A guide to being an effective leader.
Many people are promoted to managerial positions because they’re good at their job. However, they often find this transition challenging because the business side of things is now only half the work. They must start focusing on staff management, too, which they’re not necessarily used too. Being an effective leader to your subordinates is hard work, after all. There are plenty of challenges and conflicts that could arise along the way, putting your relationships in jeopardy. But it can also be incredibly rewarding if done right. So, here are some different tactics to become better at staff management and improve everyone’s productivity along the way.
1.) Positive Reinforcement
Everyone has worked a job where the manager only comments on their performance when they’re doing badly, as opposed to when they’ve done something right. It’s incredibly demoralising and diminishes the relationships in the workplace. To improve your staff management, it’s essential to notice the good things the employees have done and tell them when they do so. Not only will this boost their morale but also encourage this attitude to continue and let them know they’re working in the right direction.
2.) Allocating Roles
Each employee will have different strengths and weaknesses. If you want to become better at staff management, it’s important to identify who is better at what, then allocate different job roles depending on their skillset. For instance, some workers might be great at customer relationship management, whereas others are adept at completing reports to a high standard. By playing to everyone’s strengths, productivity will improve, and your employees will feel more valued for the part they play in the team.
3.) Employee Benefits
Implementing employee benefits will massively help team leaders with staff management. These schemes are proven to reduce staff turnover and attract human capital to businesses. They do this by providing incentives for working at your company, such as free health insurance or paid time off for holidays or sickness. This also helps to limit unexplained absences, improving the manager’s relationship with their workers. On top of that, employee benefits help demonstrate to your workers that they’re valued because the scheme is paid for by the company, thereby increasing their productivity and morale.
4.) Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
Nothing causes a greater disparity in the workplace than inequality. You can see this exemplified in Hollywood, where women and minorities are given less money and jobs than their straight white male counterparts, causing outrage in the industry. As such, team leaders need to ensure diversity, equality and inclusion in their workplace. This might include workshops which educate employees on internalised racism or microaggressions they unknowingly exhibit. Having a third-party complete an audit of how inclusive your company is might help, too. You become a better staff manager by tackling inequality.
5.) Setting Expectations
If employees aren’t certain what they’re supposed to be doing or what they must accomplish for the day, they won’t be very productive. Bad managers often blame their staff for these mistakes, but it’s usually their fault for not being explicit enough when setting expectations. After all, most problems in organisations filter down from the top. So, managers need to be specific when setting tasks for their employees. This includes listing daily, weekly and monthly goals. They also need to be realistic with their expectations. Staff will quickly become demoralised and unproductive if they have too much on their plate. Conversely, not having enough to do will make them idle and disinterested.
We hope these five different tactics for staff management have been useful. Remember, it’s fundamental to show your employees that they’re valued by you and the organisation.
And if you have employees working from home or outsource your employment you may also find Employee Monitoring Software For Remote Outsourcing Teams to be of value. This can provide valuable agency time tracking with proof-of-work.