Managing people can be quite challenging at times but it is an important skill that everyone should have, regardless of title or position in the company hierarchy, says Sam Kahn. If you hire a team of people who are not driven to work together, it will be difficult for you to maintain their productivity. By implementing different strategies into your management, you will begin to learn to be more efficient and how to support your team best.
Sam Kahn’s leadership style is based on four principles:
1) Employees are valued, without good staff, you have no business.
2) There’s no such thing as a bad idea, only misguided. It’s great to have your employees giving input, whether you believe it’s right or wrong, make sure you promote it.
3) Management is communication and problem solving. Good management brings the best out of your employees.
4) Being open and honest, not always the easiest of tasks, but it brings its own rewards, and earns you the respect of the employees.
Sam Kahn shares the ways in which he best manages his team for efficiency, morale and increased productivity:
Understanding employees
Be aware of the type of person you want to be as a leader. Many leaders identify themselves as being task-oriented, which means that they focus on what needs to get done and do not spend time thinking about how they should be doing it, or why they should be doing it that way in the first place. Others identify with being process-oriented, which means that they are concerned with how things should be done and will spend time looking for the best way to make something work.
Having an action plan for meeting objectives
Meeting objectives is an on-going task and there is no specific strategy that can be used to meet them. It always involves a lot of trial and error and requires creativity in order to maintain a clear focus. The best thing that you can do in this situation is have an action plan for meeting your objectives. This will help you make decisions on what to do when you need to put forward a new idea or course of action.
Achievable goals are not the same as difficult to achieve goals. Achievable goals are achievable with a plan and consistency. We should keep our goals consistent and realistic. Goals that are too difficult or unrealistic should be avoided in order to avoid disappointment and frustration.
Setting up a system, where every week you are setting new manageable weekly goals will help you stick to your plans and provide motivation on achieving them.
Hold meetings with the people who are relevant to the objective
A meeting is usually an informal gathering of people where the objective is to share information or make decisions. However, these meetings can also be formal in nature like a board meeting or a performance review. This ensures that everyone involved is on the same page and understands what is required of them in order to meet the objective.
Make sure employees know how they are contributing to the company’s success
Some companies offer a variety of benefits to help employees get excited about their work. They can offer flexible work schedules, job rotation, and on-site healthcare. These benefits make it easier for employees to feel like they are contributing to the company’s success and keep them engaged in their jobs.
Ensure each individual staff member has a performance review
In order to ensure that your staff members are growing with your business, it is important to hold regular meetings or performance reviews so that you can openly discuss any matters with them and give them a space to be heard. This is an opportunity to give feedback on how they are doing, to become clearer on any new areas of development that could be created to learn and grow, and to gauge the individual’s personal goals and how you could support them to meet them.
For more business tips and advice, visit Sam’s website.