Few things run well without leadership. Even mechanical devices required innovative engineers to develop a quality design. An experienced leader understands it’s about being able to focus and direct the combined energy of a group of people. Motivation is your accelerator. It will shift your team into a higher gear allowing you to achieve more with less effort.
Threats, spoken or not, will achieve the opposite effect. They will cause an automatic reaction in your employee’s brain, which will cause then to make more errors and cut off their problem solving skills.
Unexplained closed-door meetings are like introducing the flu to the group. Some employees feel secure with their job and will not react, while others will need to take a sick day and upgrade their resume. An information vacuum will suck the life from your workers and replace it with fear.
Your team needs the nutrition of appreciation and encouragement to grow to their potential. You can transform a lagging employee with a simple, “Good Job” or “Thank You.” Utilizing appreciation will make your job much easier. You will also find that appreciation is contagious. You will find your team working together rather then protecting their work by sabotaging others.
It would be easier to work with machines, because they do not have emotions. Simply add a little lubrication now and then, and they will work well for years. Your job as a manager of living, breathing employees, is much more challenging then that of a mechanic. So treat them with respect. They are your number one assets!
Ken Bear Cole
A Second Look Business Consulting LLC.
