Better Business Management. 3 Essentials Every Manager Should Know

Gone are the days when the hierarchical structure of a business meant that managers were there to strictly delegate, without having the foggiest about the day to day issues experienced by the majority of the workforce.

Nowadays, business managers are far more in tune with team members, and a lot more willing to roll up their sleeves to get things done.

By engaging with and listening to members of their team, managers are able to react quickly and take appropriate action to drive out issues effecting productivity, growth and development.

Staying in tune with the workforce and utilising a range of software tools, means that managers can now have a greater understanding of the business’ position at any given time than ever before.

Empower, Develop and Reward                        

A happy workforce is a productive workforce. Having the right organisational structure will enable the management processes to work more effectively.

Equally, having team members in place that have the right skills for the task at hand is also essential.

Unhappy employees that feel undervalued and overworked, ultimately leads to stagnated growth and inefficiency.

Each team member will have their own expertise and area of specialism.

  • Are these being fully utilised?
  • How can their expertise be developed further?
  • What training do they require?
  • How can their professional development be continued?

Conducting tick box staff appraisals are just and that, and do nothing to enhance team members and expand on the skill sets already in place. Staff need to feel empowered to take ownership for their specific role / function in the business, their ongoing development, and able to make a real difference. Similarly offering staff incentives and rewards can lead to greater staff retention and loyalty.

Fairness, Consistency and Communication 

 

A survey published by the Civil Service in 2014, revealed that the following attributes displayed by managers led to a more productive workplace:

  • 95% of respondents felt motivated by their manager to be more productive in their job.
  • 100% of respondents felt their manager was considerate of their life outside of work.
  •  100% of respondents thought that their manager was open to new ideas.
  • 95% of respondents thought their manager helped them to understand how they contributed to their department.
  • 100% of respondents felt confident in the decisions made by their manager
  • 95% said their manager recognised when they did their job well.
  • 95% said they received regular feedback from their manager.
  • 85% said that feedback helped them to improve their performance.
  • 95% said they felt their performance was evaluated fairly.

 

From the above responses, the majority of positive attributes mentioned, are linked to emotive actions taken by their manager to produce results.

Motivation, openness, consideration, understanding, recognition and fairness all relate to the psychological reasons why people feel happier and more at ease at work and thus, able to be more productive.

Communicating effectively with staff to appraise good, and manage under performance is vital. Regular team meetings, setting clear business goals, objectives and set processes that enable fair treatment of team members, all contribute to a better work environment, efficiency and results.