As managers, we need to recognize early and remind ourselves often that our greatest asset is the teams we manage. You can call them employees, team member, happiness workers, or whatever your organization titles them, but the fact remains that they are the most important aspect of our jobs.
Without a great team surrounding us, we are useless. The very definition of a managerial title implies management, but not of things or objects, of people. The role of a manager should be (notice I didn’t say ‘is’) to get the most out of the assets we are given, maximize! I feel as though this comes easy to me because I discovered (mostly through StrengthsFinder 2.0
What makes them tick – It’s easy to write, “care about people and they’ll care about their work,” however we all know that doesn’t just magically happen. However, investing time to get to know those around us goes a long way and helps us see what motivates them. If we know someone’s background, such as sports for example, we may be able to figure out that they are competitive and don’t want to ‘lose’ to their co-workers if their duties involve some sort of competition for widgets made or sales closed. Once we know what motivates someone, we can work backwards to find out how to get them to be their best, but it takes that investment of time to find out why they work.
Investing in them – This doesn’t mean personally matching their bonuses from the company, nor does it mean inviting each of them over to the house to meet the family on their first day of work. Investing in our people is something that is done over time and is a constant work in progress. One of my favorite exercises to do with my teams was to sit down one-on-one with them and go over their goals. I would hand out 1 page with an inspirational saying about goals on it, and 5 spaces for goals (30 days, 90 days, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years). I would do this every 6 months with them to see where they were, how they were coming along, new developments, to keep them accountable if their goals aligned with work, and to overall give them an opportunity to talk to me. Often times these goal-setting sessions took a path away from goals altogether and went well over the allotted time, but they were always worth it. Where can we invest our time in our team? The best way to show your team what they mean to us is to create time for them, no matter what. One important aspect to note here is to be sure you remind the team that these goals are not held against them and that their honesty is what matters, don’t put something down just because they want us to feel good.
Reciprocation – Just as we would ask them to be honest with us about their goals, share some of ours with them first. I always start by telling whoever I’m meeting with one of my BHAG’s, right now it’s running a marathon. If you are asking them to be goal-oriented, be sure you are goal-oriented yourself in order to practice what you preach. People are smarter than we think and they’ll see right through us if we’re not open.
Autonomy – DO NOT MICROMANAGE! I cannot stress this enough, it breaks down the morale of any team or person faster than termites on an log cabin. People will shock you with their capabilities if they are given opportunity, and this creates a sense of importance that their work matters. If you know your team and you know what their goals are, that THEY told YOU, than you can keep them accountable. Simply by reminding someone that THEY said they wanted to make more money (always a goal for anyone who’s written them down) and that slacking off on this project will not earn them a bonus/promotion/accolades does wonders to get people back on track because you’re reminding them that THEIR actions are not aligning with THEIR goals versus telling them what they’re doing wrong. It becomes more of a lateral conversation versus a vertical one.
I am a big believer in transparency and the more we share with our teams the more they will trust us. Our greatest management asset is our people and nobody likes to be left in the dark on any subject. Be open, be honest, and invest in our greatest asset.
