HOW TO ENCOURAGE EMPLOYEE PRIDE IN EVERY SMALL ACTION: LESSONS FROM JAPANESE SOCCER FANS

TRANSLATING THIS INTO THE WORKPLACE

Imagine if your employees were this proud of their actions. If they represented your company at each conference and training session with as much pride in every action they made, not only would their engagement in their work be dramatically increased,  but the reputation of your company would be superlative, amongst competitors and clients alike.

But this change is possible. It is possible for the employees of your company to take great pride in each and every small action they make.

Is it easy to create a culture of pride in your workplace by following the five step PRIDE model (1):

P: Create a positive working environment

R: Recognise, reinforce and reward individual efforts

I: Involve and engage everyone

D: Develop the potential of your workforce

E: Evaluate and hold managers accountable

POSITIVE WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

The positivity of your workplace environment starts with you. when communicating with employees it is  imperative to use positive language. Don’t criticize, use constructive feedback. Have an open-door policy to keep the lines of communication open and the rapport effective

A CULTURE OF RECOGNITION:

This is the backbone of company Pride. Ensure you reward your employees for their efforts in public so that they are acknowledged by their coworkers for their good work as well as just you.

INVOLVEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT:

Discuss the possibility of company actions with all of your employees by holding an open meeting for everyone to brainstorm ideas.  For example, Sony’s Corporate research department hosts an annual “Ideas Expedition”, when scientists and engineers display and demonstrate  new products that they are working on to all of Sony’s employees. This creates a culture of innovation throughout all levels of the organisation.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING:

The benefits of training your employees and helping them to develop their careers are well established. The most cost effective way of doing this is to hold mentor programs, which benefit not only the mentee but frequently help the mentors learn as well (2).

EVALUATE YOUR MANAGEMENT:

Metrics can help with this: in measuring the rate of employee turnover and comparing departments you can figure out which managers are struggling to support their employees. Don’t use a punitive  approach here, reward good managers and help the poorly performing manages to improve the performance through constructive criticism and training.

Following these simple steps you can create a strong culture of pride in your in workplace that can rival any Japanese soccer fan. You will not have to wait long to reap the benefits of increased employee engagement, greater client interest and reputation amongst competitors.