It goes without saying that everyone appreciates knowing their work is making a difference. It also probably goes without saying that most employees don’t hear it enough from their direct reports.
A simple habit of 1:1 meetings or weekly face-time with the people on your team will allow you so much more than checking on their tasks. Here’s a list of tangible reasons for meeting 1:1:
- Encouragement: A weekly 1:1, even a short hallway 1:1 gives the leader the ability to tell the employee how their work is impacting the company and helping to achieve their goals. Connect their job to a greater “why” and watch productivity soar.
- Coaching: How are you coaching your team members? Everyone needs a coach regardless of their position in the organization. Build up where you see them excelling, offer tools, books, and advise on how to increase their productivity and growth opportunities. Sometimes coaching looks like accountability, and sometimes it looks like teaching. Either way it must be done from a mindset of helping the other person be the best version of themselves.
- Perspective: Share your perspective and listen to theirs. This is essential for clarity and communication. Don’t assume everyone knows and understands what you do.
- Voice: Allow others to have a voice, ask good questions and listen. Take into consideration all that is shared.
- Resourcing: Ask if they have everything they need to do their job with excellence. If an employee has been on the job for two weeks and doesn’t have a computer this is a fail. It doesn’t honor the new employee and it slows down the organization. Sometimes it’s as simple as needing a better stapler (true story). Just ask.
Sometimes these moments are not with people who are in your direct report line, but peers or others within the organization. A story from a local business is a prime example. A tenured, older leader was approached by a younger team member to inquire about applying for a different internal position. This younger leader, being very eager to continue to climb within the company, had applied for numerous positions that year. The tenured leader advised this enthusiastic younger leader to decide what he actually wanted to do and stay in that lane. Fast forward three years later, he took the advice and was recently promoted to a Director level position after being diligent to his “calling”. He will not soon forget the advice and more than that, the care he received from someone he looked to for guidance.
Influencing and coaching others is not just necessary for people to know that their contributions are actually making a difference, but it instills trust, confidence and a sense of ownership for something bigger than just a job. And that leads to bottomline results. If you want high productivity, low turn-over and better outcomes, consider how you’re pouring into the people on your team.