People management
Motivating and managing my team
For whom? All leaders who directly or indirectly manage people and who wish to adopt the best practices for contemporary, efficient and humane management
Georges FERREUX
IT Director at Daltys
UNDERSTANDING THE PROFILES OF MY CO-WORKERS
Have you ever felt a gap between you and another person?
Well, it happens a lot and there’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, we all have our own personalities and some people just feel, think and behave differently than we do. W.M. Marston has modelled 4 behavioural typologies that are easy to recognise. When we understand their feelings and thoughts, it becomes easy to interact with all the profiles. We adapt the way we communicate and behave to stay intuitively within the comfort zone of our interlocutors.
DEVELOPING AN INSPIRING AND INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP
Sometimes we feel that we are not being followed despite our efforts, don’t we? These moments are embarrassing and cause us to drift away from our goals. Misunderstandings are often the result of incomplete communication and incomprehension. Sometimes our decisions and clumsy communication style lead to a feeling of exclusion among our employees. They then give themselves every reason to distance themselves. When our interlocutors perceive the purpose of our approach and see the benefits, when they understand how things should be done and what precisely is expected, the efforts required become concrete and their involvement increases. When they feel heard and included, their commitment grows.
COACHING MY EMPLOYEES
You certainly have had the feeling you were repeating the same instructions over and over again. However, the passivity of our employees or the stagnation of their performance is not inevitable. We benefit from developing their ability to become aware of the consequences of their actions, their capacity to question themselves in order to develop and reap the rewards of they deserve. By adopting the attitude of the coach, we put all the chances on our side to unlock their potential and to increase their autonomy.
PRACTICING A DIRECTIVE LEADERSHIP STYLE
Some situations require a strict framework and discipline. In these moments it is not always easy to impose ourselves and we have the feeling of not really being heard. However, being directive does not mean disrespecting people. It’s more a direction enforced by a situation to protect our employees and help them to function in the best possible way.
DELEGATING AND LEADING MY TEAM TO AUTONOMY
Do you sometimes have the feeling that the weight of the whole team rests on your shoulders? Then you may benefit from an approach to delegate more. Trusting in the abilities of others is one of the difficulties we encounter at such times. Or is it the fear of asking for help? There are many disadvantages of not delegating, however: your own exhaustion and the demobilisation of your staff will be there sooner or later. What if you learned to delegate?
APPLYING AGILE PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
We all have a comfort zone and habits that sometimes lead us to a dead end, don’t we? Avoiding them consists in questioning ourselves, going outside our comfort zone and acquiring the flexibility required by all kinds of situations encountered within our teams. We benefit from adapting to the contexts of our employees by taking into account their competence and motivation. By doing so, we develop autonomy within our teams and increase their performances.
SETTING MEANINGFUL GOALS
One of the frequent reasons for the lack of performance within our teams are wrong perceptions of what is expected. People then develop their own ideas of what needs to be done. In these moments of confusion, energies are wasted and doubt about the quality of our team sets in. Are they still competent and motivated enough? As leaders we first gain from checking how we communicate our expectations of our team. What is the meaning of the work required for my colleagues? Have they been given clear enough instructions to know how to meet them? Have I checked what they have understood? Have I raised any doubts?
GIVING RELEVANT FEEDBACK
Failure to communicate our appreciation of employees’ performance equals to making their performance anonymous. It also deprives employees of legitimate advice on how to improve their efforts. The best performers, on the other hand, will see this as a lack of interest or even weakness and laxity on the part of their superior. We therefore benefit from establishing a culture of authentic feedback and regularly assessing the work done to develop skills and reinforce best practices for increased results within our teams.
