A successful business is a result of a collaborative effort, where every involved and related person is instrumental in this success. A bigger vision can be realised with a bigger team. And a bigger team comes with bigger problems and responsibilities with regard to management.
Here we present you with 7 time-tested practices to manage employees for optimal productivity.
Attention-to-Detail: Communication with Reaffirmation
There might be nothing more frustrating than listening to excuses in defence of failures on account of vaguely communicated instructions.
When you deliver instructions, make them comprehensive and ensure they are followed through. Ask for confirmation that your massage has been understood accurately.
Be a Good Listener
The best trick to manage your employees effectively is to allow them to be vocal and share their opinions. Listening to them will help you understand them more clearly. You will be in a better place to realise their potential and find more suitable roles for them to play.
It ultimately enhances the productivity. On the other hand, it triggers motivation when an employee receives attention from a superior. As a result of listening to employees, you will see enhanced productivity.
Public Recognition
A letter of appreciation via email or in an envelope is highly encouraging for an employee. But a round of applause by group members and a few words of appreciation by a superior in front of colleagues heighten motivation to new limits. No matter how small or big the achievement is, recognise it publically.
No Set-N-Forget Approach
This approach is good with machines, so apply it to machines only. With humans, it doesn’t work. A famous adage describes it perfectly, ‘When the cat’s away, the mice will play.’
- The best instrument is to set a frequency of progress report, which could be daily, bi-weekly, weekly, and so on.
- Avoid keeping a long gap between these evaluations.
Transparency
This one is a little tricky to manage, because some situations may demand you to be a little diplomatic or hide some pieces of whole information. However, be as transparent as possible. An employer usually doesn’t share his/her troubles with employees.
But aren’t your employees smart enough to feel something off? Sometimes, sharing your troubles can motivate your employees and find possible solutions too. On the other hand, you can also identify the most loyal ones.
Focus on Building a Team
Remember that success is a result of collaborative effort, and you must emphasise the need of building a team. It is challenging since a team is built of individuals with unique personalities, so you need to be creative in order to do it well.
Here is a quick guide to build a team.
- Study every individual carefully to identify his/her strengths and weaknesses. (It is the most important step to justify the assigned positions and job descriptions.)
- Define their positions. (Justify positions if you find suitable in presence of the whole team, or you may define individually. You be the judge.)
- Define their job descriptions.
- Designate who reports to whom. It builds relationships among team members.
- Make clear policies to follow as a team and define their limitation and liberty.
- Set frequency of progress report.
Human resource management is one of the most challenging jobs, since it deals with the most complex machines on earth – humans. The abundance of latest researches, surveys, courses and tools indicate the dire need to engage HR consulting services for effective management of employees. At the end, it’s the employees who are instrumental to execute the jobs. As an employer or HR manager, it is you who can ensure if they perform for better or worse.
