Give your team a boost
Often we forget just how great our employees and colleagues are and the level of contribution they make to our business objectives and to the quality and care of children. After such hard times we will have either been reminded of their value, or perhaps been so busy trying to get things back together that we forget to give the team a little boost and recognition for their efforts and acknowledge a job well done.
However, it’s never too late to get back to good management practices and help your team re-group and prepare for the challenges to come.
A close look at yourself
To motivate your staff and ensure they have a working environment that will yield excellence in every area, you must first take a cold look at yourself as a manager, supervisor or owner of the business. Your attitude and people management skills will have a big positive, or negative, impact on staff performance and happiness, so it’s certainly worth reviewing your approach before trying to motivate others. Just as you will set expectations of work quality and performance for individuals in your team, those same expectations apply to you, so ask yourself the question, “What am I prepared to do and do I expect of myself?
Aside from attitude and work standards, review your skills and experiences and look to plug any gaps there may be. It may have been a while since you last attended training and development events and there are so many areas as a manager that you need a good level of proficiency in such as, organizational skills, communication, listening skills, problem solving, handling conflict and developing an open and happy work environment to name just a few! So consider refreshing your skills and approach to improve your ability to develop a great team.
Choose your attitude
When we communicate we choose our attitude, maybe subconsciously sometimes, but we do have a choice!
So it is pretty clear what kind of attitudes that come across in our daily conversations will be well received by customers and staff and which will not.
As a customer I demand respect and a friendly manner, not a rude or officious person who is too busy to really be bothered with me, the latter usually fails to get my business!
As an employee or team member I expect respect and a friendly manner also, along with elements of business formality where they are needed. This approach will help me function within a team where I feel valued and motivated to give my best to my manager and colleagues.
So in choosing our attitude more carefully and improving our own approaches to situations, we can create a great working environment for our staff and ourselves making for a happier more motivating time at work.
Involving people
There are so many aspects to motivation to talk about but this is one that has so many positives. One of the best ways to get your team working well together and feeling part of the organization is to involve them in problem solving and decision-making.
Firstly, if you create structures for problem solving where everyone can get involved, it not only helps create new thinking and solutions, but also can be used to neutralize conflicts that may be occurring within the team. This form of team “self resolution” helps you get a more considered perspective of issues and provides a mechanism to find solutions.
Decision-making follows naturally from this as the team have had an input to the problem solving and hence informed the decisions that need to be taken, eliminating the choice of one persons solution over another which can lead to resentment. So find a way to get people involved in problems solving and decision making and show them their views are valued.
So why not have a good look at ways you can start giving your team a much-needed boost as we move into the summer months.
Information & Support available
If you need more information or support on any of the circumstances outlined above please do contact us, particularly…
· More detail on motivation
· Performing a self review
· How to improve your attitude
· Model structures for Problem solving and Decision Making
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We will put all future articles in Best Start and put a link to our website at the end of each article so you can access our information at any time.
If you would like support at any point, please do contact us on contact@cbisengland.co.uk
