In the first part of this article about self discipline, I summarized why you might want to emphasize employee self discipline. Here are more tips about how to encourage self discipline and how to minimize disciplinary action in your workplace.
- Treat the people you employ as if they are adults, which they are. Think about how adults want to be treated. They want minimal rules and guidelines, only the policies necessary to ensure an ordered, fair, consistent work environment. They want to provide input about any decision that involves themselves or their work.
They want to be treated with respect. They want work to provide more than just a pay check. Work contributes to social needs; most people want to feel as if they are contributing to something greater than themselves.
People prefer to smile when they think about going to work; the best work places promote individual and group success and raise the self-esteem of staff members. - Provide good training especially for new employees, or when implementing a new work process. Provide training in problem solving and in process improvement so people have the tools they need to contribute to continuous improvement.
Treat the people you employ as if they are adults, which they are. Think about how adults want to be treated. They want minimal rules and guidelines, only the policies necessary to ensure an ordered, fair, consistent work environment. They want to provide input about any decision that involves themselves or their work. They want to be treated with respect.
They want work to provide more than just a pay check. Work contributes to social needs; most people want to feel as if they are contributing to something greater than themselves. People prefer to smile when they think about going to work; the best work places promote individual and group success and raise the self-esteem of staff members. - Make all policies and procedures available to all employees. Solicit input from employees before implementing a new policy. Hold focus groups to gauge the reaction of staff to potential new guidelines. Discuss new policies in staff or team meetings. Allow time for questions and discussion. Then, enforce policies as consistently as possible.
- Make your work place a safe place for people to try out thoughtful, new ideas. Make every effort to ensure people are not "punished" when a well-thought-out idea fails to work as intended. Provide a budget for staff to spend on new ways of working.
- Spend time meeting with staff members regularly. Walk through your work area regularly.
- Know what is going on with the people who report to you. Use a coaching approach to encourage the development of each person in your organization. When a staff member asks you what to do, or how to approach an assignment, ask her what she thinks is best.
- Encourage open communication between you and the people who report to you. Communicate all of the information that is available about your business, your customers, your profitability, and your mission and vision. Share the organization's overall goals. The more people know, the more they can act independently to help you.
- Since work is populated by human beings, occasionally staff will not practice self-discipline. In these instances, address unacceptable behavior immediately. Almost nothing lowers the morale of your contributing employees more quickly than seeing inappropriate work behavior go uncorrected.
