HOW TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN EMPLOYEES
In the corporate world limelight primarily rests on the supervisors and managers and how they perform their duties instead of employees and their perspectives. Managers indeed have the huge responsibility of empowering the employees to perform to the best of their abilities. The goals of employees and the organisation must be convergent and complimentary. It is up to the manager to instil confidence in his employees, recognise and utilise their strengths, fulfil their ambitions and work together towards a common goal.
Managers and supervisors must have an idea about the basic expectations that employees have from them and the organisation as a whole. Below enlisted are some of the issues that employees look forward to and value-
- Employees want to be responsible for tasks that are significant, fulfilling and meaningful.
- Employees want to be able to exercise certain amount of freedom while working
- Employees desire amiable colleagues to work with
- Employees want to grow and develop
- Employees expect due recognition and honour for executing a task well
Managers must strive to eradicate issues and rectify situations that demotivate employees and hinder their performance and growth. Some of these disturbing issues are-
- Anxiety of being deficient when expectations are too high
- Want for prospects of personal growth and development
- Excessive strain and pressure at work
- Anxiety of being redundant
- Concern with insecurity and change
- Feeling of not fitting in and welcomed
Follow these simple steps to resolve the issues-
- Maintain a clear and honest channel of communication
- Be patient and listen to what your employee has to say
- Analyse and evaluate the issues without being judgemental or too harsh
- Come to a solution that strikes a balance between the interests of the employee and the organisation
course of action
An effective manager ensures the following-
- Offering challenging and interesting tasks to the employees but not such that is too exacting and beyond the capabilities of respective employees
- Providing concrete and clear objectives
- Creating appropriate environment and framework to execute such tasks
- Giving space to the employees but not excessively
- Providing support and assistance when required
- Giving adequate feedback
- Offering due recognition and appreciation
- Provides scope for personal growth and development
- Understanding specific skills and expertise of respective employees and allowing them to be fully utilised
- Effective time management
point to be remembered-
- In the shoes of employees: It is important for managers to be sensitive towards the perspectives of employees. To keep in touch with the general workers, managers may organise informal lunches with employees or make use of web-chat, blogging tools and discussion forums on the internet. Top executives in some reputed organisations engage in front-line work to possess first-hand experience of the workers` job environment. Another effective method is “reverse monitoring” in which executives allow younger employees to mentor them. It facilitates in the discussion of wide range of issues.
- Project work: Routine work may be made exciting and invigorating when structured into the format of projects. Employees will have a clear idea of the objective, the deadline within which the task must be completed and the exact number of workers involved in it.
