Tag: Leadership + Management

How Coaching Can Save Your Team

Employee engagement and retention are (or should be) top of mind for company leadership and HR teams. Having an engaged workforce means a stronger, more productive company. Unfortunately, only 34% of employees report being fully engaged in their workplace. That said, companies have been spending a lot on this problem. In fact, an estimated three-quarters of a billion dollars, each year.

Obviously, this is a huge issue with many components. Employee development and education, benefits, and company culture all play into the employee experience, which directly impacts retention and engagement.

It’s all about the culture

This issue poses too many factors for business (especially small ones) to address from every vantage point. Most medium and small sized companies have a tight budget set aside for employee experience. But you don’t necessarily have to spend a ton of money on perks to create a culture of productivity and engagement. Not surprisingly, 76% of employees cite their manager as the leading influencer of workplace culture.

With that in mind, you’d assume companies are taking advantage of this knowledge and setting up their managers and leaders to be trailblazers for building a happy workforce, right? Sorry, not so much.

A shocking 71% of companies do not feel their leaders are able to actually lead their organization. And we can assume that leaders who are unable to lead are negatively impacting the people they’re supposed to lead.

So, if managers are the major influencing factor in creating company culture, and companies don’t feel they’re doing their job well, it’s time to think about the tools they’re given to accomplish company goals.

How are your managers trained to manage? Do they even get training? Or does your company just promote highly functioning employees into manager roles and let them figure it out on their own?

Training your managers to take a different approach to supervising their teams might just be what your company needs. But how, you ask? By training them to coach instead of manage.

Coaching vs. managing 

The difference between coaching and managing is fairly simple. Where managers:

  • solve problems
  • answer questions
  • delegate tasks
  • evaluate performance

Coaches take a different approach. Instead, they:

  • empower their team to solve their own problems
  • ask questions
  • encourage employee input into how tasks get accomplished
  • urge employees to think critically about their own progress

Coaching also involves continuous conversations back and forth between team members, individuals, and managers. It is a highly effective way to engage your workforce.

Empowering your employees is at the core of why coaching is so effective. By empowering your employees to solve for their own problems, you are showing that you value their opinion and trust their ability to address and overcome challenges. Employees who are given the lead to solve problems become more self-reliant and feel a greater sense of accountability and responsibility, which leads to increased engagement and satisfaction.

Demonstrating trust in your employees to effectively address challenges is a very direct way to help them build on their own self confidence as well. Helping employees grow by creating a culture that nurtures self-confidence and independence is a sure-fire way to make people feel valued. Not to mention a sense of personal growth. 

Building an ongoing dialog between your employees and managers, as well as within their own team, is also a significant part of coaching. Where managers might only speak with individuals before or after a large project or when it comes time for their yearly assessment, coaching encourages a much more fluid form of communication.

Think increased employee recognition and opportunities for development. When there is an ongoing conversation between manager and employee, there is increased opportunity for managers to discover previously unknown strengths and skills that the employee may have. This can lead to employees getting assigned projects that play into their personal strengths and allow them to develop skills they are highly interested in.

Increased communication is also an effective way to suss out employees who are struggling and may need some extra support or direction. Showing that you are paying attention and willing to help guide and support an employee through a difficult time generates loyalty and a sense of safety that people value.

Value for you and them

Coaching is a much more people-focused way of managing your company. There are many different ways to implement coaching within your team and many different types of coaching to consider. By training your managers to coach, you’re not only giving them better tools to nurture a happier, more engaged workforce, but you’re investing in the future of your   by offering more opportunities for personal development and creativity.

So before you consider spending capital on unnecessary toys for the employee rec room, think about whether or not your managers could use training in how to coach their teams to success. Remember, employee experience and culture comes directly from leadership. So give your leaders the tools they need to win, and watch your company win.

 

Content provided by Q4iNetwork and partners
 
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How (NOT) to Deal With Workplace Conflict

Interpersonal conflict is something every workplace has to deal with at some point. When people work in close quarters, there is bound to be some type of friction that comes to the surface and needs to be dealt with. 

Sometimes the people in the conflict are able to work it out themselves. This usually happens if both people are willing and able to sit down with each other and hash things out. However, there are many people who are uncomfortable with directly addressing issues and conflicts and who will do anything to avoid uncomfortable conversations.  

This results in passive aggression, negativity, decreased productivity, and team dysfunction which can spread and begin to negatively affect other employees. Conflicts like these are best solved quickly, and strategically, and often guided by management. 

Unfortunately, if leadership isn’t prepared to handle conflicts correctly, they can have a much greater negative effect on the situation and will end up making it worse for everyone. Here are a couple leadership practices that are guaranteed NOT to succeed in solving a conflict. 

Avoidance 

We know you’re busy. You’ve got a million things on your plate and goals and quotas to meet. So that argument between Tim and Kathy on the production team just doesn’t seem important enough for you to prioritize today. Oh sure, you’ll get to it, but it not today. Maybe tomorrow. Or next week? You’re hoping that maybe by then, it’ll just go away. Spoiler alert: it won’t.  

Avoidance can come in many different forms. For instance, say you’ve talked to Kathy and Tim separately and heard their different sides of the story, but you haven’t yet set up a meeting with both of them together. It might feel like you’ve made some progress after hearing them both initially. People often feel better after they’ve had a chance to get their story out and feel heard. This might have even deflated their frustration for the time being. But it won’t last.  

No one likes to have uncomfortable conversations, and you’re no exception. Being in leadership doesn’t mean you’re automatically exempt from having the same reservations about confrontation as the rest of humanity. You may be a good problem solver and a good listener, but if you just stop at having individual conversations and don’t move forward to confronting the issue together, you’ve halted the healing process.  

Separation 

Keeping people apart when they are fighting might work with children, but it isn’t a sustainable solution for dealing with conflict at the office. Employees must be able to work together and rely on each other as a team. Just trying to give them different projects and hoping they won’t run into something that requires them to work together isn’t going to help you or them in the long run.  

Just listening to their individual stories and sending them in different directions is setting your team up for failure. Plus, it’s setting an unhealthy standard for how your company handles interpersonal conflict.  

It’s better this way 

Unless you take the step to get them talking face-to-face, you’ve just put the problem on hold, not dealt with it. Having a functional, healthy team should be a top priority for any leader. The chances of meeting your goals with a robust team working together are much greater than working with a dysfunctional team and their infighting.  

Taking an hour out of your day today to solve a conflict will save you hours of cleanup work later down the road. It’ll also ensure that the conflict doesn’t expand and begin to affect other team members.  

Constructive confrontation = solution 

If you’re uncomfortable with confrontation, or not sure how to go about mitigating the conflict, it helps to go in with a plan.  

  • Structure the conversation so that both parties have their chance to speak and respond to each other  
  • Encourage them to each take accountability  
  • Set the expectation that they will come to a resolution, creating a clear, actionable plan for how they will move forward 
  • Set a follow-up meeting a week or two down the road to help keep everyone accountable  

You may never be comfortable with confrontation, but fortunately, with practice you can get better at successfully dealing with it. The more you set the expectation that conflict will be dealt with in this way, the easier it is to do it. Hopefully, it becomes so ingrained in your company culture that co-workers will begin to do it themselves without the need to bring in leadership to help mitigate the discussion.  

So next time there’s a conflict at the office, don’t hesitate to deal with it then and there. Don’t put it off, don’t avoid the uncomfortable conversation. Show them you believe in their ability to solve the problem themselves by bringing them together to do so. You’ve got this and so do they.

 

Content provided by Q4iNetwork and partners

Photo by Andrey Popov

 

If You Won’t, Why Would They? A Precautionary Note for Leadership

With marketing practices changing so dramatically over the past decade, it’s become increasingly clear that if your organization isn’t able to keep up, you’ll get left in the dust by companies who are rolling with the tide of new online marketing tools. If you look around the organization and feel frustrated by a lack of clear improvement, it’s time to review your own involvement. 

Many companies are still working under the impression that the job of marketing and communications belongs solely to the marketing department. But they’re grossly mistaken. Marketing is there to roll out initiatives, look for new ways of engaging prospects and customers, help maintain relationships with existing customers, and help communicate messages across platforms.   

But as social media has taken a front seat in the world of marketing, it has become increasingly important for both the sales department and leadership to get involved in the communication as well. And being honest, not everyone loves this new direction. There are plenty of challenges that come along with establishing new behaviors.  

You might be having trouble getting your sales team to participate on social media by liking, commenting, and sharing content your marketing team is rolling out. Or you could be trying to implement a new CRM that requires your sales team to input data on their contacts, but running into resistance from the team.  

If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you need to ask yourself if you, as a leader, are part of the problem.  

If you won’t do it, why would they? 

You’ve got a lot on your plate, and, if you’re being honest, sharing content on social media may not feel as though it should be a priority for you. Why take precious time out of your day to do what you see as the job of marketing?  

Because it matters to your clients, prospects, and team members. That’s why it should be a priority. 

The frustrating truth is that just giving the go-ahead to new initiatives isn’t enough. If you want to see your sales team get on board and start engaging on social media, or correctly using a new CRM, but you aren’t taking the time to do so yourself, you’re setting everyone up for failure.  

Proving value 

When people are comfortable with a system they’ve been using for a long time, it’s difficult to get them to change their practices. They have to see it as a valued priority in the organization and your actions dictate what your team prioritizes. If they don’t see you actively prioritizing the implementation of change, they won’t believe it matters.  

By participating, and leading it, you are showing that you believe in the value of the initiative. If it’s important enough for you, it becomes important enough for them.  

Accountability  

Take accountability for your impact on the success of new initiatives. Hold yourself and your team accountable for their participation. Just saying, “That sounds great! Let’s review progress in a month” isn’t good enough. To help your team stay on track and hold them accountable you can: 

  • Set clear expectations around how and when they participate  
  • Acknowledge team members when they successfully participate in initiatives   
  • Establish consequences for those who fail to meet the expectations 
  • DO IT YOURSELF 

Holding your team accountable can be uncomfortable—especially when they fail to meet your expectations. But this is part of proving the value of the work and motivating everyone to get onboard.  

Commitment  

Your marketing team can come up with as many great ideas and new initiatives as they want, but if leadership isn’t committed to putting in the effort to contribute, then the initiative won’t be able to succeed. 

Showing the team that you are completely committed to the change will push them to accept that, yes, it is really happening, and help them to get onboard quicker and with less groaning. If you want to see your team running with a new initiative, then stop dragging your own feet and get in the race yourself. 

 

Content provided by Q4iNetwork and partners
Photo by
denisfilm

 

Recruiting Tip: Trust Your Candidates

Hiring the right candidate can be a headache for any HR team. It’s a difficult process that has ramifications on employee retention, engagement, and productivity. Hiring one bad egg can negatively affect an entire team, not to mention the cost of having to train or re-hire for the position. Getting it right the first time is what every hiring manager wishes for. But how?

Here’s a tip that might just blow your mind: Let the candidate choose you.  

Stay with us here, this isn’t as crazy as it may sound! 

By setting up the hiring process so that potential candidates can make an informed choice about whether or not they’d be a good fit, you eliminate a lot of work on your end.  People know what they’re looking for and what they’re good at. Give them a chance to assess what it is you’re offering and decide for themselves if the job will be a good fit. If they opt out of applying, you’re saved from having to spend the time and money on interviewing and vetting the wrong people.  

So how do you do this? Here are four things to keep in mind during your next hiring process.  

1. Transparency

This is a simple one. By including compensation in the job description, you are giving potential candidates the opportunity to find out if the job you’re offering is going to meet their requirements. The financial needs of any candidate will drive their decision on whether or not to apply for a position. If you aren’t offering them what they need, they won’t have to spend time going through the steps of the application process just to find out it’s a bad fit. They can opt out altogether and save you both time and money.  

Wage transparency also says something about your company. It shows that you aren’t hiding any major pay gaps and helps to build trust that you value your employees with fairness and honesty.  

2. Job description: Does it actually fit? 

When was the last time you reviewed your job description? Has it just been copied and pasted over and over? If so, it’s time for a refresher. Your job description should match the expectations of the role as closely as possible. This is not only important for attracting the right people with the right skills to apply, but having a description that doesn’t fit the actual position can cause frustration, confusion, and resentment on behalf of the new hire.  

If the description that drew someone in to apply doesn’t match up with the actual position, you lose the trust of your new employee—and you come off as disorganized (at the very least). If your hiring manager can’t write an accurate description, it means they: 

  • Haven’t taken the time to understand the position they are hiring for  
  • Don’t value the time and energy of the applicants  
  • Don’t value the hiring process  

Seeing the job description is often the first time your candidate has interacted with your company. It is your organization’s chance at a good first impression and the importance of this should be reflected in the quality of the description.  

3. Does the culture match?

People are often drawn to companies based on their perception of the companies’ culture and values. Use your description to highlight what it’s like to work for you and what your organization cares about. If you are able to convey your values and culture through the description, application, and interview process, candidates will be able to feel out if your company is the right community for them. 

4. Test it out 

Finally, find out for yourself what it’s like to apply for the position you’re posting. If the hiring process is easy, more people will apply, and you’ll have a wider pool of candidates to choose from. Have someone from your team go through the process as if they were applying for the position themselves. Find out from first-hand experience what processes you can optimize and areas that you can improve.   

Trust goes both ways  

By providing job seekers with accurate information about the position you’re looking to fill and the type of community and values your company fosters in its workplace, you are giving people the chance to decide for themselves if it’s a good fit. Trust in your candidates to make the best choices for themselves. Not only will it increase your chances of hiring the right candidate, but it will show your candidates they can trust you. 

 

Content provided by Q4iNetwork and partners

Photo by Tatiana Gladskikh

Encouraging Remote Employees: Why Shouting Down the Hall Won’t Work

So you’ve heard how remote work can promote job satisfaction, productivity, and save you real money. Your company has decided to offer remote working positions and you can’t wait to get started. But have you prepared for the challenges of having a remote workforce? Have you thought about how you’re going to show employee recognition when you can no longer walk down the hall and tell them face–to–face or throw them an office party?  

Here are three great ways to make your remote employees feel valued and recognized. 

Stay Connected 

If you’ve got a remote workforce, chances are you have an online chat system to keep them easily connected. (If you don’t, you’re missing out on a vital resource). Online chat forums are a great place to recognize individuals and teams both in group conversations and one–on–one. This is a great space to offer more informal and consistent encouragement and recognition for smaller, more frequent accomplishments. 

Going beyond “good job” 

Close the distance between you and your employees by being specific when you thank them for their work. What did they explicitly do to deserve positive recognition? Highlighting key moments and challenges they overcame shows them you are paying attention to their work.  Feeling seen for specific accomplishments promotes a sense of closeness and connection that is easily lost when you don’t have a shared office space.  

Support their space (and their backs) 

Make sure they’re comfortable. A great way to show you value your remote workers is to offer them a budget for upgrading their in–home workspaces. Help them build a comfortable, functional workspace by providing a budget for key office supplies such as a good chair, wrist supports for their mouse pad and keyboard and supporting tech that optimizes their space.  

There are many, many ways to encourage an atmosphere of recognition and community in your remote workforce. Make sure you do your research and put time into figuring out what works best for your team’s particular needs and location. If they are based close enough to each other, you could encourage employee outings, or monthly meetings where you can have the chance to thank and encourage your team face to face.  

Whatever ways you chose to thank them, make sure you have a way of gauging what works best and be open to improving the systems you put in place. Remember, employees who feel valued, value their position. 

 

Content provided by Q4iNetwork and partners

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