(Published Online: 18th
September 2007)
1. Promote
Creativity: Encourage an atmosphere for creativity
to flourish. This can be done by actively engaging the minds
of employees by involving them in taking crucial decisions
about issues concerning the way they do their jobs. Additionally,
requesting their contributions towards solving problems affecting
their jobs - and recognising/rewarding them accordingly -
would stimulate creativity. Invite them to make and/or send
in ideas/suggestions. Be receptive to them as they do so.
Apply tact in rejecting "bad ideas" to avoid withdrawal.
2. Discourage
"Blame": You will need to explore effective
ways of telling them what YOU want. It will also help greatly
if you create an atmosphere where BL:AME is NEVER welcome
and where instead the focus is on problem analysis/solving
for IMPROVED productivity. For instance you would encourage
everyone to concern themselves with WHAT went wrong and WHY
- and NOT with WHO DID IT.
In this way, when the WHO issue arises
during problem solving, people responsible for the workplace
activity/process under scrutiny will feel safe enough to admit
where they erred, thereby helping the team QUICKLY UNDERSTAND
and solve the problem.
3. Entrench
Informal On-The-Job Coaching: What is your mental attitude
about each employee's ability? Do you believe you can help
them become better or have you given up on them as "unchangeable"
or 'hopeless"? I suggest you adopt the former attitude
because NO one human being can come to you as a perfect employee.
It will often be up to you to "guide" those who
work with you to do so in THE manner you believe will help
the organisation get the results it NEEDS.
You need to enhance the skills of your
employees by providing (and encouraging) spontaneous job-based
coaching to complement whatever formal training they are exposed
to. For instance you would latch on to ANY opportunity to
carryout informal coaching of your reports etc, towards helping
them understand how management utilises the information they
document, and why it is so important for documentation to
be accurate and complete.
4. Employ
Multi-dimensional Peer Pressure To Enhance Best Practices:
You could tactfully/subtly use peer pressure to inspire positive
attitudinal changes amongst the workforce. It is normal in
most workplace to have "Star" workers and average
workers. The challenge for you will be to find a way to make
the "Star" worker share(or "infect" others
with) his/her expertise, knowledge and positive work ethics.
With proper encouragement, you will find that such individuals
readily develop the instinct to help others perform better
on the job.
The other average workers are likely
to see the "recognition/respect" the "Star"
worker enjoys, and consequently appreciate his/her efforts
to help them. Plus they would be interested in acquiring improved
competence through him/her. Properly done, this strategy can
greatly reduce the amount of direct effort you and other "leaders"
need to put in to get improved on-the-job performances.
5. Insist
That Everyone See The Big Picture: You will need to
insist your team members ALWAYS remember to view their jobs
from a broader perspective and not narrow into their micro
activities. Task each individual in a specific unit of the
department for instance to study what goes on in the other
units in the department even though s/he does not have to
work there(yet). They should make it their business to know/understand
what the next man's job involves.
This is important because many times
they have to interface with the person on the other side of
the fence in doing their own jobs.If they understand what
his/her job entails they will more readily appreciate how
their actions (or inactions) can affect the person. Getting
them to do this will break down the mental barriers that many
people build because they work in physically separate divisions
or sections of the same organisation. . The result will be
that communication happens more readily/freely thereby making
it possible for workplace activities to proceed more successfully
to the company's benefit.
6. Endorse
'Leading" And Make "Bossing" Unfashionable:
Make it obvious that "No bosses" are wanted
in your workplace, and that only leaders are welcome. The
difference between these two types of people is that the former
seek to DOMINATE others in a bid to get them to deliver results,
while the latter work to INSPIRE others to perform.
7. Advocate
Intelligent Mistake Making: You will need to discard
the "Shoot the messenger" mentality - if it exists
in any form. You MUST make it SAFE for people to make mistakes.
If you allow a blame culture to take root in your workplace,
people will begin to HIDE their mistakes, and will rarely
ever own up - causing major problems for the company. Mistakes
that do not get stopped via corrective feedback to those responsible
will get repeated and lead to customer complaints, losses/wastes
etc.
If you want people to develop on the
job, you must be willing to accept that they WILL make mistakes
on the job - because they are human! Your role will be to
help them learn from those mistakes and work hard to AVOID
repeating them. Anytime a person fails or makes a mistake,
s/he must be made to identity and understand the cause. S/he
must learn to use failure as a learning platform.
8. Create
Micro-Businesses: You could get individual departments
to see themselves as mini businesses within the larger company.
And the department heads can choose to regard the different
units within their departments as MICRO businesses within
each departmental MINI business. Each micro business will
have a MISSION which would basically be to achieve a RESULT
that must be delivered or complete a TASK that must be performed
successfully in order for the other micro business(es) and
the MINI business to achieve their own goals - which are all
linked to the organisation's overall purpose.
At each level (Macro, Mini and Micro),
the relevant team members would decide on their individual
mission statements - drawing from what they have to do within
the bigger departmental unit. This approach allows all members
of the organisation to get a more tangible indication of what
is required of them. They are therefore better able to understand
what they need to do and why.
9. When Introducing
Change(s), Ensure Those Affected UNDERSTAND Why: How
do you go about introducing/implementing change that you deem
necessary? When people do not understand why the way they
work - for instance - is being changed, they can resist it
sometimes in subtle ways that can have very harmful consequences
for the organisation.
You need to take pains to explain to
the team members - especially those affected (positively or
negatively) by it - WHY the change is being made, so they
'feel" involved and understand the THINKING behind the
decision. Over time, their appreciation of management's expectations
from them (and its "thinking") in relation to their
jobs will improve.
10. Make Open
& Honest Communication A Well Advertised Policy: In
many organisations - especially those with large workforces
- sometimes the majority of employees tend to hold the (mistaken?)
belief that the company's profits are exorbitant, and that
management is unjust and unfair. This is what causes the typical
situation where employees unions maintain a confrontational
posture towards the company's leadership - viewing decisions/policies
with suspicion etc.
It would help if you - and others in
senior/leadership positions - make a conscious effort to formally
(and informally) communicate management's positive sides.
More importantly, your actions should inspire trust and confidence
amongst the workforce. Employees should for instance not (or
no longer?) have to contend with what someone once described
as "closed doors and tense, guarded statements".
As one poster I came across on a factory
wall once put it : "Limited Information or No Information
= NEGATIVE information". When the employees speak
with one member of the senior management team about "what's
going on", the information s/he gives MUST be reasonably
consistent with what another "senior" person would
supply at any other time on the same subject.
FINAL WORDS
: Central to all that I have
said above is the need to create an atmosphere of mutual trust,
respect and appreciation between and among ALL members of
the organisation's team.
Make your people feel recognised - and reward them when possible
- for the effort they make every day to do their jobs well.
Doing this, in addition to applying other ideas like those
outlined above is very likely to make your employees deliver
more VALUE on their jobs everyday they come in - without need
for financial incentives of any sort. 
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