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Now You Can Really Motivate Your Staff To Go The Extra Mile

Written by: Andrew Rondeau

Article Overview: 25% of your staff do not know what is expected of them, while at work. Are you shocked at that figure - 25%. I was, so I did something about it. Read the tips and techniques I used to reduce that figure.

Now You Can Really Motivate Your Staff To Go The Extra Mile

Be an Effective Manager and Tell Them

To have a successful career in any company you must know how to build relationships.

And the most important relationship is between the manager and their direct reports. The strength of this relationship can have a direct result on the success of a team. Yes the relationship between the manager and their staff must be ‘open and ‘trustworthy, that's a given – but what else should you expect from your staff as their manager?

During my 20 years plus management career, I've observed and experienced that certain behaviors, on the part of both the staff and the manager, are conducive to productive and rewarding relationships.

I share my views below and I hope that I can help other managers, leaders, staff and teams to improve their relationships and as a consequence, their performance.

What I Expect from My Direct Reports

Get involved

Successful managers know how to delegate. But even more important, they know when a situation calls for their immediate involvement, whether it's in redirecting resources to a major crisis or visiting their staff at a remote site. If you see a problem rising, there is no excuse for not taking responsibility. I expect my reports to take the blame for things that go wrong and give credit for positive developments to their employees. That is part of being a manager – take the blame but praise the staff/team when things work out well.

It is the manager's judgment call to know when your involvement is necessary and will have the most impact on the business. I have found that effective managers generally get involved when one of these three types of circumstances arise: when somebody is falling behind in their commitments; when important personnel matters arise and in a crisis.

Generate ideas

A person who is innovative and creative is rare. I actually encourage individuals to come up with ideas. I listen to what they suggest and say. Together we decide which ideas are taken forward and implemented.

Be willing to collaborate and share

The number of people I come across who resist collaboration or sharing credit amazes me. Individuals think by keeping ‘things to themselves' they will become infallible or irreplaceable. The team, department, company can achieve improved results if individuals share their good ideas, practice, ways of working.

As a manager, you have to take this very seriously and I do. Several years ago, I was hired to improve the turnaround time of customer orders for a large blue-chip company. Two of my direct reports just did not get on; they didn't talk to each other; they didn’t turn up to each other's meetings; they argued in front of customers. All this meant they didn't and couldn't work together and because they didn't work together well, neither did their teams. As a result, service was not improving. The three of us met and I told them that it didn’t matter whether they liked each other or not, but the way they worked together had to change. They left the meeting with the agreement they would overcome their differences. I don't know if they ever learned to like each other, but they learned to work well together – and more important, so did their teams. Our overall performance improved considerably.

Be willing to lead initiatives

I love change and as a manager, I am always impressed when someone volunteers to lead new initiatives. It shows courage, confidence and flexibility. New initiatives often means new skills, new relationships and new environments, for the individual who volunteers. Most individuals won't put their hand up to volunteer because of the unknown. All I can say, it that those that do, it will be their careers they will accelerate and their profile will increase tremendously.

Develop your staff as you develop

You need to manage your own development. However, even more important is the development of your staff. Early in my career, I worked for a great manager. He told me one day, he was going to do everything he could to help me reach my potential. From that moment on, he was more interested in my development than in his own. He went out of his way to criticice or praise me when I needed it. I'll never forget him; he played a very meaningful role in my career.

Drive your own development

Keep your own skills up-to-date. Your company may not offer all the development you need. You may have to do your own research. In my career I have read many, many management/leadership/business books (some bad, some good, some excellent). I have also had many mentors.

Ask your boss and peers for feedback. Get yourself a mentor (inside or outside the company). Accept and volunteer for new types of work – learn from the new skills, relationships and environments.

Remember your own development is your responsibility.

A last word…..

25% of all staff don't know what their boss expects of them. As a manager, make sure 100% of your staff know what you expect of them. It's easy to do – the behaviors I expect are listed above. You may have different ones. It doesn't matter – just make sure your staff know. If they do, you will see an improvement in your team's service.

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Article Tags: circumstances, commitments, consequence, excuse, judgment call, management career, personnel matters, relationship, rewarding relationships, staff team, successful managers, taking responsibility



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Social media - which is more effective social media networking; Facebook or twitter? follow me at My Secret Staff cathy secretstaff05
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
Re: Trade Show Success Strategies - As a frequent attendee and participant in trade shows, I've found the following tips to be useful: 1) Staff in the booth must be trained to listen to the needs of the visitor, record those interests and if appropriate, commit to getting back to that person within a short time frame. Capture those leads and act on them! 2) The booth needs to be 'busy' - hustle is eye catching and generates interest 3) Homogeneity (common dress) facilitates the visitor to find someone to speak to 4) 'Freebees' need to be selectively handed out and when they are, there must be a personal conection to them (e.g. "You'd like one of our 'whatevers' - we're running a little short right now but here, please take mine")
Cafe Expenses - Hi Michele I used to work in a place that had a cafe that broke even every month. This is due to the fact that we couldn't get enough people through buying food and drinks to make a profit and the expenses consisted of: - Staff wages - Not selling all food so it would go to waste - Rent for occupying the premises - Selling products that had a low turn over - Customers would never come back a 2nd time due to the location I would imagine a restaurant would be the same with the hardest part attracting people every night to make a profit while setting your prices at the right price to keep people coming back.
How To Make Up for Mistakes? - This topic has more to do with restaurants, I would think, than any other type of business, but I just thought I'd throw it out there. Earlier today I went to my local Kentucky Fried Chicken, where it quickly became clear that probalby 2/3rds of the staff were brand new... As I came in someone was complaining that they'd been given the wrong order, and 30 minutes later when I left, it was just after a man came into complain that he'd been given the wrong order. (Obviously through drivethru.) Why was I there for 30 minutes? I came in and ordered an 8 piece original meal. 5 minutes later I was told it was going to be another ten minutes, as the chicken had just gone down. 10 minutes later, I was told that *that* chicken had been the Extra Crispy, and they had run out of original and so it would be another 15 minutes for that. 15 minutes later...the manager told me that the original recipe had *just* gone down, the person he'd told to do it 15 minutes ago hadn't done it. Now, to make up for my 30 minute wait, the manager did give me 4 extra pieces of chicken, free. And then I got home to discover that instead of being given a side order of coleslaw, I'd been given green beans. Even if the green bean/cole slaw mixup hadn't happened... I seriously, seriously doubt if I'll ever go back to that KFC. Granted it was obvious that they were training in new people, but there's a point where sheer ineptitude begins to be apparent - they should be training people such that no one is on the floor who doesnt' know their job! And even though the manager gave me those 4 extra pieces of chicken as an apology, and although I appreciated it - and felt I deserved it - I will not be going back to that KFC any time soon. So.... from a restauranteur's standpoint, was it a waste of good chicken to give me those extra pieces when chances are I would never return?


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