As a business owner, a person has lots of responsibilities on his/her shoulder because they need to make a lot of decisions. Even, if you are the best leader of your company and possess great knowledge about every field. Still, are chances that you may lack in several fields or areas. Or, your business might be getting stale from a lack of fresh ideas. It is better to involve your staff or other employees in decision making to make your business stronger.
Why involve employees?
Asking employees and their opinions can bring new or different perspectives. While you have an overarching idea of your business, your employees are in the day-to-day trenches. Employees are closer to customers because they come across different types of customers so they are aware of what buyers need and their requests. Sometimes employees can also suggest revenue-generating and cost-saving ideas.
Here are three ways that can help you to let your employees take part in decision making.
- Suggestion Box
One of the most basic and important steps is to gather ideas because it will help you a lot in making good decisions. So, for that, you can make a suggestion box in your company where other employees can give their suggestions or ideas. This might be a physical suggestion box. Or, you can create a digital alternative, such as a designated email or online form to collect suggestions of your employees.
But while making a suggestion box, remember to check it regularly. Don’t let it go unopened for long periods. Create a routine of checking it. This helps you make timely decisions.
When employees give you suggestions, respond to them. Tell them how you can use their ideas and if there is any problem with any idea then how you can make changes in them.
Their ideas and efforts that your employees are putting in and in case if their idea is not right then explain to them why you aren’t using it. Be careful about rejecting all employee ideas. If employees will find that you are not taking interest in their ideas then they might quit submitting them.
- Employee Surveys
Regularly survey employees to get their feedback. You might use a paper or electronic survey. The surveys can help you learn their opinions, ideas, and level of satisfaction.
Make sure that you include a short employee survey while determining any performance review. After you give employees feedback, ask your employees to give feedback about you and your company. Their responses can help you make decisions that will help your business and their positions improve.
Once you receive the feedback, use the results to take steps to improve your business. Look for common complaints and ideas. You can pull employees who have ideas or feel strongly about something and ask them for more details. Find out what changes you can adapt to improve your business.
- Leadership Teams
You can also make leadership teams, or committees, at your company to make work easier. The people on these teams don’t have to be managers. The teams can comprise any employees.
The leadership teams should have a general focus on your business and company. Or, you can create specific teams. For example, you might have a team that focuses on marketing decisions and another team that focuses on developing your products or services.
There should be a regular meeting of teams so that they can generate ideas and make decisions. Or, you can also add a communication channel for ongoing conversation and ensure that committee members should feel free to give their advice in any decisions.
