• It helps to develop the feeling of compassion and empathy.

Let us go through some of the simple steps which will help you to embrace gratitude at the workplace especially, during this period of pandemic.

1. Shower praise on your team through personal engagement: During the outbreak of Covid-19, most of the employees have been working remotely from home. As a result, they feel isolated, low on morale and less dedicated to work. All this can be handled well by you, when you as the manager, keep in touch with every member of your team. You can do this via Microsoft Teams or videoconferencing and let them know that the company values them and recognises their work, especially during this period of the pandemic. You can even send an email to your team member and pick up the phone and compliment him when you get to hear about his good work. This will make your team members feel elated and will further enhance their productivity even when working from home. 

2. Encourage your team members to say ‘Thank You’: As a manager, leading with gratitude is a vital leadership skill and it can certainly be inculcated in your team members as well. A manager, who credits his team for the success of the targets achieved, is a true leader with gratitude. You need to encourage your team members to thank those around them (either physically at office or remotely in contact through online technology) such as their seniors, colleagues, peers even for small tasks or endeavours.

3. Recognise those you exhibit gratitude in their daily practice: You must have come across employees at your workplace who generally appreciate or say thank you to others in their daily routine at work. This indeed is a good practice and you can contribute to it further by appreciating those colleagues or seniors.

4. Try and provide practical gifts as tokens of gratitude: In 2020, the unprecedented outbreak of Covid-19 forced most of us to work from home. As a result, you must have been juggling hard between office and home commitments. Your employer also recognises this significant change that has taken place this year. Henceforth, it becomes all the more necessary, to recognise and appreciate your work in these hard times. As a token of thanks giving, your company should try and provide gifts which can be utilised by the employees. For instance, giving coupons or games (which can be enjoyed indoors with the family) as a gesture of recognition and appreciation will go a long way in keeping you happy, especially in this fearful scenario. Remember, it is not the gift (whether big or small) but the gesture which gets appreciated after all!

Significance of Gratitude in the Years to Come

According to Professor Robert A. Emmons, gratitude is defined as the “ultimate performance-enhancing substance.” You must have by now recognised the importance of inculcating the culture of gratitude at your workplace. The vital aspect to be noted is that gratitude needs to be authentic and should be consistent throughout your organization. However, the leaders need to build this culture by setting their own example. This quality of showing gratitude will acquire all the more prominence in the present uncertain scenario where employees are working from home and experiencing negative feelings and chaos.

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, it is certainly essential to develop a culture of gratitude among the employees of your company. However, you might argue that developing the feeling of gratitude might be difficult at present due to the presence of negativity around us. But, gradually, over time, with sincerity, you can develop this feeling of gratitude and spread joy and happiness at your workplace.  

The working scenario in the post Covid-19 world is going to get tougher and more competitive. So whether your employees are working remotely or from office, the employer needs to ensure that they do not suffer from negativity at the workplace. It is to be noted that negativity at the workplace can hamper the company’s growth, decrease the productivity and performance of the employees as well. 

Let us go through some of the essential tips which help in minimizing workplace negativity.

1. Create a positive work environment: The first and foremost tip is to create a positive work culture which certainly helps to reduce negativity at the workplace. This enhances the employees’ morale and they feel happy at work. A positive work environment can be created in several ways. For instance, you can recognize the outstanding work of your employees, regularly communicate with your team members or perhaps go for an outing in a month. 

2. Encourage communication: Another essential tip which can help to reduce workplace negativity is by encouraging two-way communication. You, need to listen to the views, opinion and feedback of your employees rather than simply ignoring them. This will make the employees feel valued and they will also feel like getting noticed in their company. In other words, one-way communication is bound to lead to workplace negativity.

3. Exhibit trust in your employees: Exhibiting faith in your employees is another significant way of reducing workplace negativity. As a manager, you need to assign a project based on the team member’s potential and trust him to complete the task without any monitoring of work. This will increase the motivation of the employee and the company will get to recognize his calibre as well in accomplishing tasks and deadlines single-handedly.

4. Encourage transparency at the workplace: Creating a transparent work environment is another vital tip to reduce workplace negativity. The HR of your company should communicate about the major happenings and activities decided upon by the company heads. This will ensure that the employees are kept well-informed about the company prospects, financials and other details. In addition, there could be instances where the employees might come up with innovative ideas to solve a problem faced by the company. In simple words, make your employees feel valued to reduce negativity at the workplace.

5. Understand the needs of your employees: It is of paramount importance to understand the problems, issues and needs of your employees. Especially, during the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, employees have been facing several issues, such as work-life balance. So, as a responsible employer, the HR should lend a passionate hearing to the issues and woes of the employees. This will reinforce the trust and faith of the employees in your company and will instill in them the feeling of working harder for your company as well.

6. Be unbias at the workplace: It is extremely vital to treat all employees equally at the workplace. The HR of your company should ensure that there is no favouritism at the workplace. There are several practices which help to create unbiaseness at the workplace. For instance, the HR should communicate with the employees at regular intervals, the method of evaluation should besimilar for all employees and so forth. Another method could be creating a mechanism of reporting any kind of prejudice at the workplace.

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, workplace negativity can be a major issue being faced by a company. It is vital for the HR of the company to work towards restricting any kind of negativity at the workplace as this can lead to financial loss. In addition, it can also decrease employee morale and hamper their productivity as well. So, do try and implement the above mentioned tips and make your company a better place to work.  

The role of a manager or team leader is immensely challenging especially, in this uncertain scenario of Covid-19. It is easy to work on your own but difficult to get work done from your team members. A team leader not just delegates work and responsibility but also ensures the accomplishment and productivity of his team members and the organization in the long-run.

Moreover, in the present unpredictable scenario, the role of the team leader is constantly changing and evolving. A team leader has to ensure the smooth functioning of a team consisting of individuals of different temperament, calibre and skill sets. It is indeed a difficult task but you can learn the techniques of managing your team effectively. After all, management skills can be learned and improved with the passage of time along with the application of modern tools of technology. 

These are few tips that will help you in managing your team effectively in the organization:

1. Effective communication: The first essential criterion for managing your team effectively is the need to develop a productive and cooperative relationship with your team members. This can be achieved through the medium of effective communication. A two-way communication is vital for a team to function effectively.

As a team leader, you need to keep your team informed about the deadlines to be met in the present quarter and the upcoming projects for the remaining part of the year. You have to outline a strategy in coordination with your team members. Your team members should be in a position to come up with any query that they have in mind with regard to the goals of the organization or say, job security.

In the present scenario when remote working has become the new norm, you as a team leader, can effectively communication using the technology tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and others. 

Thus, ensure to maintain a two-way communication and this will help you to manage your team effectively.

2. Assign tasks based on the strength of your team members: As a team leader, it is essential for you to know the strengths and weaknesses of every member of your team. This will help you in assigning projects or deadlines to be achieved based on the skills of the individual team member. It has been observed that an employee works harder and is more involved in the work in which he enjoys applying his skills. In this manner, you will be able to accomplish the project smoothly and manage your team as well effectively.

3. Assist your team members in improving their skills: For your team to function effectively, it is extremely vital to keep upgrading and enhancing the skills of your team members. This improvisation is all the more needed in the present uncertain Covid-19 scenario. As a team leader, you need to identify the areas of improvement and organize training sessions for your team members. This will help you and your team members to take on challenges and accomplish the goals of the organizations in a seamless manner.

4. Acknowledge and reward good work of your team members: As a team leader, it is vital for you to acknowledge the extraordinary work of your team members. Every team member likes and appreciates the fact that his/her hard work has been noticed and acknowledged. This will encourage and motivate your team member to work harder with greater engagement in the new project assigned to him.

Not just acknowledgement but even rewarding your team members can boost their morale as well. Say, you can take your entire team out for lunch after completing a tight schedule at hand. These are some of the simple ways in which as a team leader you can ensure to manage your team effectively.

5. Encourage collaboration among your team members: One of the methods to manage your team effectively is to ensure cohesion and collaboration among your team. A divisive team cannot yield positive results, so as a team leader, you need to ensure that your team members spend time together and coordinate as well. Collaboration ensures that the diverse skill sets of your team members get utilized in achieving the targets effectively.

6. Manage conflict: This is one criterion which if ignored can lead to division of your team. You, as a team leader, have to comprehend the behaviour, skills and aptitude of your team members and accordingly manage your team. There is bound to be difference of opinion or conflict among your team due to diversity. However, you have to ensure that in case of a conflict, you make both the sides understand the diverse viewpoints in an easy manner. Hence, make sure to address any conflict that arises instead of ignoring it.

7. Provide valuable feedback: As a team leader, when you provide feedback, it helps your team member, to understand his/her shortcomings and overcome them. It is vital that feedback is taken in a positive manner by your team member. Moreover, constructive feedback is vital for you as well as a team leader, given by your team members to the senior management or business head. It can be said that feedback enhances your overall functioning in the organization.

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, walking the tight rope of managing a team is not easy but not impossible. It is vital for you to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your team members. Further, you need to interact with every team member and try and prevent employee burnout. All these steps taken together will ensure the smooth management of your team in the near future as well.  

Employee retention strategies are gaining momentum especially in the post-Covid-19 world. Employers like never before are focussing on retaining their best talented employees to ensure the long-term success of their company. Employees also wish to stay longer in a company which promises them good career prospects and satisfactory compensation package. Let us go through some of the vital employee retention strategies which will be implemented in the present scenario.

1. Hire the right candidates: The HR of your company needs to prepare the job description clear and explicit mentioning the requisite skills of the candidates. Moreover, the HR should conduct a thorough interview and examine both the soft and hard skills of the candidate to understand his candidature for the post. Most of the times, wrong selection of candidates often leads to the employee leaving the company very soon.

2. Offer Benefits: It is not just the package but also other benefits associated with the pay package which often lures the employee to change his job. Hence, the HR should ensure to provide a satisfactory compensation package at par with the industry and other benefits such as medical insurance, holiday benefits, flexible working hours, performance bonus, retirement funds and so forth. So, the employers need to provide benefits to its employees in order to retain them in their company.

3. Training and Development: The post-Covid corporate sector is looking for talented employees capable of handling multiple tasks along being tech-savy as well. No employee wants to handle the same profile throughout his lifetime in the same company. The company should make arrangements to enhance the skills of its employees by organizing training programmes either through face-to-face meetings or online conferences. This will motivate the employees to work hard with greater enthusiasm and will break the monotony of the work as well. Moreover, the company by investing in the training and development of its employees will be securing its future as well.

4. Great working environment: Employees tend to stay longer in a company which offers them an amiable work culture and sufficient growth prospects and promise of learning and advancement in life. In addition, managers need to appreciate their team members either through monetary means or through public recognition. Remember, if the employee feels worth less and unnoticed in the working culture, he is bound to look for a job change!

5. Employee engagement: One of the vital employee retention strategies in the present scenario is to listen to your employees. As an employer, you need to listen to the suggestions and problems of your employees which they might encounter at the workplace or in their personal lives. In the Covid working scenario, maintaining work-life balance has not been easy for most of the employees. Yet, employers have supported, listened to the woes and suggested solutions to the problems of their employees. Likewise, even at the workplace, employees feel valued when their suggestions are heard and appreciated.

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, a company is bound to prosper which focuses on its employees. Companies need to come up with plausible strategies to retain their best employees. A company which makes its employees feel happy, satisfied and motivated is bound to garner profits and secure its efficient functioning even in times of crisis. It indeed requires hard work on the part of the company to retain its employees but it pays in the long-run.