Becoming a manager and leading a team or department is no easy task. You no longer only manage your goals in the organization, but also the goals and milestones achieved by your department.
As a manager, you often have to wear many hats to help employees with the issues they face and to provide the answers they need.
Your team’s performance affects your performance in the eyes of upper management, and your performance affects how your team works too. It may seem like a spiral, but that just goes to show how much responsibility actually rests on your shoulders.
Here’s a guide put together by our experts on improving your management skills that reflect in better team performance:
Define your vision and let your team in on it too
The main goal of every department in a company is to help the organization rise to success. Every department of an organization must make the journey to this success smoother with efficiency and effectiveness.
Every manager has their own plan for the team. Once you get appointed as a manager, make your vision for the team known to each and every member. Employees are now encouraged to innovate and do things differently and they’ll be able to do so better when they’re aligned with the end goal.
Have a meeting with the team to explain what you expect from them. Make this meeting casual and encourage everyone to voice their opinion so that they don’t feel excluded.
Stimulate engagement within the department
To achieve the engagement you want with your team, you need to be approachable as a manager. A friendly attitude and a welcoming response to your employees will encourage them to speak up. They won’t be afraid to approach you with new ideas they have regarding operations within the company; rather, they will be motivated to find new and effective solutions.
Clear communication is key
As a manager, communication skills need to be your thing—this is easier said than done. You need to actively try to improve your communication and interpersonal skills with your team members so that they get you and you get them. An open-door policy will really help drive the message home that you, as a manager, are open to hearing your team’s ideas, grievances, dilemmas, etc.
The power of gratitude
Without gratitude, a workplace will seem dreary and employees would be demotivated. Imagine putting in months of effort into a passion project and not receiving a single word of praise or appreciation from your boss, would you be motivated to put in the same effort again?
Build a system in your department that revolves around the power of gratitude. Every time your team achieves even a small milestone, make sure the people who have put the effort in are recognized and applauded. This will encourage them to achieve many more milestones and targets.
Make work fun
If your workplace is boring, your employees come to work each day, work, and go home, it’s bound to get monotonous. Put in a special effort to make your workplace lively so that employees have something to look forward to every day that they come into work.
Other than the workplace, make sure there’s always something for employees to look forward to in terms of events. These events can be large scale as well as small scale.
Many organizations have annual events; for your team, you can have an annual corporate picnic planned. This will encourage team members to spend time with their family while having fun with colleagues. Small scale events like team building activities can really help boost morale too.
If you’re looking for a picnic planning company Bay Area to execute your organization’s corporate picnic, get in touch with our Bay Area corporate picnic planner. Bay Area Picnic Planners have worked with many organizations in the area, providing event planning services as well as teambuilding activities. Call 1-408-298-3001 for more information about our services.
