As a manager you need to balance productive and positivity while getting the job done and creating a climate where people feel engaged and motivated. People need feedback to understand how they are really doing and to help lead them in the right direction to succeed. Focus on the soft skills. As a manager feedback is a two way street. You need to be giving feedback and seeking feedback about yourself. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses so you can leverage them and also be successful.
The hardest part of performance management is giving feedback and that is what managers hate to do. Get to know you staff, each person will take feedback differently. Even positive feedback can be taken hard if it is given in the wrong way. One size doesn’t fit all, you need to learn how to give feedback so your staff hears it and can act on it.
Delegation is an art. Be sure to make instructions clear when giving a task to someone. Make sure they know what your expectations are and what the perimeters are. Let them know what their authority is and so they can press ahead and see results.. Don’t give mixed messages, be very clear.
Motivate and engage your staff. The key to motivating and engaging, your employees is to know them. This goes back to feedback, ones size doesn’t fit all. Care what engages your employees, get to know them. Bosses should have an open door policy and meet with their staff regularly, not just once a year when giving performance reviews. It could be 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there. Bosses can also do stay interviews, we do exit interviews asking why they are leaving. Why not do a stay interview. Just ask a couple question. What do they love about their job, what will keep them here and what might draw them away to another organization.
Communicate, communicate, communicate. It is an essential human skill. The more you can tell your employees, the more motivated and engaged they are. It builds loyalty and makes them feel part of the organization. Be honest, if the organization is facing challenges, they could help you solve it. Listen to their ideas and allow them to be part of what they love.
Comments