A critical leadership skill that is the most simple, yet
effective method of improving your performance as a manager is to seek out and
listen to employee feedback. Ask employees what they think. Ask them
what is working well and what isn't. Ask
them how we could do things differently and still achieve the department goals
and objectives. And definitely ask them
how you are performing as a leader and what you can do to improve.
Of course, not everything employees bring up are true
problems. It is your job to understand
which feedback items are genuine issues that make work difficult or unpleasant
and which issues are non-factors.
One important method of addressing the day-to-day work problems
your employees identify for you is to incorporate employee ideas into the
eventual solution. This is called
empowerment. If employees feel like
their input is valued and their ideas are implemented, then they feel like they
are part of the solution. On the flip
side, if management unilaterally creates new policies or procedures they think
will solve the problem then mandate that employees follow them then employees
feel less valued, less motivated and eventually morale will be in the tank.
So brainstorm solutions to issues as a team. It is up to
management to set the vision and department objectives but management should then
relinquish enough control to empower employees to come up with their own
solutions that support that vision and achieves those objectives. Who knows, maybe the employees will come up
with a creative solution that is more effective than the ideas you might have
had.
Whatever you do, don't take employee feedback personally. For example, if an employee says you are not
organized and it is making their job harder, the first natural response is to
get defensive and argue that you are organized and maybe the employee just
needs to be more efficient. This reaction is the fast lane to disaster because
your employees will know you totally missed the point, will no longer trust
you, will no longer provide you with the valuable feedback you need to be a
successful leader.
Instead, ask probing questions to better understand what
exactly they mean and determine root causes of their frustration. It could very well be the case that what the
employee is saying is true. This is a golden opportunity for you to plug a gap
in your job effectiveness and take a step in the right direction to becoming a
better manager.
As employees see changes in the right direction and learn to
trust that you are seeking feedback in a "safe" manner that doesn't
lead to hard feelings or worse, retaliation against the employee who provided
the feedback, they will begin to feel like they are being heard and respected.
Employees who see progress being made to address their concerns feel empowered
to make more suggestions which leads to a more productive work environment and
growth in your leadership skills.
No comments:
Post a Comment