Entries Tagged 'relationships' ↓

Managing Problem Employees

Not every employee you manage is going to be successful in their role. Usually, when employees underperform it may signal the need for further training or even transfer to another area perhaps more suited to their skills. Sometimes, termination may be the only option if the other avenues were unsuccessful.

Be Careful With Employee Personal Problems

Sometimes employees have personal problems outside of work that can affect their performance (and even attendance) at work. As a manager you need to be careful that you are only addressing the work problem and not the personal problem. You don’t have capacity, authority or the resources to solve personal problems as a manager.

If an employee is not performing well because of a personal problem, you will need to sit down and have a talk about it but define your objective first, which is correcting a work problem. You can direct them to human resources or employee assistance programs if there is a need but it is up to them as to how to solve the problem themselves (otherwise they will blame and possibly even sue you and your company). As a manager you can demand that they solve the problem or otherwise they may be dismissed. However, do this in a caring way but such that it is clear and there is no misunderstanding.

Confronting Challenging Behavior Personalities

When you are in management, you will come across a whole swag of different employee personalities. Some attack, some constantly seek the limelight, some complain, others don’t do anything unless it is expressly stated in their job description and so on.

The best way to confront these personalities is to take the employee aside and explain to the employee what behaviors need to change and why. Once you’ve said your bit, you need to allow them to speak and listen to what they have to say. There are often reasons as to why people behave the way they do. Be sure to have examples of the behavior so they understand what you mean. Get them to agree to change and talk about how you will monitor their behavior, remembering to give positive feedback later where improvement is shown. Before you know it, you will have both improved the performance of a problem employee and also demonstrated that you do care in them doing a good job by showing an interest in their development on an individual and team level.

Most managers stuff up because they do not give their direct reports praise. One of the reasons they don’t show appreciation may be because they were never shown appreciation themselves.

People Remember Appreciation.

When employees are asked about the best and worst examples of management they have seen, it is nearly always linked to some sort of appreciation and whether it was received or denied. Everyone wants to know that the work they are doing is important. Furthermore, appreciation is free and has the potential to improve employee performance more than a measly salary increase.

Appreciation: The Skill

Remember to be specific with regards to the tasks that you appreciate and want to have repeated in the future. Remember to describe the impact of how that tasks fits in and has helped improve the bigger picture. Don’t overdo it. Too much feedback lessens its impact and can also come across as being insincere.

What People Want

What do Gen-Y employees need from their Baby Boomer managers that Gen-Xers don’t? How does gender affect employee-manager relationships?

Building trust and confidence among your direct reports is essential if you want to be an effective manager.

The Success Habit

When assigning tasks to your team, and more specifically to new members, give tasks that can be mastered and build from there. Don’t assign an extremely challenging task such that the poor employee is stressed, struggling and destined to fail. Start with the small success to faciliate the larger ones later on.

Furthermore, if an employee should fail at a given task, never criticize them publicly. Talk to them privately in your office and never make it seem like the end of the world. Explain why an action was wrong and how it should be done next time. Remember, people come to work wanting to do a good job.

Do You Expect Perfectionism?

I must admit I do, for myself, as a project engineer. But I don’t make the mistake of thinking that others are the same as me. People have different abilities.

As a manager, don’t pretend to be perfect – others will resent you for it. Involve your employees when formulating a plan to improve your business or divisional performance. This brings ownership and a better chance of success as your team want to “make their idea work”.

Building Trust

Some other ways to build trust:

• Give clear directions when you are assigning tasks. Explain why the task is required and how long they have to complete it.
• Share the vision or your goals. Don’t guard everything close to your chest because you think people only need to know the minimum to do the job. Communication is key. If you explain how each task fits in to the bigger picture, your team will appreciate its importance and take more care in their work as they understand how it affects other people’s work.
• Share your “success and failure” experiences. This makes you human and you will develop a better relationship with your team, making you a more effective manager.

Making People Management Easy

Use Employee Handbook Templates to help you manage your staff in half the time.
Note: these are designed for Australian businesses.

Trust or Bust: How to Win by Building Trust in the Workplace