Tell Me What You Want

This post is the last (tenth) in a series that shares a summary of a podcast from a company called Essential Communications, along with my notes that dig into each point a little deeper.  If you like what my post has to say, you may want to check out their website and see what else they have to offer you.

http://essentialcomm.com/podcast/your-teams-best-interests-part-one

Catching you up:  When employees believe their manager has their best interest at heart, they are more satisfied and more productive than those who don’t believe that.  Treat your people well, and you will be rewarded!

10.  Tell your team how to succeed with you. 

It should be clear by now that your people want to do the right thing – for them, for you, for your team, for the customer/client/guest, and for the company.  But they still need to know what that “right thing” is.  In the first post of this series, I talked a lot about expectations and making sure your employees know what to do for their job – that they have the skills and knowledge to be able to appropriately perform the assigned tasks.  

But it’s also important for them to know how to work with you.  

• What are your expectations for your people?  Are you a manager that empowers your employees and doesn’t care how the work gets done as long as it’s completed?  Or would you rather they check in with you at various points and document certain milestones in specific ways?  

• Are your goals for the team simple metrics of financial performance or do you also care about how they relate to one another and how each member is improving and growing?  

• What are your strengths?  And where can your team members better support you?  Also, what really stresses you out?  This might include pet peeves they should avoid or perhaps delivering a certain report each month.  They can better support you by giving you extra space during that time or by ensuring the information they provide is in well before the deadline.  

Knowing these things about you will give your people insight into how to approach you (and when to avoid you).  It lets them know what your priorities are and what they will be measured against.  It takes away some of the uncertainty of their evaluation.

Other things you may want to consider are how you like to receive information (in person, via email or text, or in a memo/report), how your people should prep for staff meetings and what is expected of them there (raising a hand, jumping in, waiting to the end for Q&A), and how often you want to be updated about certain projects.  What are some other ways you have preferences that impact how you feel about your various team members and their interactions with you?

I read a lot of articles and attend many webinars and conferences on how to create organizational cultures that motivate employees.  I love sharing the nuggets I take from those with you.

This month’s posts share a summary of a podcast from a company called Essential Communications, along with my notes that dig into each point a little deeper.  If you like what my post has to say, you may want to check out their website and see what else they have to offer you.

http://essentialcomm.com/podcast/your-teams-best-interests-part-one

1.    Be sure your employees understand their job. 

2.    Deliver lots of feedback—both praise and developmental.

3.    Create opportunities for new responsibilities.

4.    Allow employees to have high visibility.

5.    Position people for promotion.

6.    Provide professional development. 

7.    Offer career development. 

8.    Be the resource they need.  Share the view from your vantage point. 

9.    Be fair. 

10. Tell your team how to succeed with you.