.png)
As a manager, it’s your job to listen to and learn from your team, your clients, and your customers as well as from your own experiences. So often managers will get stuck in a cycle where they are so busy “managing” that they forget these basic skills. Here are a few quick reminders of how you can get back into touch with your employees.
As The Manager, Identify Their Needs
The best way to do this is to listen. A manager may have no clue that their team is unhappy; productivity is then halted with the unhappy team, leaving the manager to question why. Employees may begin to spend more time gossiping and figuring out ways to avoid work than actually working.
Listen To Your Team
Hold one-on-one meetings and ask them what you could do to make their experience better. Hold weekly staff meeting for collaboration and team building. A team who knows each other and feels like their voice can be heard and valued does much better work, rather than experiencing the pressure of feeling as though it’s every man for himself.
Listen To Your Clients
If you are spending most of your days putting out fires, figure out why. It could be one simple fix, or it could be several little things that need tweaking. Your customers will complain when they are upset; pay attention to their grievances, so fix them, and then fix the behavior or issue that lead to the problem. Keeping your clients happy will lead to more sales and more money for your company, which can lead to more money for your team.
Listen To Your Experiences
Do you dread going to work? Do you go out of your way to avoid certain employees or clients? Take your feelings and turn them into productive changes in your office. Figure out why you avoid certain employees are clients, why you don’t like going into the office, or why you avoid certain tasks. Often there are solid reasons that are fixable.
Keying in and listening to your clients, employees, and yourself can lead to a more productive and healthy work environment.
If you are looking for more great tips, check out our other blogs here!