24 Oct Great Leaders Make All The Difference – Part 2
Part 1…continued
- Provide fair compensation and pay for the performance you seek.
First, you must pay a wage that employees believe is fair compensation. Second, you must pay for performance whenever possible. This does not mean 100 percent contingent compensation. It means that you set expectations for base pay while also providing bonuses and clearly defining success. This will compel employees to strive to achieve the goals you have outlined.
- Foster innovation.
Managers must realize that the vast majority of innovations come from front-line employees. They come from the people who are manufacturing your products or designing your services, who are interfacing with customers, and who are solving problems on a daily basis. As such, innovation must be encouraged.
- Establish fair company policies that support the company’s goals.
Developing fair company policies that adequately support the company’s goals will motivate your employees even more. For example, you cannot treat attending a seminar as a personal day if you want to encourage continuous learning. Rather, ensure your policies and practices encourage employee feedback, collaboration, decision-making, and so on.
- Get ongoing input from employees.
You want to invite your employees to help set goals so that they really buy into them. Seek employee input on key decisions and plans on an ongoing basis.
Understand that as the leader, you will make the ultimate decisions and plans. Even if you don’t follow your employees’ advice or take their suggestions verbatim, however, the very act of soliciting their feedback will give you more information and ideas and will make them feel involved.
- Manage, but don’t micromanage.
Employees do not like to be micromanaged. It’s disempowering. It’s therefore important to distinguish the difference between checking in and checking up on your employees.
Likewise, when managing, don’t dictate every detail of how to complete a project. Remember, employees can’t grow and gain new skills if you’re telling them exactly what to do for every project they work on. They need a sense of autonomy to feel that they’re succeeding.
- Encourage teamwork.
Most projects you complete will require input from several employees within your organization. Encourage these employees to work as a team rather than a collection of individuals to complete these projects. The easiest way to do this is to set up an initial meeting for the team, refer to them as a team, and give them enough autonomy so they act like a team.
- Modify your management approach for different types of employees.
Great leaders let the employees they’re managing dictate the management approaches they use. Some employees may need or desire more hand-holding and coaching, whereas others will want or require less. It’s important to think about each key employee and determine the best way to lead him or her.
- Give employees opportunities for personal growth.
Because people who get the chance to grow their skills and expertise take more pride in their jobs, you want to encourage employees in your organization to gain new skills. You can do this in many ways, such as providing on-the-job training and other opportunities to teach your employees new skills.
- Fire people when needed.
The final technique for motivating your team is to fire people when needed. Under-performers can kill an organization; they can become cancers. When other employees see these individuals getting away with under-performance, then they start to under-perform. Therefore, firing—as long as you explain to your team why people were fired—can actually motivate your employees.