When it comes to your management style, do you see yourself as a tough-but-fair manager, one who holds a tight rein on your team members?
If so, you may be keeping your employees from being more creative problem solvers.
Here’s why: employees in general want to do a great job for their employers. They will – and do – constantly go the extra mile, fix things they see need fixing and come up with solutions to problems before a problem even exists.
In short, they work hard for you and ask in return that they be paid a fair wage, receive recognition for a job well done, have opportunity for advancement, and are given the space – both psychologically and physically – to do their jobs well.
In other words, most of your employees want to be engaged and providing real value to you.
But if your style is to keep a tight hold on your employees, asking them to only do as you say, to never take risks, to always bow down to efficiency, and so on, the chances of your employees busting their buns for you, of looking forward to coming to work each day, of looking for creative solutions to your problems are pretty much nil.
Instead, hire for talent and get out of your team members’ way!
Stop micro-managing your workers and watch magic happen. Yes, you should – and must – provide them with rules, guidelines and parameters. But make sure these limits are broad and self-monitored.
Engaged employees truly dislike being micro-managed. It can keep them from performing at their best because they are worried they will make a mistake and be punished in some small or large way.
Creativity entails coming up with new solutions to old or even new problems. If you trust your employees to be problem-solvers (and you must have, otherwise why did you hire them?), then you’re not getting all you can out of them if you don’t give them the space to work as they see fit
Instead, try this:
- Make sure you define the goals, tasks and accomplishments you want your team members to meet. Then give them the space to meet those goals.
- Keep them accountable for meeting your goals within the stated time frame and at the level you require, but let them make – and then fix – mistakes along the way. Don’t publicly criticize them and don’t berate them when they do make mistakes.
- Provide non-judgmental and accurate feedback to help them learn from those mistakes and improve their performance.
Try giving your workers more free rein instead of reining them in and just watch the great things that happen!
If you’re looking for reliable and engaged workers for your Ontario company’s temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire opportunities, contact the recruiters at Arrow Staffing. We look forward to hearing how we can help your business grow!