Practical ways to improve/manage employees

When most people think about employees, the first thought is typically around a tool instead of a person, perhaps for good reason. The Cambridge English dictionary defines ‘’employee’’ as engaging a person to complete a task in exchange for money; rather transactional.

The first step towards managing/improving your employees is agreeing with yourself that you need them to help you accomplish your goals.

The term ‘’team’’ generates better results in performance and creates a more congenial workplace because it alludes to the desire to accomplish a common goal. Adopting the terminology provides the group with a compass and the people formerly known as employees now become shining stars.

These are my tips for how you improve/manage your teammates

Improve

Skill up: Let’s face it, traditional education does not provide all the skills needed for work today. Skill your people up for today and tomorrow’s workplace.

Train: Train for the work but also train for life; for instance, dining etiquette may seem a small thing until you have to go for a lunch meeting with a client and your team member eats rice with a spoon.

Delegate and allow them to make mistakes: We all know we learn and grow from ‘’experience’’. Very few people actually learn from another person’s mistake, must be nature’s glitch. Allow your people to make small mistakes that are not costly. They will learn from them, be better and avoid similar errors going forward. Do remember to mentor them through the process so what they recognize the red flags.

Acknowledge improvement: Let people know they have improved. The feel-good factor releases endorphins and dare I say, creative juices.

Make definite decisions around lack of improvement: People should also know what is likely to happen if they do not improve. Clearly communicate the specific areas required, the timelines and stick to the terms you have set for improvement and for no or not enough improvement.

Manage

Build an environment of trust: Being consistent in and with the things you say or do builds trust. Your team members should be able to depend on your policies and processes.

Servant leadership: being a leader is actually being behind the pack. You protect, you mentor, you coach and you should take responsibility for the team. I once spoke to a Chief Accountant who was unhappy that his CEO had written him a query. As far as he was concerned, everyone should have been queried because everyone was responsible for the task. He sounded like a spoilt child even to me and I knew I didn’t want to ever be in a team led by him.

Truly care for your people and be interested in their growth and development.

Communicate effectively and set clear deliverables: Be clear about your objectives, set clear goals and timelines for deliverables. It is easier to hold people accountable and help them when they know what should be done, when it should be done by, and what the results should look like.

Open communication: Create an environment where communication is top to bottom and bottom-top. Since we all want to be better, this kind of environment creates room for constructive criticism and

Location determines what people are termed per time i.e. at work, they are team members, when at home, they are family members but in the end, people are really just people and they like to be liked, appreciated, helped to grow, work in a friendly trustworthy environment, and be free to air and share their views. If you treat people like people, you’re off to a great start on building a great team.

Special thanks to our guest writer Ekundayo Odele for this article