- Keep people informed about what’s happening in their direct area (includes bosses plans and current activities) – in fact, why not keep people informed about what’s happening in the wider company, even if you think “they don’t need to know”
- Give them feedback on how they are doing (as a person / team / dept). Regular appraisals would be good too.
- Listen to people – needs a bit of time and effort to do this well! Management by Walking About and a day a year of Back To The Floor are ways to do this even better.
- Involve the team in your decisions where possible
- Explain your decisions – and maybe even tell them about the things you’re working on at the moment
- Delegate as much as possible
- Let people do the job they know how to do and use their own initiative (as opposed to micro-managing), … which includes trust and leaving them alone if they are at 80%
- Coaching others, teaching and encouraging – building that ‘machine of people’
- Thanking and praising others – thank everyone approximately once a week for something real that they have done
- Giving people ownership – everyone should have something that’s theirs, and every thing should belong to someone
Final thought – are you as good as you think? Which of these could you be better at? Could you measure these, for you and for your managers? And track changes over time.
PS – Are you considering getting into training? Would being a freelance trainer suit you? Get more information here: www.becometrainers.com
