Tag Archives: Management

Employee Engagement, Employee Morale, Leadership, Management, Motivation

Things That Motivate Employees More Than Money-Guest Post by Fretty Francis

A bigger motivation than money is hard to believe, but it does exist. The kick that we get from being applauded is priceless. Only a person with true leadership qualities can create an engaged workforce. Offering rewards and opportunities before it’s too late is really important. Nurturing your employees with the skills that they require to attain future challenges is where the success of your company lies. If your business is facing failures consistently, then it is partially your fault. In such situations the bosses certainly lack the required skills and should consider working on their own skill development before blaming the employees. After all, a true leader is the one who is humble enough to admit their mistakes. Makes sense, right?

Yelling at your staffs can never improve the situation; rather it will worsen your bond with them. Once they build a negative perception about you, it will probably never change, and this will affect their performance.

Here are 12 effective ways to bridge the gap between bosses and the employees:

  1. Honest and generous with praise works in your favor- Be specific while you praise your employee and let them know you notice their efforts in details. You should always try your best to match the praise to their efforts. This may sound like a very simple concept, but embracing their potential should be your goal, rather than just expecting positive results. Try giving regular praise to your employees based on their valuable traits and soon you will see them praising each other, which is a good sign for a happy work culture.
  2. Get rid of managers for a change- Project managers maybe too good at handling their responsibilities but sometimes it is good consider their team handling responsibilities without a leader. Empowering your staff can give you surprisingly exceptional results. Without a leader they become more responsible and will work together on an equal level.
  3. Share your ideas with them- Nobody likes to be told what to do and what not to do, and therefore it is always advisable to share your ideas and make them theirs. This is quite simple because all you need to do is ask them their views about your ideas. This will boost their confidence to approach you with new ideas without hesitation.
  4. Give equal priority to each employee- A project becomes a success when each member of the team does their bit irrespective of the hindrances. Everyone should get equal credit for their contribution and feel proud for the team as a whole. This will make them realize that everyone is important and will never let success get to their head.
  5. A surprise lunch from the boss- Simply walk up to them and invites them for lunch and surprises them. Let them know you appreciate their work and they did impress you with their dedication. If you just hired new employees then, a surprise lunch is a great icebreaker for new team members. This is an awesome way to build trust and to establish a great rapport.
  6. Criticism will kill the enthusiasm- Never judge your employees based on something that is least important. Criticism is never fun on the receiving end, especially when you do it in front of others. An underperformer needs motivation, not a mulish boss who sabotages their confidence at every level. The more you support the less they focus on clock watching and become more productive.
  7. Share rewards first and then expect- Rewards can be in any form apart from increment and this is the time you make use of your creativity. Gift them free movie tickets, free gym membership, dinner reservations, salon or spa coupons, trophies and plaques. There are so many things that you can give them and let them know that you appreciate their efforts. This will motivate them to work harder on their future projects even before you asking them to do so.
  8. Comfort matters- Does comfort matters to you? Same is the case with your employees and bunch of little things can make a big difference. A fully stocked fridge, a comfortable couch (for a short nap occasionally) or allowing them to work from home if possible are all necessary perks. Comfort at workplace is the cornerstone of productivity.
  9. Flexible working hours- Everyone has a different “productive time of the day” and expecting employees to be actively working for the entire day is unreasonable. This can only waste time, so allow them to set their working hours (with valid reason). This will definitely elevate their performance and they won’t let you down.
  10. Throw a killer company party- Show interest in celebrations, just like you are enthusiastic about starting a new project. Celebrate when your employees perform well, organize birthday parties or raise a toast if you got a big client as your big breakthrough. Never underestimate the power of celebrations, as it brings positivity.
  11. Performer of the month- Although this is a very classic method of recognition, but it is still one of the favorites among the employees. Choose some star performers as nominees in different departments (categories). Pick all the outstanding employees and reward them for their magic behind the scenes.

Final thoughts: – Great things come to those who wait, and keeping patience with your employees can be a game changer. Be a generous boss by giving your attention to employees and you can learn from them. Review and analyze your employee performance through Performance Management System and give rewards to employees who have given sweat and blood to your business.

 

Author Bio:

Fretty Francis is currently a Software Analyst at SoftwareSuggest. She is passionate about HR, performance management, asset management, CRM among other things. In her free time you can find her either reading about tech stuff or listening to music.

Culture, Employee Engagement, Empowerment, Engage Now, Great Organizations, Leadership, Leadership Behaviors, Leadership Development, Management, Micromanagement, Teamwork, Trust

Improving Management Team Performance

“Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others’ success, and then standing back and letting them shine.” —Chris Hadfield

The key to improving management team performance is summarized quite nicely in the Chris Hadfield quote above. When your management team can lay the groundwork for their employees to succeed and then stand back and let them shine, the whole organization performs better. So, what should you be looking at to improve the performance of your management team?

What is their focus?

What are your managers focusing on? It can be easy for them to get caught up in focusing solely on the bottom line and forget about the employees who are contributing to that bottom line. Or, they can become so concerned with gaining recognition for themselves that they forget about the people who are really doing the work. The best management teams focus on the ‘what’ and the ‘who’. When management spends their energy on supporting their employees in determining the ‘how’ for themselves, performance improves at every level of the organization.

How are their relationships?

What kind of relationships are your managers developing? Relationships are built on mutual trust and respect; they cannot thrive in an us vs. them environment. Without strong relationships managers are ineffective. If you want to improve the performance of your management team, help them build strong, trusting, inclusive relationships.

How do they accomplish objectives?

How do your managers accomplish the objectives that you have set for them? Many managers defer to micromanagement as a means for accomplishing tasks and achieving goals. Micromanagement kills employee engagement and does more harm to productivity than good. When you put an end to micromanagement and empower employees to make decisions and take action on their own you greatly improve performance.

As Your Management Team Performs

As your management team performs, so will their employees. Make sure your managers are focusing on the right things. Help them build the relationships that lead to efficiency and top performance. Teach them to empower and support employees in accomplishing objectives rather than micromanaging them. When your management team provides the foundation employees need to succeed and can then stand back and lets employees shine, everyone’s performance improves.

What action will you take today to start improving the performance of your management team?

 

 

© 2017 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Liz Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the Founder of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations change attitudes, change communication dynamics, improve collaboration and problem-solving, engage employees, and strengthen organizational culture. Liz holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Liz by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.

 

Leadership, Management

Four Traits of Selfless Leaders-Guest Post by Doug Dickerson

It’s difficult to find common ground with others when the only person you’re focused on is yourself. – John Maxwell

You may have heard the story of two friends who met for dinner in a restaurant. Each requested filet of sole. After a few minutes the waiter came back with their order. Two pieces of fish, one large and one small, were on the same platter. One of the men proceeded to serve his friend. Placing the small piece on a plate, he handed it across the table.

“Well, you certainly do have nerve!” exclaimed his friend. ”

“What’s troubling you?” asked the other. “Look what you’ve done,” he answered. “You’ve given me the little piece and kept the big one for yourself.” “How would you have done it?” the man asked. His friend replied, “If I were serving, I would have given you the big piece.” “Well,” replied the man, “I’ve got it, haven’t I?” At this, they both laughed.

One leader’s self-confidence is another leader’s arrogance in the world of perceptions. So let’s put the cards on the table up front- many leaders struggle with acts of selfishness. We want the big piece of fish. It’s not a truth to take pride in but one in which we have to acknowledge if we are going to grow and mature as a leader. In my own leadership journey the biggest mistakes I’ve made along the way can be traced back to selfish acts.

Growing to this new level in your leadership is about overcoming your fears, insecurities, and misconceptions about what it means to lead in a selfless manner. Here are four traits of selfless leaders and why they matter.

Selfless leaders empower their people

The emergence of a selfless leadership style begins by embracing this fundamental principle: until you empower your people they are only spectators. When they are empowered they can produce, achieve, and succeed. Unless you mature in this area as a leader you will never grow to your full potential.

Why does this matter? It matters because in any successful organization it’s empowered team members who run with the vision, fulfill its mission, and achieve its goals. Selfless leaders make it possible not by promoting themselves but by promoting others.

Selfless leaders share the credit

Billy Hornsby once observed, “It’s okay to let those you lead outshine you, for if they shine brightly enough, they will reflect positively on you.” The powerful wisdom of that statement must not be lost on the reality that selfish leaders struggle in this area.

A selfish leader wants to take all of the credit- often at the expense of work others did, and boast “look at what I did.”

Why does this matter? A selfless leader will concede being in the spotlight by putting someone else in it. It matters because each individual who had skin in the game and gave it their all deserve credit. A selfless leader will gladly say, “Look at what we did!”

Selfless leaders initiate the conversation

The mark of maturity in a leader begins to take shape when he or she invites open and honest conversation instead of dodging it. Selfish leaders seek to control the message, the agenda, and in the end stifle creativity and deprive themselves of much needed feedback. If a leader’s head is buried in the sand the view for everyone else is not that pleasant. Instead, a selfless leader engages in conversation with his or her people and makes it a priority.

Why does this matter? A selfless leader understands that open communication is the life-blood of the organization. Disconnected people create disconnected organizations. Selfless leaders build bridges and get people talking because your survival depends on it.

Selfless leaders create the culture

Leaders, whether selfish or selfless, set the tone and create the organizational atmosphere. Through your growth and maturity as a leader you’ve come to understand that people buy in to your actions and attitudes before they embrace your vision. Better to be rejected as a leader because people did not embrace your vision than because they did not embrace your selfish leadership style.

Why does this matter? Selfless leaders understand that value is created where value is given. Selfless leaders know that when they help others succeed they succeed. It matters because when this is the underlying foundation of your organizational structure it creates an atmosphere where everybody wins, not just a few.

What do you say?

 

© 2016 Doug Dickerson

Doug Dickerson is an internationally recognized leadership columnist, author, and speaker. Read more at Dougdickerson.wordpress.com

Leadership, Leadership Behaviors, Management

Top 3 Mistakes Most Managers Make

heather-guestGuest Post by: Heather R. Younger, J.D. CCXP

 

Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility. Peter F. Drucker

In my role, I often meet with employee focus groups and leaders of organizations. While on one side I am privy to what employees think of their manager’s effectiveness, I also see first-hand some of the key mistakes that block managers’ ability to be their best. Below are the top five mistakes I see managers make in their role as manager.

I have to focus on getting work done.

I do live in the real world where organizations exist to make money and profits. To this extent, I understand that managers have to meet their own deadlines. They have to get work done.

Having said that, most managers focus too much of their effort on tasks and not on the people who help perform the tasks. These are the same people who can make or break the customer experience and the bottom line.

I challenge managers to schedule in a sliver of time every week to sit with each team member. Having meaningful conversations with team members will actually drive improved performance.

We believe in this so much that we created a Meaningful Conversations tip sheet for managers.Click Here if you need direction.

I see what you are doing, but don’t have time to recognize you.

This is a big one!

I don’t think I need to be academic about this concept, because we all crave more consistent recognition. It is such an important driver of employee engagement that Gallup research still lists it as one of the top reasons employees remain with or leave an organization.

If you are a manager, how often do you recognize your team members? Remember, know how your team member likes to receive recognition. Some just don’t like big parties and balloons. Many just prefer a “thank you.”

Be sure to use their name and be as specific as possible about the reason for the recognition. This way, they know what types of behaviors drive positive praise from you.

In order to have long-lasting effects, you want to recognize team members every seven days. I don’t mean you have to give them a party or even give them a ribbon. Keep it simple. If you go too long before praising them, they will forget that positive feeling and that affects performance.

How did you feel the last time your manager recognized you?

Give that same feeling to your team members often!

I need to tell you what you are doing wrong and don’t have time to care about how that sounds.

Ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it?”

Managers are in a unique position to be able to use their authority for the betterment of others, or to use it to make others feel awful for their shortcomings or mistakes.

I would caution managers from jumping too quickly to find their team members’ mistakes. If you notice that any one team member’s performance, behavior or attitude is below your standards, sit with them to find out what might be going on to cause such a change.

Let them know that you are concerned about this decline. Offer to provide clear guidance to help them get back on track. They need to know that you are not always judging them. Choose your words carefully in order to avoid creating this perception.

They need to know that you are on their side and will fight for them if they put in the hard work.

The good news?

Managers can control whether or not they make these mistakes and how often they choose to do so. While the power and authority rests on the manager to drive their team forward, the more important thing to remember is to use that power for the good of the team. I know that these mistakes can create a lot of frustration. What other mistakes do you think many managers make? Ideas on how to stop them?

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Senior Consultant and Trainer

Heather is a leadership strategist and employee engagement consultant, trainer, coach and speaker with proven expertise in building Voice of the Employee cultures and acting as catalyst for employee-driven cultural & process improvements. Heather is a frequent author on LinkedIn’s Pulse platform, a blog contributor for Huffington Post and a member and Certified Customer Experience Professional with the Customer Experience Professional’s Association.

Heather truly believes that the fastest way to create employee engagement and loyalty is to transform organizational culture into an environment focused on breaking down silos, aligning around a common purpose, empowering employees to do their best work and reinvigorating leaders to take ownership in their role in creating all of it.

 

 

Crisis Management, Leadership, Management

Are You in the Habit of Management by Crisis or Crisis Management?

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crisis“We’ve got to be judged by how we do in times of crisis.” —Johnnie Cochran

Putting Out Fires

Johnnie Cochran’s quote suggests that it is during times of crisis that we really show what we are made of. I kind of disagree. While every one of us will be faced with crises, getting in the habit of putting out fires all day long says more about your management style than it does your character. This is what I would term as management by crisis. No time to think, no time to plan, just respond to fire after fire as they arise. On the other side of the coin is crisis management. Quite different from managing by crisis, crisis management involves looking two steps ahead, planning, communicating, evaluating and adapting.

Eye on the radar

When you manage by crisis, you are so overwhelmed with what is happening here and now that it is impossible to foresee what might be coming down the road. When you manage by crisis, you are operating in fight or flight mode. This makes it impossible to use higher-order thinking to plan and solve problems. With crisis management, you are always looking two steps ahead. This gives you the, while ever so small, amount of breathing room you need to keep fight or flight at bay so that you can think clearly.

Planning

When you manage by crisis, there is no time for planning. You are simply in survival mode, running here and jumping there in the attempt to keep the situation from spiraling into chaos. Crisis management stays ahead of the game by asking questions like, “How will we respond if……?” When we have a plan we can respond to situations as they arise rather than constantly reacting to them. Sure, we might plan for something that never happens; sure, we can’t plan for every possible future incident; but we can develop plans that are flexible enough to apply in a variety of situations. And, always better to be safe than sorry.

Communication

When you manage by crisis, there is never enough time to effectively communication what is happening and what needs to be done in response. Things often break down into the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing and not having the time to even care. When things really do go south, that is not the time to start trying to communicate a response to your employees. Crisis management includes communicating the position of the organization on a regular basis, sharing plans and implementing procedures for responding to crises, and outlining clear lines of communication so everyone is always on the same page.

Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate

Is your style managing by crisis? Or is it crisis management? You can’t assume that your answer today will be the same next week, next month, or next year. When it comes to how you deal with crisis, you must continually evaluate your methods and past results. What has worked? What hasn’t worked? Where do you need to focus your energy to become more effective? Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate, and then adapt.

Manage Crisis Before it Manages You

We’ve all heard it said that if you don’t plan the day, the day will plan you. It is the exact same for handling crisis; either you manage the crisis, or it will manage you. The choice is yours. Will you constantly react, or will you plan and respond? Keep your eye on the radar; give yourself just that little bit of extra time to prepare for impact. A little time is all you need to access your executive brain and avoid the fight or flight reaction. Ask the questions that allow you to create plans for future crises that may, or may not happen. Make these plans flexible so that they can be implemented in response to a variety of crisis events. Communicate early and often. Make sure everyone is on the same page so that you are working as a team to overcome the crisis. And then, evaluate and adapt. If it’s not working, stop doing it. Make sure your crisis management procedures work. Start to manage crisis before it manages you.

 

 

© 2016 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Liz Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the Founder of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations change attitudes, change communication dynamics, improve collaboration and problem-solving, engage employees, and strengthen organizational culture. Liz holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Liz by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.

 

Leadership, Leadership Behaviors, Management, Micromanagement

Stop the Micromanagement Madness

lady-w-crazy-hair-2-day-sale-ad“Trust is a core currency of any relationship. Sometimes our need to control and micromanage everything erodes our confidence in ourselves and others. The truth: people are much more capable than we think. A hearty dose of trust is often what’s needed to unlock the magic. Go ahead, have faith.” —Kris Carr

Kris Carr hit the nail on the head in the above quote. As a manager or leader, trust is the key to effectively influencing others. Without the ability to influence you completely lose your ability to lead. But, trusting the abilities of others is often easier said than done. When you don’t trust others to perform their work tasks at your definition of a satisfactory level you get caught up in micromanagement madness.

We’ve all been on the receiving end of a micromanager. Do you remember how it made you feel? Did you dread walking into work every day? Did you cringe when you heard your manager’s voice down the hall? Micromanagement destroys employee morale and the culture of the whole organization. Here are three important aspects of micromanagement that you must understand.

Your issue not theirs

Your inability to let go of control is your problem, not your employees’ problem. Your micromanagement is bases solely on your need to control everything. Employees do not cause micromanagement, insecure leaders do. This creates an unhealthy environment for everyone to work in. Through the lens of a micromanager, they are forced to micromanage everyone because everyone else is incapable. This is an absolute lie. Capable employees are hired to do specific jobs and should be provided the necessary resources and then allowed to do their job without a babysitter.

Build confidence

Relinquishing the control of micromanagement requires you to build confidence, not only in your employees, but in yourself. You must give employees the training they need, and then let them do what they were hired to do. You must also be confident that you are able to give them the tools they need perform their work and problem-solve on their own. You must also be confident that you are capable of monitoring and managing performance from a distance. Through the lens a micromanager, they are overly confident in their own abilities and underestimate the abilities of others. This overconfidence is usually compensation for lack of true self-esteem. Develop your own healthy self-confidence and then work WITH others to develop confidence in their abilities.

Learn to trust

If you don’t have mutual trust with you employees, you have nothing. The relationships you need to be successful are built on a foundation of trust and respect. When you look at others through the lens of a micromanager, no one seems trustworthy; no one seems capable; except, of course, yourself. This is the perspective of someone who is insecure and is willing to kill all trust to hide it. Your employees are as capable of doing their job as you are of doing yours. If they aren’t, it’s you that has dropped the ball. Give them the training and resources they need and then trust them with their own responsibilities.

Let Go of the Madness

Good managers are NEVER micromanagers. If you are a good leader, you will never need to micromanage employees. You will give them training, tools, and guidance, but you will never micromanage. Organizations thrive when employees are engaged, making decisions, and designing their own work. Micromanagement is the madness that suffocates the life out of any team, department, or organization. Let go of the madness.

 

 

© 2016 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Liz Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the Founder of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational culture. Liz holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Liz by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.

 

Culture, Leadership, Motivation, Opportunity, Organizational Culture, Relationships

Developing Talent in Your Organization

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“One of my greatest talents is recognizing talent in others and giving them the forum to shine.” —Tory Burch

By Elizabeth Stincelli, DM

 

Developing Talent

When you dedicate time and resources to developing talent within your organization you make ordinary employees into extraordinary employees. Everyone benefits when employees develop their talents; productivity increases, quality improves, and morale strengthens. As a leader, you have to remember that the most outspoken voices are not always the wisest; you must give everyone the opportunity to be heard and contribute. Provide them with shared values and principles but don’t overwhelm them with extensive rules and then give them the opportunity to show what they can do. Develop their talents and then give them control over their own tasks and decision-making. So, where do you start?

Relationships

Angela Ahrendts said, “Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first.” Create a healthy, productive organizational culture and start building relationship based on trust and respect. You need to be your employees coach and loudest cheerleader. Hire great, hard-working individuals and then bring out the very best in them by developing relationships and investing your time and resources. Don’t keep secrets; demonstrate that you have trust and confidence in your employees by sharing information and communicating openly. Stop treating your employees like children; put your trust in them and you will build loyal relationships and a strong sense of community.

Motivation

Dwight D. Eisenhower told us, “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” As a leader, you must recognize that each employee is unique, possessing different talents and motivated in different ways. Your employees possess knowledge, skills, and experience that they want to share with the organization. No one wants to be treated like a machine; show that you value their capabilities by helping them to further develop their talents and motivating them based on their individual preferences. When you invest in your employees on an individual level you will be amazed at how motivated your workforce will become. Lift and encourage them; provide support through both your words and actions.

Opportunity

Bob Feller believed, “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” Let your employees know that there are opportunities available all around them. Let them know that you see their extraordinary potential and then give them the opportunity to reach that potential. Give employees the skills and resourced necessary and then let them tackle challenges on their own while providing a safe place to for them to fail. Give them the opportunity to become the best version of themselves, to learn from one another, to design how their work gets done, and to make decisions within guidelines.

Extraordinary Results

Wade Boggs explained, “A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.” Your employees want to be extraordinary. When you invest in them and provide opportunity you will be amazed how your culture, morale, and outcomes improve.  Your investment stands as proof that you value them on an individual basis, that you appreciate their contribution to the organization, and that you recognize and are excited about their potential. As your employees grow, so will your success. Develop the talent in your organization, invest your time and resources, provide opportunity, cheer your employees on, and you will achieve extraordinary results.

 

© 2015 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Elizabeth Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the CEO of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational culture. Elizabeth holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Elizabeth by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.

 

Leadership, Leadership Development, Organizational Culture, Trust

The Foundation of Leadership: Trust

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“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” —Stephen Covey

By Elizabeth Stincelli, DM

 

Trust

The most important leadership characteristic is the ability to inspire trust. Without it, teams will never reach their full potential and relationships will suffer. As a leader you must be intentional about building trust in your organization. Trust has to be a two-way street. Set the example; be trustworthy yourself and show others that you trust them. A culture of trust boosts motivation, increases job satisfaction, and results in greater productivity. So, how do you build a foundation of trust?

Speak freely

Frederick Douglass said, “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.” Employees, customers, and suppliers should know that they are welcome to speak freely with you. This will result in the sharing information more readily. What valuable information might you miss out on if others do not trust that they can speak freely with you? Provide a safe space where discussion, debate, and problem-solving can happen. Build employee confidence in knowing that you have their best interests at heart. And, always communicate directly with employees; don’t let them hear it from someone else first.

Act without fear

Charles Stanley explained, “Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation.” Employees must know that you trust them to make the right decision and must feel comfortable enough to act without fear. When you develop a solid foundation of trust in your organization, employees will move outside of their comfort zones, feel confident exploring new ideas, will act freely, and be more willing to take on risk. Instill the courage in your employees that will encourage them to make the decisions and share the new ideas that will continue to move your organization forward.

Control over work

Margaret Wheatley tells us, “Even though worker capacity and motivation are destroyed when leaders choose power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well.” Pixar is so successful because they have developed a culture that believes that everyone possesses a slice of genius. Your employees have skills and knowledge specific to their work; seek their input in areas where they have the knowledge and experience you are lacking. Delegate as much responsibility and control over tasks and projects as possible to employees and teams. Respect and value the diversity of ideas that employees have to offer. Show that you trust them to have control over their work and then reward great ideas and innovation.

Build the Foundation

Trust builds a strong foundation of leadership that is able to stand the test of time. This foundation supports motivation, job satisfaction, and productivity. As a leader, you must create a culture where employees can speak freely, act without fear, and have control over their own work. Trust begins with you; start building the foundation.

 

 

 

© 2015 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Elizabeth Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the CEO of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations engage employees and improve organizational culture. Elizabeth holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Elizabeth by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.