Bring Out the Most in Your Employees: 10 Tips for Managers

Posted on by editorwisconsin

One of the biggest responsibilities managers have is to inspire others to be the best versions of themselves. “If done well, everyone on your team will not only be more productive and efficient, but also happier with their jobs,” according to entrepreneur and speaker John Rampton. Here are 10 ways managers can effectively lead others to produce high-quality work:

  1. Be authentic. Behaving in a way that aligns with your beliefs and values helps build trust with your employees and encourages them to be genuine as well.
  2. Encourage transparency and feedback. Admitting when you are wrong is crucial to creating an honest and transparent culture where everyone can feel free enough to be their best at work.
  3. Create connections with individuals. Get to know each person on your team. This will allow you to understand what motivates your employees, what they enjoy doing and what they are working toward.
  4. Give recognition. Be the one to applaud and appreciate good work and can keep motivation levels high.
  5. Leverage technology. Spend time finding solutions that can automate or speed up monotonous tasks to help make your team more productive and happier.
  6. Support risk taking. Encouraging risk taking not only builds employees’ confidence and autonomy, but it yields more output within a culture of innovation.
  7. Keep mission at the forefront. When people are excited about the work they are doing, their output is going to be exponentially higher.
  8. Promote autonomy. Don’t make people feel like they have to be doing their work in a particular way, let them take a goal or idea and run with it. Giving people freedom can create momentum in the office.
  9. Challenge your employees. Inspire your team to ask questions like “why am I working on this particular thing? Is what I’m doing the best use of my time right now, and is there a way to do this more efficiently?”
  10. Hire the best. Great managers bring superstar qualities out of normal people. That said, it’s crucial to know when a person isn’t a good fit and when to cut ties with someone who doesn’t fit.

—Adapted from “10 Ways to Make Your Employees 10x More Productive,” by John Rampton, Entrepreneur, Nov. 10, 2017.