In order to succeed in the long run, it is vital for a business to maintain a disciplined workforce. If you don’t have people on your team follow your orders relentlessly, your business will suffer the consequences. As vital as it is, you don’t want to come on too strong. You will not be able to maintain workplace discipline just by shouting at your employees and taking hard measures. You will quickly lose the respect of your staff and it would defeat the purpose entirely.
Here are 8 ways to maintain workplace discipline in your organization while maintaining the respect of your employees:
1. The art of leading
You are the head of the business, so it’s your responsibility to act like one. Many managers don’t bother much about leading their employees and let their employees organize themselves. Leadership is too much hassle, according to them. But what they don’t realize is that it’s worth the hassle and it’s just too important to be left alone. This is most common in the sales industry.
It’s not about using your authority to scream at people with orders. It’s about helping your employees reach their full potential with patience. You should be the one your employees come to when they need guidance.
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.
2. Get rid of all the distractions
Discipline is not just about people not focussing on their job, it’s also about them focussing more on their surroundings. Try to remove everything from your office, that might act as an unnecessary distraction to your employees. Analyze the way your office space is arranged. It might even be related to the technology they’re using. Only in extreme cases, it might even be a good idea to block all the social media websites.
Also, keep a check on the kind of belongings your employees bring to the office.
3. The workplace should be a happy place
Make sure that your office is a desirable place for your employees to work. The office should not be a place that people hate coming to every morning. Employees should look forward to every day at the office. If they walk in feeling like, they could be anywhere else and be happy, they will eventually.
You just need to add a bit more facilities, a few attractions and it would have a big effect. It’s a very small change, but it would make the working environment exciting and your employees will respect you more.
4. Be considerate of the generation gap
If you have young people in your workforce, then dealing with them the same way you deal with elder ones isn’t the right way to go. You need to be considerate of the generation gap and proceed in a way they would respond best to.
Consider aspects like age and personality before you tailor an approach for a particular employee. Some employees react better to mild encouragement and a mellow approach. And some require a firmer approach to behave in a way you see appropriate. It is not efficient to go with a consistent approach with every employee.
5. Come up with a set of guidelines
Make sure your employee know what is expected from them and understand their obligation to play by the rules. If it is not clear to them what the rules are, you cannot expect them to obey them. You need to come with the most important rules you want to be obeyed in your workplace. Make it limited to a few clear-cut rules instead of a hundred, that no one will even bother to read. The list of rules should literally just fit into a wall poster you could hang in the lunch area.
6. Take corrective actions
If there are rules, there should be some consequences in place for people who don’t obey them. If would defeat the purpose if nothing happens to the people when they break the rules. Adding a Three-Strike rule in place would be a good idea. So, an employee would be given a fair number of warnings before he is punished for violating the rules. This would also provide fair grounds for letting go of an employee who is indisciplined.
This kind of procedure would make sure that people understand what is expected as the appropriate behavior in the workplace. People would think twice before disrupting the workplace momentum, knowing the consequences.
7. Allow enough room for your employees to work
Your employee are well aware that you are the boss, you don’t have to sit on their heads all day. When people are under pressure or constant observation, they are far less likely to perform their best. So, it is vital that you provide your employees the space to work efficiently.
People are different, they use different approaches to do a particular task. You need to allow your employees the time and space to perform their tasks they way they feel best. In order for them to perform at their best, they need their independence.
8. Regularly communicate with your staff
You won’t be able to establish discipline in your office with closed doors. Employees should feel comfortable sharing their grievances with you whenever they arise.
Communication is the soul of any organization. It is basically the most important aspect of any business. Prioritise communication above anything else. Make sure everyone know that you are more than willing to listen to anything he or she has to say. The communication is a Two-Way Street, your employees need to know that you are an open-minded person.
Summary:
Sometimes it can be difficult for employees to share some problems due to fear of being outed. Many times there’s a conflict of interest. A hard working well-reputed employee might be the reason for someone’s inefficiency. When there is indiscipline in the office, employees are not always that straightforward to assign blame. They often fear prosecution for voicing their concerns and wouldn’t want to rat out their colleagues. Implement YourSafeHub in your organization for reporting purposes. It is a special communication channel that protects such employees with the power of anonymity.