Much has been said and written about the art and science of managing people. We hear all sorts of ideas during our management courses here at BCI.
However, when you cut through all the theory and opinions, being a good manager really comes down to one thing: helping your team succeed.
Here are 10 ways to help your team become more satisfied and successful:
1. Be clear about what you expect. If your employees don’t know what you want, they will either guess, or decide not to act until it’s spelled out for them – neither of which leads to success! Lay out expectations for each individual and for the whole team.
2. Be reasonable about those expectations. Set reasonable performance targets, and give them the resources they need to hit them.
3. Let them know how they’re doing on a regular basis. Don’t save it all until mid-year and year-end reviews. Set regular meetings to discuss their performance and how it compares to your expectations.
4. Offer constructive (not just positive) feedback. Offering regular, minor course corrections is much more effective than bigger, less frequent corrections that require major change.
5. Be consistent about consequences – both positive and negative. It can be easy to sometimes let the right behaviors go unnoticed, or to let little wrong behaviors slide. But those instances can leave your team confused about what you really want and cause much bigger problems down the line.
6. Keep things interesting. Some others find the nature of their job is interesting and challenging in and of itself. But, for most employees, you have to keep things interesting if you want to keep them motivated. Find ways to help them grow and develop, and hold competitions and events that will keep them on their toes.
7. Say thanks. Take advantage of every opportunity to express appreciation to your team. Emphasize how their work contributes to the team, and explain clearly and often how the team’s work is part of the company’s success.
8. Provide a safe and congenial environment. This might sound very basic, but it is a necessity that, if overlooked, can rapidly become a problem. Part of your job is to protect your employees. Workers want – and have a right – to be safe and free from harassment, unreasonable demands or punishments.
9. Deal with anything that causes a negative atmosphere. You’re the boss, so it’s your responsibility to identify and deal with bad attitudes, discontent, and rudeness. Give perpetrators the opportunity to mend their ways. But if they don’t, get rid of them, for the sake of the whole team.
10. Give them as much control as possible over their work life. Whenever you can, let your employees make the decisions about how, when, and where they’ll work. Employees who are given the opportunity to choose how their workload is distributed, feel more valued, motivated and satisfied.
Some of these actions probably come naturally to you.
But the trick is to do them all, day after day, no matter what. Taken together, these simple acts can transform your team into a happier, more productive group.
Baker Communications has been helping people become great managers for over 35 years. We offer both public and private courses on Exceptional Management Skills, which focus all aspects of the management process: motivation, communication, evaluation, coaching, performance management and much more.
