What makes a good manager? The real question is what makes a bad one? In an effort to keep employees satisfied and reduce turnover, here are five areas where employers commonly fail their employees and what to do about it:
Aligning individual work goals to the overall goals of the company is essential to driving business success. However, employees who don’t understand the company vision will have a hard time syncing their goals with the bigger picture. And only four out of 10 (41 percent) employees actually know what their company stands for and what sets it apart from the competition, according to a 2012 Gallup survey of more than 3,000 workers.
This issue (and solution) lies with employers.
Being an “opaque” leader, rather than a transparent one, results in a misaligned workforce. To build greater transparency, trust and loyalty in the workplace, keep the company vision at the forefront of everyone’s mind by regularly communicating company-wide goals.
Additionally, keep employees informed on other company matters, such as upcoming events by creating a shared company calendar or how the company is doing financially by divulging financial statements.
Employers should strive to lead by example, and that occasionally means having to answer for certain actions and outcomes. Displaying accountability is not only important to employers, but to employees. For starters, it shows responsibility and promotes trust. And an employer who doesn’t hesitate to take responsibility when the time comes is an employer that employees can proudly stand behind.
Not to mention, being quick to take accountability can save time and money that would have been wasted trying to identify the source of an issue.
See: Things Employees Would Change If They Were The Boss
Being absent from time to time can help create self-sufficient employees by requiring them to figure things out on their own. Being absent on a daily basis, however, can do more harm than good to a company’s workforce.
Increase availability by implementing — and sticking to — an open-door policy. Employers who demonstrate accessibility promote an open flow of communication. And the door swings both ways (pun intended). Employees feel comfortable approaching employers with questions, comments and concerns, and employers gain a better understanding of the daily going-ons within a department or company.
In some cases, having an open-door policy isn’t enough. To find out what’s really going on within the company, get out of the office and get involved. It is amazing what can be learned simply by taking a few minutes to walk around and talk to employees.
Tower Watson’s 2014 Global Workforce Study of more than 32,000 employees worldwide found that less than half (48 percent) of employees report that their top management is doing a good job of providing effective leadership, with 55 percent of employees wishing senior leaders would seek out feedback to identify opportunities to learn and grow.
Soliciting feedback is important to individual and overall success, but many employers tend to overlook eliciting feedback. Inviting employees to voice their thoughts and opinions during informal performance reviews, meetings or anonymously through feedback software can give employers valuable insight as well as encourage a wealth of innovative ideas.
Investing in employees is the one surefire way to get them to invest in the company. Employee development opportunities can range from assigning mentors to new hires to cross-training current staff to giving employees time off to attend work-related industry events. Whatever the method, be sure to treat employees as the company’s greatest asset by nurturing individual growth.
See also: 5 Valuable Lessons from Your Employees
Source: Entrepreneur
