Here is a simple leadership program for today’s managers:
Know where you are going. A manager must persuade his employees to commit to a goal which will give direction and focus to their energies. There are three essential ways to accomplish this. 1.) The must be a clear defined path for them to take. 2.) There should be a mission why they are taking this past and 3.) A set of values. Values should not be compromised. I remember working for a boss who made many changes in the organization. When he found out many of us managers didn’t not understand what he was doing he tried to explain. He used the analogy that if we were going on a trip to California we would get out our road map and set our course. We would clearly know our vision and how we were going to get there. I said to him “I didn’t even know we were going to California” He had his plan in mind but he didn’t share with us what it was.
Give your people what it takes. You have to put the right employee in the right job. It is your job as a manager to find out what each employee’s strengths and weaknesses are. The foundation of any organization is knowing your greatest strengths and the skills your people have. If you put the wrong person in a job they cannot do, that person’s talent is not capitalized and the job hampers. You waste valuable time and possibly money by outing the wrong person in a job they cannot do.
Develop your employees. We have all heard the empowering our employee is key. While that is very important, enabling them is more appropriate in today’s management style. As a manager you must make your employees take responsibility for their own actions. This can only happen after you have given them the opportunity to develop the skills they need. An employee wants to feel needed by any organization they work for. The more skills they learn and the more they sharpen their own skills, makes them feel good about the work they do.
Help them stay on track. To help your employees improve you must allow time for feedback. This will keep them on course and not allow them to de-rail. Your people will not be able to improve if you do not allow feedback. You can develop an award system that informs your people how they are doing. If you do not allow feedback your people may be going in a direction they think you want them to go, and valuable time could be lost if you don’t monitor what they are doing.
Build trust. Trust is what holds an organization together. Trust will improve performance and sustain an organization during troubled times. When employees trust you they will follow your guidance and direction.
If you follow these simple common sense tips you will see that your organization will get many project accomplished.
