Tag: How to movitate staff

Leading People Without Saying A Word

December 14, 2012 / HRwisdom

With some big name companies like BHP Billiton and Leighton Contractors being singled out in the media recently for their overly prescriptive practices relating to micro-management, we thought we’d share a more positive approach to leading people.

Today’s HRwisdom Blog post comes from Carlo Pandian – a keen observer all things related organisational behaviour, leadership and human resources.

Over to Carlo . . .

Leading without Saying a Word – Why Non-Verbal Cues are Important

A leader doesn’t always have to use words to communicate meaning. In fact, more of what he or she really means comes across in gestures, facial expressions and other non-verbal cues than any of the words that they could say. Research has suggested that between 60 and 70 percent of all communication between humans is derived from non-verbal cues. We pick up on every smile, every sigh, every eyebrow raise, every glance at the watch, whether we want to or not.

Sometimes your non-verbal communication can even betray what your words are saying. You can be trying to be polite in your speech, but your words will give away your distrust, disregard or distraction. As a leader, you must be careful not only with what you say but with how your body language comes across.

Don’t Forget to Smile

Are you one of those bosses who walks around all day with a frown on? Perhaps you are deep in concentration over a specific problem that you are trying to solve, or perhaps you just haven’t had your coffee yet. Either way, having an unsmiling expression on your face can actually have a detrimental impact on your business.

Why? Because you are giving out non-verbal signals to your employees telling them not to approach you! Your lack of a smile makes people assume that you are in a bad mood or that you would react badly if they were to bring you their problems, feedback or ideas.

This is a bad thing, because you want and desperately need your employees to find you approachable. Their ideas and suggestions can be incredibly valuable for you as they will help you to realise how the company can improve. Practice giving your employees a friendly nod and a smile whenever you see them and keeping your facial expression positive so that they will feel comfortable when approaching you.

Be Aware of Your Meeting Habits

It can be incredibly boring to sit in meetings for hours, but if you are not careful your body language will be telling everyone just how bored you actually are. This can be insulting to prospective clients, discouraging to employees and can make you look unprofessional.

Ask yourself if you have a habit of slumping in your seat during meetings and conferences, or staring out the window. Do you take out your phone and fiddle with it, or work on other documents? Do you tap your feet, jiggle your leg or play with your hair? Become more aware of all of these habits, because whether you want to or not you are sending everyone else in the meeting the message that you don’t want to be there.

Instead, turn of all distractions and face forward with your feet on the floor. Make eye contact with the person who is speaking and make sure that you are actively listening. Not only will you get a lot more out of the meeting, people will know that you care what they have to say.

Acknowledge People on a Personal Level

Employee recognition is somewhat about the words that you say, but it is also about the non-verbal cues that you give to your staff every day. People want to be acknowledged, encouraged and appreciated. You can do this by giving them positive feedback on the things that they do right, but also make sure that your non-verbal communication with them is positive.

One thing that you can do is to greet every member of staff, from the vice president to the cleaning staff, with a friendly smile, a nod and maybe a little wave (whatever suits your style) whenever you see them. When you walk through the office, make eye contact with people and give them a look that shows them that you are happy to see them and that they are doing well. You’ll be amazed by how much you can convey with these encouraging looks.

Leaders need not only pay attention to their words, but also instead to the fact that they can convey so much more without saying a thing.

About Carlo

Carlo Pandian is a management graduate at the University of London specialised in organisational behaviour, leadership and human resources. He writes tutorials on Intuit Payroll software and is interested in how employees collaborate and interact in corporations to pursue organisational goals and ensure growth.

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Delegating To Staff – The Four Fatal Flaws

December 11, 2012 / HRwisdom

In today’s HRwisdom Blog update we examine an issue that is crucial to optimal management performance yet is often handled in a very sub-optimal way: delegating to staff.

We are very fortunate to be able to bring your insights of special guest expert, Dave Clemens.

Dave Clemens has served as deputy financial editor of the International Herald Tribune, editor and bureau chief for Bloomberg News, and deputy bureau chief for the French News Agency.

Currently, Dave is the editor of Rapid Learning Institute’s The HR Café, an informative, entertaining blog for Human Resources Leaders.

Over to Dave . . .

Delegation: The Four Fatal Flaws That Cause New Managers to Struggle In Their New Role

Why did you get promoted to a leadership role?

When asked that question, most managers say something about deep experience in leadership or a proven track record developing people. The likelihood is that neither of these answers is true. In reality, most employees get promoted because they excel in a specific technical skill.

In promoting you to a leadership role, your organization essentially made a bet. Knowing that you can perform at a high level, it bets that given a higher salary and more responsibility, you can replicate that performance in other people.

Normally, this is a losing bet, but when it does pay off, organizations reach the Holy Grail of Delegation: The Multiplier Effect.

When leaders successfully replicate the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors that made them successful – a process known as “Knowledge Transfer” – the organization gets an entire team of individuals performing at high levels. The organization also gets a leader who has the time to take on higher-level strategic activities, and make an even greater impact on organizational performance.

Now, why is this normally a losing bet? Because delegating effectively is a difficult skill to master. Many managers end up committing one of the Four Fatal Flaws of Delegation. Let’s take a look at them.

1. Misunderstanding your role.

Sometimes managers don’t understand the power of the Multiplier Effect. They think their promotion to leadership is a reward for exceptional performance. Furthermore, they think the people who now report to that manager are there to do the manager’s work and nothing else. Granted, that’s part of what delegation is about, but it isn’t the most important part.

Solution: Understand that delegation isn’t about you, but rather about your employees. Remember, the goal is to replicate your skills in other people.

2. Micromanaging

Too many managers won’t let their reports find their own path to success, and instead watch over every move employees make. The problem with this is twofold: It leaves your employees feeling disempowered and unable to take ownership of the tasks assigned to them. Second, micromanaged employees perpetually drain managers’ time, keeping them from the activities related to their new strategic role.

Solution: Recognize that good people find their own way, even if that means making mistakes along the way. As a leader, it’s your job to empower your reports to find their own solutions, not hand those solutions to them on a silver platter.

3. Lacking a plan for development.

When managers take a “sink or swim” approach to their employees, it creates a recipe for failure for both the manager and the employee.

Solution: Develop an effective development plan. That means setting a training agenda, clearly defining desired goals and outcomes for employees, and then coaching employees to help them meet those goals.

4. Assuming that delegation will lead to automatic success.

This happens when managers believe that if they were free from the low-level tasks they’re now delegating to their reports, their career will take off. In reality, the transition is rarely smooth. When that automatic success doesn’t happen, frustrated managers return to their comfort zone – operational work that other employees were taking care of. On top of demoralizing the manager, this harms reports as well, as they feel they don’t own their job anymore.

Solution: Hopefully your boss isn’t putting you into a sink or swim scenario, but if they are, seek out training. There’s no shame in admitting that management is difficult, and your boss should understand and be willing to help you transition into your new role.

About Dave Clemens

Dave Clemens has served as deputy financial editor of the International Herald Tribune, editor and bureau chief for Bloomberg News, and deputy bureau chief for the French News Agency.

Currently, Dave is the editor of Rapid Learning Institute’s The HR Café, an informative, entertaining blog for Human Resources Leaders.

Connect with Dave via Twitter @TheHRCafe

Employee Attraction and Retention - An HRwisdom Example of Excellence

Employee Attraction and Retention | An Example of Excellence

November 22, 2012 / HRwisdom

When people talk of corporate values and culture, most us think of that age-old cliché: ‘Our People Are Our Greatest Asset.‘

Today, however, we are sharing an example of excellence in the field of employee attraction and retention.

In particular, we are sharing one small example of excellent leadership which ticks all the boxes:

Make people want to join the business.
Make people want to stay in the business.
Inspire people to give their all for the business.
And most impressively, impresses potential clients of the business.

In its own words, “The Physio Co exists for a very simple purpose: we love to help oldies stay mobile, safe & happy.”

The Physio Co provides physiotherapy services for the aged care industry and has been listed as one of Australia’s 50 ‘Best Companies to Work’ and featured in BRW magazine for half their business life.

As an overall description, their opening line of their value statement says the right things:

We are a values-driven organisation – our values are what set us apart from others and provide guidance for making decisions every day. The Physio Co will achieve our goals by consistently living by our values. Any decision, problem or issue will be answered by referring to our values.

You can read the whole value statement here and you’ll see how they’ve put a whole new twist to the boring old mission statements espoused by so many corporate videos.

However, what has impressed us at HRwisdom has been their development of use of a powerful device they call the Physio Co Culture Book.

The Culture Book is a beautifully-presented guide to what it means to work at the Physio Co and, more importantly, how it benefits their clients. It is also a powerful employment branding tool which you should take a look at now if you are looking for some fresh ideas.

You can download the book here: Physio Co Culture Book.

If you are impressed with the this employee attraction and retention book, why not share it? Use the sharing options below.

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