How to Lead and Manage People – Part One

In organizations we must work with and for others. To be able to mutually achieve our goals we must be able to relate to others effectively. These ideas will help you do just that.

• Catch people doing things right and then let them know that they are doing things right.
• Use feedback to stay informed about what other people are doing in your area of responsibility and authority.
• Have regular, focused meetings regarding the projects that you are responsible for.
• Provide adequate instructions. Time is lost if things are not done correctly.
• Train others to do jobs. You cannot do them all, nor can others do them if they have not been trained.
• Expect others to succeed. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when you believe others are loyal, dedicated and doing a good job.
• Help others see how they will benefit from doing a job. This is when they truly become motivated.
• Do not avoid talking to a poor performer. It hurts them, the organization and yourself if the situation is not dealt with.
• Do not over control others. It is frustrating for them and time-consuming for you.
• Focus on results, not on activities or personalities.
• Reward people for the results that they produce.
• Manage by walking around. See what people are doing and listen to what they have to say.
• Make quality an obsession, especially on smaller items.
• Send thank you notes and memos.
• Provide workers with open, direct, and immediate feedback on their actual performance as compared to expected performance and they tend to correct their own deficiencies.
• Practice naive listening. Don't talk, just let people explain why they are doing the types of things that they are doing. You will learn many things.
• Manage by exception. When things are going well, leave them alone. When a problem occurs, then help.
• Never seek to place blame. Always focus on the problem.
• Never ignore a concern of one of your people. While it may seem trivial to you, to the other person it is a problem that will continue to destroy his or her train of thought.
• Make it a personal rule and a challenge to respond to someone within 24 hours of hearing his or her request.
• Keep memos on bulletin boards to a minimum. People will spend less time standing there reading.
• Give employees an opportunity to speak their opinions and suggestions without fear of ridicule or reprisal.
• When you are going to make a change that affects others, get them involved before making the actual change. This increases commitment to make the change work after it is implemented.
• Put key ideas on small posters to hang around the office.
• When the environment and your sincerity permit, give the person a hug or a touch.
• Employees are the only organization resource that can, with training, appreciate in value. All other resources depreciate.
• People want to be involved in something important. Give them a whole project or a significant piece of the project to work on.
• Have salary tied into performance appraisal and accomplishment of objectives.
• Consider sharing distasteful tasks to reduce resentment and hard feelings.
• Ask, "Will you please do this for me" instead of telling someone just to do it.
• Eliminate private secretaries in favor of shared secretaries in order to make it easier to even out the work load.
• If you give employees a basic employee handbook, you will not be interrupted with their questions.
• Pay attention to small details, the big ones are obvious and get taken care of.
• Stay open in your thinking. Be open to all new ideas. Do this and you will not be setting up barriers that do not exist.
• Avoid asking others to do trivial personal items for you.
• Say thank you to those with whom you associate.
• A warm smile and strong handshake break barriers.
• Smile. It helps you feel better and is contagious. The whole organization shudders when the boss is frowning. Likewise it smiles when the boss does.
• Keep things "light" and have fun rather than being too serious.
• Seriousness blocks productivity.
• In order to fly with the eagles you must "think lightly."
• Work with each person to create standard operating procedures for their specific job. It will eliminate repetitious questions.
• Let people know why they are doing something. It then becomes more meaningful when they recognize their part in a greater vision.
• Provide soft, lively background music, not slow and not rock.
• To get a disorganized coffee drinking crew started off more efficiently, begin each day with a 5 to 10 minute meeting just at starting time. They will be focused, set in the right direction and can get right to work.
• Practice the golden rule in business: Do unto others the way you would have them do unto you. Fairness will then be in your business.
• Practice the platinum rule in interpersonal relationships. It is "Do unto others, the way they want to be done unto." They will be more apt to stay comfortable when interacting with us when we are able to do things their preferred way.

This article is reprinted with permission from Bizmove.com, a free informational web site for entrepreneurs and small business owners that provides free guides and tips for starting and growing businesses.