How You Can Adapt
Managing employees is a complicated game that is vital to the ongoing success of every organization. Well-managed employees are more productive, happy and committed to both the organization and the task at hand. While some managers have a natural flair for “people skills” and managing a myriad of personalities even the best leaders will run into employees with whom their particular style doesn’t mesh. It’s inevitable.
Be Prepared
While every manager is bound to encounter workers who don’t seem to listen, there are ways to be prepared for this situation. By being prepared and knowing how and when to adapt, a good manager will be able to strengthen that weak relationship and turn a negative into a positive. The benefits don’t just include a more productive employee but also a strengthening of the overall team. A manager that cares about his employees and their relationship is a manager who a team of employees will follow.
What To Do Once A Weak Relationship Has Been Detected
The first step to strengthening a relationship is understanding that every one is different. While your managerial style might be compatible with 95% of your employees, just because it doesn’t work for 5% doesn’t mean that your style (or those employees) are broken. Different people respond to different types of communication, and communication is the key to any relationship. It is up to the manager to adapt.
Get to know all your employees as people. By taking a real interest in your employees lives, goals and hobbies, you are developing a deeper relationship and building trust and mutual respect along the way. The more trust and respect you have built with a person, the easier it will be to identify when things aren’t going well. It will also allow that person to feel more comfortable around their manager and that will help two-way communication.
Some employees prefer a manager who gives them autonomy and allows them to do their job with minimal supervision, while other employees respond better to a more authoritative approach where everything they have to do is laid out by the manager. No matter the employee, by communication expectations, priorities and deadlines clearly all employees will have the information they need to do the job in a way that makes them comfortable (and most productive).
Trust Is Key
By communicating clearly and laying out objectives and expectations, a manager can trust in their ability to lead while the employees will see that their manager trusts them to follow instructions and do their job. Taking responsibility is another aspect of a strong leader and not throwing employees under the bus when things go poorly is another way to keep the bond of trust strong.
Valuing your people, communicating clearly at all times, demonstrating leadership and strong direction and developing trust will build a work environment that is inclusive of all personality types and will give the manager the transparency they need to adapt and get the most out of their full team. Once this positive environment is established, it becomes much easier for the manager to adapt to the unique personalities of each of their employees.
