The role of management is to find the best people and to build teams that work together. Employers must recognize their workers' achievements. The success of most organizations is often credited to the ideas and hard work of their employees. Managers need to motivate employees with relevant training. Helping to create pride in the final work product is essential to creating team self-esteem. Tangible and intangible rewards help to make goal attainment that much more worthwhile.
Supervisors should empower their teams by allowing employees to make decisions. They should support their choices and the employees' effort to achieve goals. Encourage employees to feel ownership so that there will be a sense of personal success. While it is important for management to provide direction, it is equally valuable to listen to employees' ideas and facilitate team meetings to achieve the goals of the organization.
Once the team is motivated to see a project through to the end, the group must be given the tools they need to carry it out. These can be as varied as their ideas for a project. There are business consultants and speakers who teach team-building skills to business managers. Sometimes a facilitator is needed to assign project tasks to skilled team members. It is important to know each of your employees and their individual capabilities. Use that knowledge to get the best out of each employee. Consult with your employees. They may have ideas about colleagues in other departments who can help you achieve your goals.
Develop a mission statement and ask employees to refine it. You could be in for a shock. They may have an entirely different view of the organization's goals. Are you and your employees on the same page? Give them the opportunity to show what their capabilities are. Encourage all employees to offer ideas and bold concepts that might excite your workforce into new areas of success. Be open to new opportunities. Whether you blend your mission statement with that of your employees, or theirs with yours, complete your company mission statement. Publish it and be sure everyone gets a copy. Repeat the process of revisiting your mission statement at regular intervals. It will be a great motivator for your employees and for you!
Conduct regular employee surveys. If employers choose, surveys can be an anonymous way to adjust weak management skills in various departments. It can provide the employer with the types of training that may be needed. Your workers can safely point out efficiency flaws in production without fear of reprisals. The simple question, "how can we improve in this area?" can lead to better products and services or costsaving measures within the organization. Some organizations run a customer satisfaction survey at the same time, to examine similarities between what employees can do better and what customers want to be better. The employer gets a win-win.
Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement. The more investment in the employees' development, the less investment in other more expensive costs such as lower productivity, turnover, rehiring and stress related illness and injuries. Utilize your best employees to teach newly hired trainees. Instead of thrusting a new person into a job and immediately expecting them to fit into your company culture, let your high performers mentor your new employees to help create a smoother transition.
Management must create an emotional atmosphere whereby people feel secure enough to ask tough questions and to ask for help when they need it. They must not be afraid of losing their job if they take a risk. This is essential to developing trust. Managers need to learn how to ask for honest feedback and to facilitate communication. Managers should strive to understand their employees' work and personal needs. They must also value their workers' participation in running the organization. When fear is reduced, trust is built resulting in increased work satisfaction and commitment.
Educational programs can reduce employees' stress, which benefits the organization. It is far cheaper to institute wellness programs, stress-management programs, employee assistance programs, employee satisfaction surveys, and self-improvement programs than to pay the staggering costs of low morale, burnout and declining productivity. Employee education pays off!
Jane Boucher is an author and professional speaker with offices in Reno. Reach her at 853-0226 or jane@janeboucher.com.
