A framework for workplace balance

Establishing a robust and healthy balance between managers and employees is essential to developing a positive, collaborative, and productive workforce.

There are a few simple methods businesses can adopt to achieve this balance and consequently create a significantly better working environment that facilitates enhanced performance for both the individual and the organisation.

Here are a few methods your organisation can try today:

Acknowledge employee strengths

To get the most out of their employees, managers must accurately assess each person’s strengths.

This allows you to empower your people by assigning them to tasks they know they will excel at, instilling confidence and a greater sense of worth in the entire team. As the manager or team leader, you can let your employees get on with their jobs without micromanaging every move, as long as the tasks and overall company expectations are clearly stated and understood.

Employees thrive when they can use their strengths, so allowing them to do so will help create a positive, effective flow for both individual and team performance.

Strengthscope offers unique, professional strength-based assessment tools that help organisations identify and optimise employees’ strengths, thus assisting them in achieving peak performance levels.

Divide, but stay as one

Though it may appear to be contradictory, it makes perfect sense! A well-planned division of labour is essential for achieving maximum efficiency, productivity, and performance.

Once you have identified the strengths of each staff member, you then need to assign each person to a role that sufficiently supports their skill set.

This consequently creates departments responsible for a given area of the business. Additional teams can then be formed within the departments themselves, allowing for a well-balanced framework that facilitates equal contribution throughout the company. Although teams may technically be separate, leaders must ensure they are all working together as one unified force to achieve the organisation’s objectives.

Develop employee relationships

A good workplace balance can only be obtained by building good employee relationships.

Cultivating a strong sense of team chemistry and synergy is key to effective communication, happiness, and overall productivity. A few good examples to help achieve this are:

  • Brainstorming sessions – can be among specific departments or even involve everyone in the organisation. Group sessions like this can be fun to nurture creativity and bring staff together to share their ideas on a particular project or problem.
  • Staff meetings – this perhaps could consist of the more serious, pressing matters within the business and would encourage the involvement of all employees in critical business decisions.
  • Team-bonding activities/social outings – a fun way of encouraging team integration and friendships among staff, which can be essential to creating a positive workplace balance.
  • Introduce flexible working hours – if this fits the way your business operates, try it out. It goes a long way in winning over staff appreciation and happiness if they are given a higher degree of flexibility with their working day.

Prioritise well-being

Be conscious of your employee’s well-being and make sure you’re keeping up with how they are doing.

Having regular check-ins, with each of your team, on a regular basis can help you detect early signs of burnout or if you need to re-balance the workload to manage their capacity. It is critical to ensure that employees are not exhausted or overburdened, as this will reduce their well-being and performance.

Top tip:

Introduce the use of energy lifelines to your employees as a great tool to approach well-being management. The energy lifeline allows you to spot what it is in your life and specifically at work that energises you and drains you, whether it is a person, a place, a task, or a project, whatever it may be.

When you get good at knowing how your energy works, you’ll be able to manage it throughout the day. Having your employee manage their well-being and energy will support them in being happier and more productive at work.

Create a shared vision

You need to ensure everyone in your organisation is on the same page regarding the company’s aims, goals, and general direction. Your essential strategic vision should be powerfully portrayed so your employees will learn to embody it and become fully aligned with your organisation’s mission. This encourages frequent communication, which is highly beneficial for any workforce and reduces the likelihood of conflict or confusion between employees or clients. Our strengths-based assessments bring to light existing strengths that can be optimised and worked with efficiently.

If you would like to improve the balance in your workplace and enhance your employee’s strengths, then chat with us here.