Taking pride in your work is one of the greatest motivators when it comes to ensuring that we work hard and that we work efficiently. If you take pride in your work then you will probably be better with clients and customers, you will tend to work more quickly and efficiently, and you will be more driven to try and promote your organisation and to develop your products and services to offer something with real value for the end user.
Of course this is great news for any manager or business owner, and it’s exactly the kind of culture that they should be seeking to promote.
Unfortunately though, this is not how most people tend to feel about their place of work. Rather, most people it seems see their workplaces as ‘the enemy’. As somewhere they ‘have to go’ but resent all the while. Herein lies the problem with many a company’s work ethic and morale, and it’s something that you need to address if you suspect your own staff are not as enthusiastic as they could be.
So how do you get your staff to feel proud of your company and to care about your brand?
Autonomy and Ownership
There are many ways to make your company one that your staff care about, but two of the most important things to consider are autonomy and ownership. That means that your staff should a) be given some freedom in the way they work, and b) be given some credit for the work that they do.
The problems occur really when your staff feel as though they are a cog in the machine but that their work has no real impact on the broader aspects of your business. This way their work becomes thankless and something of a chore that ‘must’ be done, and they are robbed of any sense of satisfaction that comes from working in their own way or coming up with their own solutions. You feel proud when you solve puzzles or create art – not when you fill in data because you’ve been told to.
More to the point though, by giving your staff a feeling of autonomy and control, you create a situation where the end product reflects them and they will take the credit or flack for how well that goes. When your reputation is resting on something going well, you tend to put more work into it. And when that thing that you created succeeds – you feel proud of your achievement.
Assign different jobs to different members of staff then, and give them some autonomy to handle those tasks the way they see fit. Listen to your employees ideas and petition them for input, and when something they do goes well – celebrate and congratulate their contribution.
Other Factors
Of course there are also many other factors as well which can have an impact. Team moral is important for example, and making sure that your staff feel like they’re part of a larger team can help them to rally round and enjoy a sense of camaraderie – it’s one reason that team building exercises and parties are so useful.
Likewise it’s important that your company be one that is easy to feel proud of, so make sure that you follow good practices, that you value your brand, and that you are careful to maintain a good image. Do something different and interesting, and ask yourself – are you proud of your company?
