12 ways to be a good boss
Friday, 15 April 2011 00:00
Chris Barling gives 12 tips for being a good boss and maintaining a motivated workforce. Three key points are:
- Be authentic, honest and lead by example
- Listen and communicate with staff
- Empower people and get them involved
Pretty much every business depends on its people, so managing staff is one of the key factors in achieving business success. Chris Barling has over three decades of experience in managing people and here he looks at some of the ingredients that can create a successful and highly motivated work force.
1. Be true to yourself
The saying “do what I say not what I do” doesn’t cut it in the work place. In the long run no-one will be prepared to do things differently to you. Here’s an example of someone who was working for a well known UK organisation. To motivate staff, there was a poster on the wall exhorting them that “Quality comes first”. As his boss went on holiday despite vital deadlines, my friend wrote on the poster, “Holidays come first”. Not exactly professional, but you get my drift.
2. Lead by example
Similarly, if you are going to tell people that “we’re all in this together”, then you need to make sure that both rewards and pain are shared by everyone. The principle of leading by example applies everywhere in the business.
3. Don’t rip off your customers
Nobody wants to work for a company that rips customers off, if only because they will get the rough end of customer’s tongues. There may be a few exceptions, but they will be the very people who will be happy to rip you off too. They may even tell themselves they are doing the community a favour when they do.
4. Listen before speaking
Everywhere I have worked people have complained that “nobody asked me”, although when things are being done right, there is less complaining. One way to deal with this is to make sure you listen at all levels of the organisation.
You could work for a week in one of the front line jobs, but you can also use staff surveys and one-on-one interviews with a variety of staff. There are also suggestion schemes, team building days and workshops. It doesn’t just motivate staff, you will gain a lot of valuable insights too.
5. Be visionary
There may be a few people who are happy to place themselves in other’s hands with no clue where they are going, but they are a small minority. So if you want people to feel comfortable, communicate the direction that the company is taking, and the values that should accompany that direction. Just make sure that “vision” and “values” are really the strategic direction that the company will, and should take over the years.
6. Keep everyone informed
As well as vision, people need to know the day-to-day news. If you don’t tell them, the rumour mill will kick in, and in the wrong hands, it can cause all sorts of damage. So make sure that your staff get updated on a regular basis about what’s going on, be that via gathering people together, an intranet or a noticeboard.
7. Give staff the right tools
My student days are burnt into my psyche and I still remember struggling to get rusted suspension parts off my old banger of a car. Things changed after I spent a few pounds on a new removal device. Two hours of frustration turned into an easy ten minute job. Providing the right tools makes a huge difference to staff motivation. Ask them what they need and let one of them find the appropriate bit of kit. Possibly not as easy as visiting the DIY superstore or even PC World, but sites like Quora, LinkedIn Answers, or just a search engine are sure to yield the solution.
8. Allow discretion
Everyone likes to make a difference, and it’s particularly hard if you deal with customers and can’t help them. If you give staff discretion, monitor things and apply some gentle correction if wrong choices are made, you can increase motivation and get much better overall results. Obviously the extent to which this can be allowed depends on the safety and legislative environment.
In general though, it’s much better to have everyone thinking about how to help, and making occasional mistakes than having a bunch of jobsworths who are scared to step outside the procedure. We all know from personal experience how painful that is for the customer.
9. Let staff set their targets
When a project needs doing, ask the staff to estimate how long things will take. Go through with them making sure it’s all reasonable, then hold them to the plan. This is very effective at both motivating staff and managing tasks.
10. Give and take
We all want flexibility in how we deal with the special treats, emergencies and problems in our lives, and our staff are no different. So it’s important to let them leave early to get to the occasional event or attend a dental appointment. The effort will be repaid with equal loyalty and flexibility on their part.
11. Remove the politicians
Keep politics out of your business as much as possible. If there is an atmosphere where people feel free to express their opinions, that will help a lot. Be suspicious of managers that always do everything you want without a murmur, and are too easy to manage. A few disagreements indicate someone who cares about the job, rather than just their career. If possible, shoot the politicians. It’s the one place where being ultra-hard line will motivate the rest of your staff.
12. Let them grow
It’s hard to stay motivated if you feel that your career is going nowhere. The antidote is to try to emphasise opportunities within the company, promoting internally when you can. Find great external training to help with performance and let employees understand that they are developing their capabilities. The best will repay you by staying longer.
Finally … would I want to work here?
Would you have been happy to join your company when you got your first job? If so, then probably your business is full of motivated employees. Remember the frustrations and progress you yourself made. Most of the answers lie in our own experience.
Written by Chris Barling, CEO of ecommerce and EPOS supplier, Actinic. Originally published on BusinessZone.