Business owners and managers have to be accountable for their staff’s work, so they need to be ready to play an integral role in supporting their staff. Here are some of the most important ways that you can help your team operate efficiently.
Reassess How You Are Delegating Responsibility
While some workers may continually have too much on their plates, others may not have enough. When this happens, being underchallenged might lead to dissatisfaction and prompt people to feel disengaged. At the same time, the folks who have too much work will find these disparities inequitable and might even form resentments about them. Furthermore, they may eventually succumb to burnout.
Managers must strive for balance in the distribution of work and the way that workflows move between different personnel and departments. You may find it helpful to ask staff to track their time to aid this analysis or utilize analytical tools that can do some of this for them. If you find big differences in responsibilities or the actual output of work, some tweaking is probably in order.
To help your staff manage time better, start using decision intelligence tools that can reduce the volume of work that goes into capturing and analyzing data. Harnessing this resource will allow staff to apply their energy to other important directives such as sales activities or basic relationship management functions rather than simple comparative data analyses. These tools can also help managers stave off decision fatigue by performing data-driven, methodical analyses and executing strategic applications.
Give People a Better Workspace
A poorly-tended workplace that’s rife with messes and broken equipment is a serious problem. When things don’t function properly and employees have to navigate faulty equipment and maneuver over multiple trip hazards in the form of wayward extension cords or beat-up floor coverings, they’ll feel as though they’re surrounded by chaos. Moreover, if a manager won’t take the time to give people the satisfactory accommodations that they need to work productively, you can’t blame them if they deduce that neither they nor the work that they do is a genuine priority to their employer.
Providing employees with a clean, comfortable, and organized workplace that’s conducive to individual productivity has to be a managerial priority. When organization is the norm, managers and supervisors will command more credibility. Be sure to take action to address problems in workspaces rather than accepting them as static, unmovable deficiencies. Don’t let things slide just because you’re too busy.
Enlist your staff’s assistance, and assign accountability for maintaining the premises in good condition to specific team members. Moreover, give them the authority to do so. If people have to go through a manager to submit a service request to a third-party office equipment company or reorder an essential supply that you’ve run out of, fixing any small problem will seem like much more trouble than it should.
Embrace a Hybrid Work Environment
If your personnel don’t need to be in the same physical space everyday, giving people the flexibility to work remotely when they choose to could precipitate a big boost in their productivity. In addition, this dynamic is typically regarded as a big plus among jobseekers, so it might give you a bit of an edge in recruiting and retaining the best talent in your industry.
Bear in mind that a hybrid work environment isn’t going to be practical for every type of company, and it doesn’t work great for every worker. Ultimately, being responsive about individuals’ preferences and work styles will ultimately help you support them whether you are supervising them onsite or remotely.
Lastly, it is advantageous when managers maintain an open-dialog with employees about how they are doing and what they need to do better. Put an emphasis on coaching and counseling rather than dealing with problematic performance after they have already rendered serious complications that affect a lot of employees or customers. Proactive managerial guidance can dramatically enhance individuals’ performance.