Inspiring Your Team to Work Hard
Motivate employees to contribute and produce results. Employees who do not feel that their contribution matters to the company are likely to lack motivation and may not apply themselves to their work. So, keep your employees motivated to help them enjoy their work and to stay productive. As you get to know your team members better, you'll be able to think of personalized ways to motivate them. For example, you can provide motivation by: Acknowledging productive employees' work at monthly all-hands meetings. Offering annual bonuses to productive employees. Making it clear to employees why their work helps the company. To effectively personalize motivation, pay attention to the ways individual employees respond to motivational strategies. For example, 1 employee may be motivated primarily by feeling that their work matters, while another may work best when given public praise in front of co-workers. Motivate employees using the type of motivation that they respond best to. Avoid using unequal types of motivation among your employees. For example, handing out frequent financial bonuses to a select few employees may lead other team members to believe that you are playing favorites.
Reward employees for their hard work. When a team member does some exemplary work that you feel deserves recognition, you can reward them with a small trophy a monetary award. Your team members will work hard for your approval if you're generous with rewards. Verbal praise and recognition is also a great way to reward productive employees. You can give verbal praise either privately or in front of the entire team. Shy or easily-embarrassed employees may prefer private recognition, while extroverted employees who crave the approval of others will feel more rewarded if their efforts are acknowledged in a public setting. If you come across as indifferent to your employees' hard work, your team will come to see you as an ineffective leader.
Maintain a positive attitude when you interact with team members. A manager's attitude can make a huge difference. Being positive, smiling, and occasionally making small talk can increase positive energy around the workplace and can encourage the employees to become more engaged in their work. It helps to show your staff that you are approachable and that you are all a part of one team. When employees feel that their manager cares about how their day is going or if they are feeling better after being sick, they feel valued and appreciated, leading to greater productivity and positive attitudes.
Leading Your Team
Work hard to show employees that you're invested in the company. Effective managers lead by example. To set a good example, you should be one of the first people to arrive at work in the morning. Keep most of your interpersonal interactions with employees focused on work. Show that you care about the company, and apply yourself to work. If your team sees that you're a dedicated, hard worker, they'll come to respect you as a leader. What's more, your team will also be motivated to work hard and follow in your footsteps. Do not, for example, make personal phone calls while you're at work or openly browse the Internet on your work computer.
Lead your team with openness and approachability. Most team members will be able to see through your personal presentation if you come across as an authoritarian, near-perfect person. So, be real and approachable. Celebrate successes and lament failures along with your team members, rather than shutting yourself up in your office most of the time. Having an approachable manager will lead employees to feel that they can trust you. For example, it's fine to acknowledge a mistake that you made, or show a little tiredness at the office.
Encourage comradery among team members. Close professional relationships among team members will make employees feel comfortable and should increase their productivity. Closely-knit teams are generally more willing to help one another complete assignments and think of new, innovative ways of helping the company succeed. Try building comradery by: Inviting employees to an after-work happy hour once a week. Holding weekly all-hands meetings for face-to-face communication. Praising team members for work they do well and encouraging other employees to do likewise.
Delegate responsibilities to deserving, capable team members. As a manager, you'll need to assign tasks to your employees. Do this thoughtfully. Consider the nature of the task that you're assigning and think about the strengths of the members of your team. Assign tasks to team members who will enjoy the work and will be able to complete it with success. For example, if a team member excels at administrative work, give them a task like organizing meetings with your clients. Once you've delegated a task, avoid micro-managing the employee you assigned the work to. Let your team members do the jobs you've given them. However, if an employee is working on a large project (or if you're dealing with a newer employee), it's reasonable to ask for monthly progress reports.
Demonstrate strong decision-making skills. Being decisive is a necessary quality for any effective team leader. Being decisive will inspire similar workplace behaviors in your team members. Making effective decisions is a great way to inspire by example. For example, don't waffle when delegating tasks to your employees. Make a decision and stick with it. If you're often indecisive or change your mind once you've made a choice, your team may feel that you can't lead effectively because you struggle to make decisions. However, you also need to be able to recognize if a decision isn't working. While effective team managers are capable of making firm decisions, they also need to be able to admit when and if they made an impractical choice. If you've instituted a new policy or pursued a business opportunity that isn't working out, you may need to revise your initial decision. Part of being an effective and decisive leader is knowing when to solicit the opinions of team members. It's fine if you want to gain a consensus from your team before making an important decision.
Deal with disciplinary issues when they arise. Effective leaders are capable of disciplining their team members when a team member has violated a workplace rule or has a serious disagreement with another employee. To be an effective leader, do not put off dispensing disciplinary measures. Although the task may be unpleasant, you'll come off as incapable of handling conflict if you refuse to deal with the situation quickly. For example, meet with employees and mediate between them if there's an ongoing office dispute. If this doesn't solve the problem, you may reassign one of the troublesome team members to another office or department. In the case of more serious offenses—e.g., criminal activity at work or sexual harassment—you may need to fire the employee.
Fostering Communication in the Workplace
Communicate openly and frequently with your staff. As a manager, you need to share new information pertaining to the employees' work and welcome their questions and comments. Communication helps employees feel like they're a valuable part of the company, and shows employees that their contributions matter. Effective communication can occur via email or interoffice memos, during meetings, or during face-to-face conversations. Try having an open-door policy which allows employees to come in and talk with you about concerns. Keeping the lines of communication open will foster morale. Also keep employees informed about any company news including new hires, upcoming mergers, and business expansions.
Solicit and listen to your employees' feedback. Listening skills are an important aspect of office communication. It is important to be ready to listen to your employees, whether they're offering work suggestions or bringing up complaints. Long-term employees may have suggestions that can improve workflow processes. Newer employees may need clarification regarding office policies. Listen carefully to any input that your team members offer, so that you can respond clearly and effectively. This doesn't mean that you must always agree with team-member input, but at least express appreciation for the input. For example, if a team member tells you, “I think we can improve how we're handling the new client's sales problem. They might benefit from more focus on social-media advertising,” respond with, “That's a great idea, thanks for sharing. I think we should run that by the marketing department. Can you set up a meeting for next week?”
Encourage your team members to brainstorm new ideas and solutions. Brainstorming is an important part of any close-knit office environment. Sessions can produce new ideas that improve workflow and office policies. Brainstorming can also bring team members closer together and strengthen professional relationships. Try to solicit brainstorming ideas during monthly meetings, or send out an email or memo asking team members to brainstorm on a specific topic. Praising team members for their helpful contributions will encourage them to participate in future brainstorming sessions.
Get to know people at all levels of the organization. As a manager, it may be tempting to only familiarize yourself with other managers and your direct subordinates. However, you can manage more effectively if you have a working professional relationship with a range of team members and other employees. Showing that you're invested in all of your company's employees will also raise your credibility in your employees' eyes. For example, offer to take a college intern or a new entry-level hire out to lunch. Or, strike up a lunchtime conversation with a senior manager from a different department. If you have a large home, try inviting 6-10 co-workers or peers over for dinner occasionally. Vary the team members you invite, so that everyone is invited with the same frequency.
Solve workplace disputes quickly and fairly. In any workplace setting, it's inevitable that some disagreements and minor disputes will come up. As the manager, it's your responsibility to resolve these disputes, using communication whenever possible. If 2 employees are having a disagreement, for example, you can meet with each one individually and find out what's upsetting them. Then, meet with the employees together and insist that they hash out a way to resolve the problem. If an employee persists in causing trouble around the office, especially if they're making the environment uncomfortable for other workers, talk to HR or higher management about suspending or disciplining the employee.
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