Involve Employees in Decision Making

There are several advantages to involving employees in the decision-making process. It shows them that you value them as part of the team, and it gives you a variety of different ideas to choose from and makes your employees feel a stronger bond of responsibility toward the outcome of the decision. Fortunately, you don't have to completely relinquish control to get your employees involved.

Conduct an Employee Survey

When completed correctly, conducting an employee survey is a great way to get your employees involved in the decision-making process.

Don't survey all your employees all the time. If you take the time to hand-pick the employees that you want involved with the project and have them complete your survey, it shows them that you truly value their opinions. This way, they are more likely to complete the survey. Alternatively, you can divide your employees into groups and customize a survey for each group to get a variety of answers.

Keep it simple. There's no need to spend a lot of time conducting an employee survey. Keep it focused and simple and you'll yield better results.

Read the results, and take action. If you ignore the results of your survey, there is really no point in conducting the survey in the first place.

Start a Suggestion and Idea Program

Involving employees in the decision-making process is about more than getting employees involved with specific projects. Creating an idea-sharing program and encouraging your employees to make suggestions is a great way to find solutions to problems you may not know existed. Your employees are on the frontline. They know what's working and what needs improvement. Listening to their suggestions and making changes when needed is a great way to improve your team.

Create Leadership Opportunities

Give the top performers on your team a chance to show off their leadership skills, and allow them to participate in the decision-making process by creating leadership positions for them. Some ideas include:

• Putting employees in charge of special projects

• Letting your top performers help with new employee training

• Creating a team lead position within your team

• Create a mentoring program for new hires

Hold Brainstorming Sessions

Holding a monthly brainstorming session gets everyone on your team involved in the decision-making process. Each month, make a list of the problems you want solutions to, ongoing projects and areas where your team could improve. Then, conduct a meeting to gather your team members' opinions on the subject.

Your employees want to feel appreciated, and getting them involved in your decision-making process is a great way to do just that. Take some time to encourage all your employees to play a role in the decision-making process. They'll get the appreciation they crave, and you'll see your team improve.

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