BUSINESS finding the right person for the role or vice versa. When people are in roles that play to their natural strengths and abilities, they tend to be more successful and productive in their jobs. As a manager, the more you can work with your teams to understand what their strengths are and how they can use them more, the better off your employees and your business will be. I’ve received positive recognition from my supervisor in the last seven days. Positive recognition is a powerful motivator in the work place. Pay for work is expected from employees. Positive recognition isn’t something employees take for granted. As such, on the spot formal or informal feedback can have a big impact on your team’s morale.
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My supervisor cares about me as a person. Gallup’s research has found that employees don’t leave companies; they leave managers and supervisors. Great supervisors genuinely care about the people they work with and treat them as individuals. Get to know your employees. Learn about their families and interests. The more you connect with your team members on a personal level, the more motivated they will feel. People connect with people and the more you can build positive relationships at work, the better equipped you’ll be to get things done efficiently.
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Facilitating team engagement
Employees who have an intrinsic motivation to work are more likely to be productive and motived. To help provide this, start by clarifying expectations. Sit down with your team and
Why does the team exist? What do we want to be known for? What do we need to change in order to fill our purpose and reflect our team’s brand?
Openly discussing these questions does a few things. It allows for input and feedback from the team, which promotes diversity of opinion and thought, and is more likely to create buy-in from the team members. It also sets expectations for the team on what they accomplish and how they accomplish it. In addition, it allows them some control over the ability to impact decisions, which is also motivating.
Play to your team’s strengths
Playing to individual and team strengths is going to have a huge impact on both job satisfaction and team effectiveness. Strengths-based leadership is designed around the philosophy that if you focus on weaknesses, they will just be less-weak. But if you play to your team’s strengths, you’ll be able to better delegate and collaborate on tasks and projects. Have open discussions with your teams about their professional and individual strengths. If you haven’t already, consider using a tool such as Strengthsfinder (strengths.gallup.com) to understand your team’s makeup. Then help the team arrange work in a way that allows them to do what they do best every day. About the author Erin Saunders is Sr. HR Business Partner with JLL. P: 303-931-0923 E: erin.saunders@am.jll.com
UAC MAGAZINE | MAY/JUNE 2017
There is someone at work who encourages my development. Traditionally, development has been viewed as an employee being promoted. True employee development is about more than that. Development comes primarily from new and different experiences (whether in a new role, on a special project, or with expanded job duties), secondarily from manager feedback and coaching, and finally from training. Talk openly with your teams about how they want grow and develop in their roles.
facilitate a discussion with them on the team’s purpose. You could start by asking questions such as:
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