Trust your team
Without trust, the team cannot function, fear increases, motivation decreases and the environment becomes toxic. To build trust, you need to talk to your team about it. Find out what their fears are (which may even be you!) and assure them you will make steps to address them. They may even be too fearful to tell you but you may still pick this up somehow, so it will need addressing. If they won’t talk to you or colleagues, think about bringing in an external coach to work through their thoughts with them.
Handling of mistakes
Assess how you address any mistakes they make. If you blame or embarrass them, they will not admit to any in future and they will not learn from them. You are just going to push them away and lose good employees. Support them if they make a mistake. Look at why it has happened and use it as a learning opportunity. Also, admit when you are wrong or have made a mistake. You will gain far more respect from your team if you do so and it will show a more human side of you.
Celebrate successes
Make them feel proud of their achievements and motivated to continue working well. Make them feel valued as human beings, not just commodities. Praise them, verbally, by email, give them a handwritten note, reward them. However you do it, celebrate them!
MBWA – Management By Walking About
Be seen. Mingle with the members of your team but absolutely not in an overbearing way that makes them feel like you are checking up on them. Make it a sociable, kind and supportive environment for them to work in.
Communicate
TALK with them, ask how they are doing, be interested in their lives, ask what they are thinking, if they have any recommendations about what they would like to see in the workplace, etc. Then LISTEN to them. If action is required and is appropriate, then ACT. If you delegate work to them, explain why the work is important, how it fits into the greater scheme of things and why they are the best person for the job. Keep them informed about the organisation’s plans, priorities, challenges, future opportunities and they will feel more part of the company.
By doing all of these, you should see your team members’ trust increase, their morale improve, as will retention, the general working environment, and productivity.
Inspire Training offers coaching for managers, as well as training in leadership, management and team building.
Its flagship training and coaching programme Confident New Manager Programme, combines training and coaching in a unique and specialised format to help managers gain a grounding in the essential skills needed.
Image by John Hain from Pixabay
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