Dear Silpa,
Because of the downsizes, mergers, re-organizations, employee diversity, today’s leaders have to work more like public relations agents than like the number-crunchers of the past.
If there is a way to measure the way you’ll be working from now on, one end of that tape you’ll see the use of traditional management skills, and on the other, the mentoring/monitoring system of dealing with self-directed work teams and empowered, skilled, knowledgeable employees.
Today’s measuring system indicates that your job is not so much to conduct monthly budget reviews or demonstrate your economic problem-solving prowess, as it is to articulate where your company, your department, your division, or your entrepreneurial organization is going – not only where it is going but how it’s going to get there.
Your main functions, then, are to hire, train, and retain a wide diversity of good people with knowledge and skills; empower them to be accountable for their area of expertise; turn them loose to do their jobs; and provide rewards and incentives for them to keep up the good work.
Well, let talk about how to develop your employees into team players? You can do this by getting to know the following variables in your team:
- Because of the age, education, and ethnic background of your people, you need to get a very clear picture of what your team force looks like.
- You need to know what values are held by the majority of your employees. The best way to do this is to talk to them individually, hold discussions in groups, and then watch and listen.
- Ask your employees what they see when they “look” at your company, department, or division. In other words, what kind of organization do they think you have and how do they think it can be brought to a higher level of competency and productivity?
- Match people to your existing jobs; not the other way around. Reinforce and reward excellent performance. Keep people informed of what’s going on and be as supportive of their lifestyles as you possibly can be by utilizing such things as flex time, networking stations, and a functioning feedback loop.
- Once you have implemented the first four items, look at your rate of turnover, the quality of your new-hires, team rapport, overall productivity, and the number and kind of grievances you’re getting, to get an overall picture of how you’re progressing in developing truly empowered teams in your organization.
Best regards,
John