Leadership – 12 Ways To Tell Your People They’re Important
There’s an old saying¡± ¡°Your actions shout so loud I can’t hear what you’re saying.¡±
Many managers feel constrained by the rules and regulations of their organizations. They feel that their hands are tied when it comes to rewarding their people ¨C that their actions are controlled by others, and there is little of any real value they can do to motivate their people. Leaders understand that recognition and reward applied on a one on one level is essential to success.
They understand the greatest sense of accomplishment and importance often comes from non ¨C monetary actions and rewards, and from positive recognition from the person who is the boss.
What are the ways to make your people know they are important?
Way #1 ¨C You have to believe the work performed by your people is important. This may sound pretty basic, but if you do not really believe that, there is simply no way you can convince your people that what they do is important.. How often have your heard ¨C or been guilty of saying ¨C or thinking ¨C ¡°Oh, she¡¯s just the receptionist¡± or, ¡°He’s just the janitor¡± or ¡°They’re just trainees¡± or ¡°They’re just a staff weenie¡±?
Way #2 ¨C Expect the best from everyone, and settle for nothing less. Nothing makes people feel more important than high expectations for their performance. Just make sure they share in setting the expectations.
Way #3 ¨C Create goals that are shared and that show the tie in of individual work with the success of the organization.
Way #4 ¨C Select the best ¨C in every opening you have. Use every tool you can to ensure that you have made a good decision on who you select.. Your people watch carefully to see who you pick ¨C involve them in the selection process. If your actions communicate that you are not careful about who you select, your people will see that as a direct reflection on themselves.
Way #5 ¨C Make sure you are your people¡¯s institutional champion! What’s that mean? When their pay is wrong, you act to get it right. When their reviews are scheduled, you act to ensure they are done accurately and on time. When their raises are due, you make sure they are handled properly and on time. Jealously guard your relationship as the go to person for your people ¨C the institutional support people can help, but you are the person you want your people to seek out.
Way #6¨C Be absolutely intolerant of unsafe, disruptive or other negative behaviors. Act on them quickly and decisively, and never let your people see you knowingly ignore a bad situation. It will not go away, regardless how much ¡°wish’in and hop’in and pray’in¡± you might do.
Way #7 ¨C Remember that trust and respect are not the same thing as being liked. It is nice to be liked, it is absolutely essential that your people trust and respect you. As a comedian said: ¡°If you want to be liked, get a dog.¡±
Way #8 – Cultivate a climate of civility for your people. In your relationships with your people, ensure your actions and theirs reflect a fundamental respect for each other, and for all the others they come in contact with.
Way #9 ¨CGet everyone of your people some form of self development activity on a regular basis. It may be a seminar, it may be tuition refund, it may be a book, it may be a CD set, it may be a Community College course ¨C it does not have to be expensive and time consuming, but the act of creating added value through the investment of personal effort supported by organizational resources is a powerful way to say you care.
Way #10 ¨C Respect your people’s time ¨C it’s their most valuable asset. Start meetings on time, end them on time, keep meeting commitments. Do what you have to do to ensure your people have access to as much of their work time as possible.
Way #11¨C Keep the rules and policies to an absolute minimum. If you have a workable set of cultural and organizational ¡°Way¡¯s Of Doing Things¡± you have the basis for treating your people with individual regard. If you have managers that are not comfortable doing that, either they change or get different managers
Way #12¨C Celebrate all the successes ¨C create the opportunity for group recognition to happen all over the place ¨C if Safety is an issue, create a Safety Award process that celebrates progress.Make the events frequent, and the rewards modest ¨C but do it all the time. Frequency of awards and the opportunity for celebration are as important, actually more important, than the annual lunch or dinner or whatever. Make it fun. Make it part of your enterprise.
Did you notice one thing about all 12 Ways? Not one of them deals with lots of money, or more capital, or new policies or procedures. All do require beliefs and behaviors ¨C and they are the most challenging, most high leverage efforts we can make to improve our organizations. It’s always tempting to do a feel good seminar, or buy something ¨C or take some action that shows just how committed we are. But the truth is that the way to greater success is through a focused, day to day effort to improve the level of commitment of the people in an organization, and that takes hard work and the acceptance of change. If you can see Ways that can help you organization or your work group or yourself in this article, take them and run with them ¨C they are the basis for successful managers becoming successful leaders.