How To Effectively Manage Your Employees

Managing employees effectively is not a walk in the park.

For many, it’s a failing task and a huge stumbling block to business success.

Employee management requires that you oversee the workforce, departments and functions, and sometimes micro-manage employee performance for accountability, task completion and delivery.

Employee management includes

• selecting the right people for your workforce,
• setting up measurable benchmarks for achievement and careful appraisal,
• overseeing day-to-day activities,
• effectively communicating tasks and expectations,
• ensuring discipline and accountability,
• providing healthy feedback and
• rewarding staff performance when necessary.

Effective staff management is the pillar of every successful business irrespective of the organizational size or workforce strength.

Good employee management means that employees are effectively engaged, have more commitment and ultimately better productivity.

This directly and positively impacts talent retention, overall improvement in service output, increased customer satisfaction and overall business success.

To put all these within your grasp, here are Mentor Africa Foundation’s top picks for effective employee management.

5 Ways To Effectively Manage Your Employees

1. Identity a Management Style That Works for Your Organization

It is often said that a manager is only as good as his/her last project.

However, more objectively, a manager is only as good as the team they have built, and building the right team for your business is heavily reliant on your management style.

Management style refers to how a manager works towards reaching set targets.

It’s how he/she organizes, prioritizes, plans, designs, appoints and delegates duties within his/her workforce.

Management styles vary across individuals but are generally determined by the industry, size of the workforce, management level/organizational hierarchy, company policies, the skill level of employees, etc.

A great manager knows how and when to adjust their management style to fit situations.

Some management styles include:

• Authoritative management style
• Persuasive management style
• Paternalistic management style
• Participative management style
• Consultative management style
• Collaborative management style
• Coaching management style
• Delegative management style

2. Encourage Career Development

Great managers recognize the value of employee career development as a major company policy.

Your employees should not only be encouraged to learn new skills, but your organization should provide those learning opportunities.

Continual employee development is a gift that keeps on giving. Providing opportunities for employees to develop current skills or learn new skills helps them provide more value for your organisation while affording them the chance to build their portfolios making them more valuable to your organisation’s repertoire.

Regular performance reviews should include a careful evaluation of employees’ career aspirations, career paths and recognize how your organization can track and build on employee skillset.

Great ways to encourage continuous employee development include

• Organising regular training sessions
• Encourage employee personal development
• Rotate employee roles to test performance
• Create a workplace mentoring program
• Create a clear succession plan for career growth within the organisation

3. Manage Employee Requirements and Expectations

Organisational expectations and employee input/output should be managed effectively for optimum productivity.

This involves setting easy to understand performance expectations and key performance indicators (KPIs) while ensuring an open two-way feedback channel to make sure employees always stay on course to task completion and evaluation.

This includes setting up regular performance reviews to access performance vis-à-vis organizational expectations.

Performance reviews are key to helping employees reach their full potential, build confidence and serves as a helpful channel for managers to clarify roles and expectations or any company policies that could be misconstrued or lost in translation.

Furthermore, performance reviews help foster a culture of trust between managers and employees, as shown in a Harvard Business

Review survey that 58% of people would trust a stranger over their boss as they felt less comfortable with their bosses.

Some common performance review methods include:

• Self-Appraisal
• Behavioural Checklist
• Management By Objectives (MBO)
• 360 Degree Feedback
• Grading system

4. Build Effective Communication Channels

Effective communication is the transfer of information wherein the proposed information is successfully delivered, received and understood by all parties involved.

More than ensuring effective communication, managers should create a plan for the effective dissemination of information to all parties involved.

Managers should ensure valuable intel like business development plans, changes within the organization or external changes in the business environment and effect it may have on the organization, personnel transfers within departments, marketing and promotions, departmental and general organization performance, etc.

Communication should be open, direct and free-flowing from top to bottom and bottom to top when required. Also, feedback mechanism, one-on-one employee/manager conversations and employee appraisals should be encouraged and practised.

5. Create a Reward System for Employees

Everyone loves to be appreciated, including the people getting paid to do a job.

Employee appreciation is vital for creating a positive workplace, boosting morale, and improving workplace productivity.

The best way to show appreciation in a balanced and non-biased way is to set up an employee reward system.An employee reward system refers to company-sponsored incentives provided to members of staff based on individual or team performances.

These incentives may come in the form of verbal approval, end of year bonuses, one-time bonuses, salary increment, commissions, company-sponsored vacations, gifts, etc.

Research has shown that employees that are continually rewarded for their efforts, contributions and achievements have a positive outlook towards work-life and are generally more productive.

Employee management might come off as a herculean task, however, when successfully implemented, the effects are positive and far-reaching.