Know your employees. This is the first step. Develop powerful organizational messages that resonate with individual employees and with groups of employees. This allows employees to know where they fit in the organization and what roles they can fulfill to have a meaningful and gratifying work experience.

 

Earn the right to lead. This right to lead is based more on informal factors versus the actual title of a position. It is important for managers to have the respect of their employees and how to get this respect can lead to some challenging conversations.

 

Set clear expectations. Managers need to let employees know how they are doing and what needs to happen to be successful. From my executive search and coaching experience, I heard one of the biggest complaints employees have is trying to determine what the manager wants and how to meet the manager’s perhaps vague expectations.

 

Relate experiences and stories that engage, inspire, and teach. These stories can revolve around both successes and failures that the manager can share either personally or from associates. The stories can relate to what was done, how it worked, how it failed, and what could have been done differently.

 

Customize your leadership to meet individual employee needs. Managers can begin by talking about an individual employee’s aspirations, motivations, and communication style.

Given the employee’s performance, attitude, and style, the manager then needs to ask: How can I lead, communicate, and inspire this person to a level of productive performance? Customizing leadership to each employee can be difficult for managers, but it is critical to earning the right to lead.

 

Determine what type of recognition and acknowledgement is appropriate for each employee. Some like public recognition while others despise it. Some like awards and trophies, while others might view them as tacky or offensive. Some like cash, while others prefer time off or other forms of recognition.

 

Think about the future and how best to develop employees to meet their goals as well as the goals of the organization. A manager should develop, along with the employee, a professional growth plan and coordinate that plan with the needs of the organization. The employee can then decide how and what is needed to fulfill his or her professional aspirations and how that dovetails with organizational needs.

 

Regularly get advice on how to improve employee evaluations. A useful tool is a periodic assessment, like a 360-degree assessment from employees, elected officials, and management colleagues. It is important that managers get honest and useful advice on how to improve; it’s also why such tools as the assessment need to be used with confidentiality and be treated with respect.

If it is determined that employees are reluctant to provide an assessment, this is a powerful message to the manager, and he or she needs to reevaluate the reason for the reluctance.

Part of this process might include examining some of the behavioral limitations that impact the manager’s effectiveness. This can be assessed by talking to five or six confidants who are willing to observe and comment on the manager’s behavioral limitations.

Managers might say they are too busy to get to know their employees or motivate, acknowledge, and help them prepare for the future. This is a huge mistake, and the manager can end up with a bunker mentality where the most important thing is just to get an evaluation completed as soon as possible.

The best managers are those who build teams and loyalty, and are truly committed to engaging and mobilizing employees. Effective managers are constantly thinking about employees’ success, their career options, and how they can contribute to the success of the organization.