How can Merchandising professionals encourage employee autonomy?

I feel that in today’s market, as companies grow they lose focus on the importance of communicating goals and expectations for entry-level and customer facing positions. I’ve noticed a general disconnect, and lack of communication between leaders and general staff. This leads to employee dissatisfaction, misaligned processes, and ultimately high turnover. I believe emphasis should be placed on defining and maintaining clear consistent expectations for all positions within a company. People want to understand what’s going on so when you ensure the proper trickle down of information to all staff members, and encouraging feedback/suggestions helps employees feel more valued and part of the team.

I feel that in today’s market, as companies grow they lose focus on the importance of communicating goals and expectations for entry-level and customer facing positions. I’ve noticed a general disconnect, and lack of communication between leaders and general staff. This leads to employee dissatisfaction, misaligned processes, and ultimately high turnover. I believe emphasis should be placed on defining and maintaining clear consistent expectations for all positions within a company. People want to understand what’s going on so when you ensure the proper trickle down of information to all staff members, and encouraging feedback/suggestions helps employees feel more valued and part of the team.

I feel employee performance reviews are essential to creating a strong, loyal, productive team. There should be a general timeframe to ensure everyone gets the opportunity to hear feedback on how they are doing and how their work has benefited the company and on what areas they might need improvement. 3/mo, 6/mo, year, whatever works for the company. Focus on reinforcement of strengths and individual achievement or contributions with less emphasis on negatives. Areas for improvement or growth can be listed briefly at the end and allow for questions or provide clarification only when requested. When there’s a focus on the negative, even if constructive, it makes reviews uncomfortable & possible benefits and opportunities to grow are lost.

With the growing WFH remote workforce, it is more important that companies clearly communicate their vision & goals to their staff & set clear expectations of their employees. The possibility of misalignment and disconnect increases exponentially when coworkers are not physically present at their job site where information can be posted, or discussed, overheard and passed along or even casually mentioned in passing at the office. There is no longer an open line of constant indirect communication available because all communication is online and must now be initiated. Implementation of some type of bulletin board or brainstorming platform for WFH staff and regular meetings are essential to encourage team coherence and goal alignment.