Chika Uwazie’s TalentBase: How Nigerian Employers Can Build An Effective Company Culture

Every firm wants committed employees. People who bring passion and the determination to get stuff done.

They also need people who are smart; good enough to maneuver situations. All these are great to have, but there are times when grit and wit won’t cut it.

You could have the best people working on projects, but sometimes the conditions ensure they don’t succeed; then the people get tired. They start to feel they aren’t good enough. As productivity goes down, they quit and those who stay on don’t churn out great work anymore. So, it is extremely important for business owners and employers to create a company culture that brings out every employee’s true potential, thus ensuring a productive workforce.

Embrace Technology
People often talk about technology in the scary light of coming to take our jobs, but the truth is that all it has done is make our work a easier. Before now, payroll for instance would require about one person recording workers attendance, another recording rewards accrued and another handling tax calculations or in some other places, one person handling this at a high burnout rate. With the advent of HR/Payroll Software, these tasks can be handled by a single system and managed by just one person, at no risk of burnout, but increased productivity and lesser errors.

This is also the case with company apps and enterprise software, all making the day to day running of a company less stressful.

Build A Good Feedback Structure
Employees need to know if they are making progress while at work. They also need to find out what they aren’t good at and work on it. It is counter productive to just scold workers or punish them for tasks not nicely accomplished. The more productive thing to do is create a seamless way of evaluating performance and training people in deficient areas. This way, your workforce grows rather than lose steam.

Be Flexible
Productivity is the backbone of creativity. If you’re going to get any form of creativity from your staff, you need to be ready to let them be themselves. Putting people in boxes snuffs out creativity; and the less creative people are, the less productive they become. Simple things like less formal clothes, open office spaces, remote working options are a super way to get the creative juices flowing.

Always Be Realistic
It’s easy to want to grow your company so badly that you lose touch of reality. Your people start to get unrealistic goals and crazy deadlines because you’ve made a promise to yourself or the board to double the company’s profit. This is a proven unproductive way to motivate staff. Certain people argue that some people can get anything done, but the question is: ‘at what expense?’
It is crucial to set achievable goals and explain them properly to your workers. If they have questions or inputs, take them and make the tasks even more achievable.

Always Reward Your Workforce
When a reward is earned, recognize it. Pats on the back are good; an appreciation mail is nice, but you know you can do better. Five minutes out of the regular Monday meeting can be all the boost your employee might need to replicate such greatness a second time. When you can, give a gift, attach perks to tasks, throw an office party to recognize hard work.

The first step to making something a habit is to try it out. If you simply start today with these tips, it only takes a while before your organisation is identified with them and in turn identified as a place that gives the chance to stay productive.

If you think I missed any point, please let me know in the comment section below. 🙂