What your staff want more of: A consultant’s behind-the-scenes view

When I facilitate workshops within organisations, I try to take the opportunity to find out what team members want more of, in order to help them reach their potential both within their jobs and in their careers.

When I work with staff on areas such as their personal brands and how they express the company brand, we invariably address topics such as:

• organisational culture,
• understanding and connecting to brand values,
• team and individual objectives,
• staff and leadership expectations,
• internal and external communication challenges, and
• what developing leadership skills means to the individual.

This creates ample opportunities for discussion on what team members feel they need more of, both individually and as a whole organisation. Having these discussions allows me to feed back to leadership what I hear staff saying about how they want to be supported and what they want to be part of.

“Having these discussions allows me to feed back to leadership what I hear staff saying about how they want to be supported and what they want to be part of.”

From feedback forms, discussions and observations in 1-1 and team workshop settings, here are some things I often hear people say about what they want their organisation to deliver more of, to support them in their work:

• Time to strategise and plan
• Time for personal reflection
• Time for team-building and learning from each other
• Ways to develop self-belief and confidence
• Real-life examples and role models to learn from
• Assistance pinpointing personal strengths
• Understanding what is valuable to our audiences/stakeholders
• Understanding what our brand stands for and what it means for us
• Strategies for improving self-kindness
• Develop confidence to communicate my personal brand
• Time to work on LinkedIn profile and other profile-building and networking plans

Did any of these surprise you? Or resonate? Do you see themes emerging from what clients’ staff regularly tell me?

To me, the big take-aways in this list of what team members crave are TIME and OPPORTUNITIES to work together in order to develop ourselves, individually and as a whole group. It is my experience that people want to do the best job possible and do right by the business, but they often lack the confidence as to how. I also see a lot of busy and overwhelmed staff who wish to step up and achieve more, but need the time and guidance to take the next steps.

When your people respond positively to a workshop, training, coaching session or mentoring program, it’s a clear indicator that you’re onto something that will succeed in creating positive change in your organisation, if you only give it time and attention. Your people are your best resource for understanding what they need to flourish!