Building trust, encouraging open communication, promoting teamwork and motivating your employees isn’t just a simple checklist of organizational best practices – it’s a lifestyle all leaders should adopt in order to be successful. Rather than shy away from candidate advice from the ranks, the best CEOs embrace feedback, foster employee engagement and never settle.
We asked CEOs on
Glassdoor’s Highest Rated CEOs List to divulge their winning strategies they live by to engage their employees and inspire their workforces. Here are the four categories their advice fell into:
- Trust
- Open communication
- Teamwork
- Motivate employees
Trust
Without your employees’ trust, you can’t do much, let alone build a thriving company culture. The best CEOs understand that actually listening to employee feedback and gaining employee trust over time is critical in building trust and an organization’s success. Here’s what a few winning leaders had to say about how they build trust within their companies:
“Have faith in people’s ability to hear the truth, whatever it may be.” –
Corey Schiller, CEO of Power Home Remodeling Group
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions, and the sooner CEOs and companies embrace candidate feedback from employees and candidates, the faster you’ll earn their trust and support.” –
Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot
“The trust and support of the workplace is built on a foundation of transparency and integrity. Leaders who communicate openly and honestly create an opportunity to develop trust.” –
David Ossip, CEO of Ceridian Human Capital Management
Open communication
Rather than block dialogue, the best CEOs find ways to embrace honesty, open communication and transparency with their employees, no matter how difficult that may be. This comes in many forms – company-wide huddles or even little reminders that your door is always open. Here are some of the ways our top CEOs talk about open communication in their workplace:
“I tell my employees; my door is always open to help.”
– Stuart Wall, CEO of Signpost
“Regularly, honestly and openly share with all colleagues how the business is doing, what is on your mind – good and bad – and what needs to be done next.”
– Allistair Cox, CEO of Hays PLC
“I virtually visit every one of our employee training sessions for the opportunity to talk with employees in person.”
– Joseph Tarantino, President and CEO of Protiviti
Teamwork
The best leaders build strong, collaborative teams. Doubling as head cheerleader, the CEO is champion and owner of the company mission, culture and brand. Here are a few ways the best CEOs incorporate teamwork into their lives at the office:
“I believe that it’s the job of the CEO to build an infrastructure that supports the company’s core values, core purpose and to create an environment that creates engagement in the team.”
– Darius Mirshahzadeh, CEO of The Money Source, Inc.
“Everyone needs to believe we’re truly in this together.”
– Tobias Dengel, CEO of WillowTree, Inc.
Motivate employees
Business goals are crucial to a company’s bottom line, but the best CEOs know employee satisfaction and happiness are too. And never settling for things as they are, but what they can be. Here are a few ways to motivate employees at your company:
“Help others find and live their purpose.”
– Brad Jackson, CEO of Slalom
“Have a clear strategy, goals and values that inspire your people and are relevant to their work and their aspirations.”
– Martin Bennett, CEO of HomeServe Membership
“If an environment is created, at work, for people to become the best versions of themselves, they will often choose it… and be grateful.”
– Dave Durand, CEO of Best Version Media
“Ask for help improving your work. Ask your co-workers, your supervisor, or anyone who might be able to help. Don’t ask, ‘Is this good enough?’ Ask, ‘How can this be better?’”
– Bob Pritchett, CEO of Faithlife Corporation
Looking for even more advice from top CEOs? Download the full eBook
25 Tips From Top CEOs now!
