How to Give Marching Orders that Don’t Feel Like Marching Orders!

Have you ever heard anyone say “being a manager/leader is easy, you just delegate a lot; it’s just managing people” or something very similar?

There are many misconceptions floating around about what being a manager looks like, and there is some truth in the fact that you are managing people. But you are not “just” managing people, you are leading people. You are creating a work environment in which people are empowered, productive, contributing, and happy.

While one of your goals as a manager is to make work a bit more enjoyable, you’re also faced with times in which you have to deliver difficult feedback, disappointing news, or unwanted tasks. But there are ways to turn those dreaded marching orders into a worthwhile goal that your employees can get on board with! Here are some tips from PrideStaff Financial to help you:

• Demonstrate that you value people.
  Your regard for people shines through in your actions and words. Your facial expression, body language, and words express what you are thinking about the people who report to you. Your goal is to demonstrate your appreciation for each person’s unique value. No matter how an employee is performing or feels about performing a current task, your value for the employee as a human being should always be visible.
• Provide frequent feedback.
  When delegating that drudge work, assign some fun and creative projects too. Assigning things like committee memberships that influence product development and decision-making, and the projects that people and customers notice. This way when you do hand out those “marching orders,” the employee(s) feel(s) more balanced in the workload that is assigned to them. They will grow and develop new skills. Your plate will be less full so you can concentrate on contribution, and your reporting staff will be productive and happy – and so will you.
• React to problems and issues before they boil over.
  Managers have a habit of hoping that an uncomfortable issue, employee conflict or disagreement will just go away on its own if they don’t provoke it or try to resolve it. It won’t. Issues, especially among people, just get worse unless something in the mix changes. Proactive intervention from the manager to coach and mentor, or to make sure employees have the skills necessary to resolve the issue, is imperative. This will lead to positive engagement with the employee(s) and possibly the truth as to why your employee or team does not want to complete a certain task. Communicating with them will help you better understand what the obstacles or challenges may be in completing a task you have assigned.

Being able to enable and empower those who work for you will not only make the task of “managing them” seem feasible, it will make you feel empowered to be the leader you want to be. For more tips and tools on effective leadership and team support, contact PrideStaff Financial.