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Career Management – Are You an Effective Leader?

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How do you think you’d fare if your employees were asked to rate you as their boss? Becoming a strong, effective manager doesn’t happen overnight, and often it’s a role for which people are inadequately trained.

Of course you’re expected to lead and show direction, you’re responsible for the development of your employees, and it’s up to you to ensure that the team’s performance meets or exceeds budgeted objectives.

How you go about these tasks in large part determines how effective you will be. If your team doesn’t perform well, neither do you.

Your job isn’t to be everyone’s buddy (nor should you be); however, some common mistakes can mean the difference between whether you’re good or not-so-great. Fortunately, they can be corrected.

Communicate

Establish clear lines of communication with each of your direct reports. Within the first week that a person comes on board, you should meet with her to outline objectives, establish goals, make sure she’s being trained, and to make clear how you’d like her to keep you in the loop. For example: do you want her to submit a status report? How frequently? In what format? What information should she include?

Trust Your Employees

Let them do their work. If you’ve established solid two-way communications and have been clear about goals and objectives, then they should have what they need to perform. Trust them, and they will be more likely to trust you.

Never Reprimand an Employee in Front of Others

True story: picture a staff meeting at which all the members of the senior management team are in attendance. The CEO lashes out at the head of sales for a mistake and spends the next 15 minutes berating him, throwing in colorful language for good measure. Not only did the employee in question come close to quitting, but everyone in the room who had to witness the outburst was extremely uncomfortable. That meeting was still being talked about more than a year later. Morale booster? Not so much.

Give Credit

When you’re consumed with deadlines, aggressive revenue goals, pressure from your boss, and all the other demands of the job on a day to day basis, it can be easy to let this slip. Supervisors are pretty good about telling subordinates what they need to do better or pointing out mistakes (which is well and good – and necessary), but they sometimes forget to acknowledge a job well done. And unlike the reprimands, which should always be private, it’s nice to pat people on the back publicly.

Do people feel comfortable asking questions?

It’s frustrating for a person to work in an environment where he feels asking a question brands him as a substandard employee. It’s okay not to know everything.

Do people feel free to give an honest opinion?

Fostering an environment where you can count on team members to volunteer honest assessments is important. If you routinely overrule, discount or shoot down ideas, employees won’t be as open.

Don’t Micromanage

This tendency can come from a perfectly normal desire to ensure that everything is being taken care of. Still, it will only make the team less productive. If every move a person makes is questioned and every decision is overruled, you will have created what you’re most afraid of….people who will not think for themselves.

Don’t Constantly Switch Gears

You’ve got a complicated piece of hardware in development. The delivery date is extremely aggressive and the staff is working feverishly to meet deadlines along the way. Yet, you’ve changed everything from the paint color to the size of the screws holding the logo plate – each modification seemingly coming at the 11th hour. Don’t make it impossible for people to do their jobs.

Be Honest

If things need improving, be open about it. If a mistake was made, acknowledge it – and help the employee do what she must to correct it.

Likewise, if your operating division is in trouble and it’s obvious that your team is fully aware of the gravity of the situation and preoccupied about job security, it’s better to face the situation head on than pretending it doesn’t exist. While you may not want to disclose a great deal of information (and you be not be at liberty to do so), take control and tell them what you can.

Care About Your Employees

Get to know them; identify their key talents; develop their skills; motivate them; support them. They will benefit – and so will you.

Rebecca Metschke is the author of The Interview Edge, a comprehensive career guide for those who are serious about their careers. Gain a professional advantage using proven tips, tools and strategies that will help ensure you’re as marketable as you can be. http://www.TheInterviewEdge.com