What’s the most critical element necessary to keep good employees?
Salary? Well sure, but no. On-the-job flexibility? It’s a good one, but no cigar. Stellar perks, like company credit cards, first-class travel and the like? Maybe.
They’re all key, but those are things good employees can go anywhere to find. And if they’re really talented employees, companies will even fight over them, promising hotter perks and bigger signing bonuses.
But they aren’t THE critical element.
Giving and receiving feedback is an interaction we all tend to dodge in one way or another.
It’s not our fault, really – we’re hardwired to feel threatened when receiving feedback, and knowing that makes it hard to give.
Our brain is constantly scanning our surroundings to determine whether we’re safe. When it senses danger, our fight-or-flight response kicks in, and our mind goes into defense mode. From a neurological perspective, the words “Let me give you some feedback” hit the same pain circuits as if we were physically hit.
Obviously, this doesn’t help create a positive space for discussion.
There’s a lot of luck in getting along great with all those who work for you.
It’s hard to mold competing personalities into a cohesive team. And when it works, of course, it’s a sign you are a managerial genius!
Until a team member wants to take everyone (including you) on one of his or her Ego Trips.
It helps to have a road map, even for ego trips. Here’s a primer on some that you’ll want to avoid:
Even good managers face times when we have something difficult to say and don’t quite know quite how to say it.
Think of the last time you had a message for your team and, rather than just say it, you found yourself going over and over the exact words you wanted to use.
The reason something might be hard to say has more to do with us overthinking the meaning behind it, rather than knowing what words to use.
Here are a few of the best ways to say the hardest things:
Face it: Dealing with conflict at work is part of every resourceful manager’s job.
And if you don’t resolve the conflicts quickly, they’ll take a toll on everyone – wasting time, hurting productivity, sapping morale and costing money.
How bad can it get? Managers spend 25%-40% of their time dealing with conflicts. That’s nearly 2 days a week.
This infographic gives you a detailed breakdown of how conflict at work impacts businesses.
Chances are, when you look around, you see a group of people that hardly resembles the pool of folks you were a part of before you became a manager.
They’re likely younger, better educated, less experienced, more tech-savvy and generationally different in many ways.
Part of every manager’s role is to adapt to the dynamics of the team – not the other way around. Knowing how to work with changing demographics requires knowing how to make rules that they’ll be able, and willing, to follow.
Otherwise, people might pack up their laptops and go looking for greener pastures.
A great first step in keeping these emerging up-and-comers happy is to ditch old-style rules that went the way of 8-track tapes and TV vacuum tubes.
Here are a few of the fuddy-duddy rules you can ditch right away.
Anyone who’s ever gotten one of those emails alerts for a “company-wide meeting today at 4 – mandatory” knows the feeling of dread in the pit of the stomach.
You know there’s news, and it’s probably bad news.
And you can tell from the scared-rabbit looks on your employees’ faces that you’re going to have to cope with the panicked fall-out.
Situations like this are inevitable. But we can go into them prepared by adopting some strategies to get our teams through the bad news.
Here are 8 ways to lessen the pain (and the drama that often follows):
You’re great at leading other people, but could you do their jobs?
If not, it’s time to learn.
Before you start thinking, “Yeah, right. I’m busy enough doing my own work. I don’t have time to learn their jobs,” give us a chance.
On the surface, it might not seem important – or even feasible — that the boss knows how to do employees’ work. But new research finds the exact opposite is true.
A manager’s understanding of employees’ work has the biggest impact on their job satisfaction, a study in the Industrial and Labor Relations Review found.
No matter what you think about the Harry Potter novels, you must give it up for J.K. Rowling.
She was at rock bottom when she had the idea for the book series and wrote the first one on a manual typewriter.
It’s now estimated that after taxes, thanks to the books, movies, theme parks and television, Rowling’s earnings are $1.2 billion, according to The New York Times.
Not too shabby for a single mother who was once on welfare.
When it comes down to it, leaders, supervisors and managers can all take a page from Rowling’s book on what it takes to be successful and fulfilled both personally and professionally.
What other life/business lessons can you steal from the world-renowned author? Here are nine that could change your life:
Are you unintentionally stifling your employees’ natural curiosity?
If so, you could be undercutting your own business. Curious employees are engaged employees.
It happens. We get caught up in the haste to get things done. We move from project to project without delay so that productivity won’t screech to a halt.
But by doing that, we squelch our teams’ natural ability to think through problems, come up with solutions, and generally see the forest behind the trees.
![The Best Ways To Say The Hardest Things [‘I Screwed Up’ Is Just One]](https://www.resourcefulmanager.com/wp-content/uploads/miscalucationcartoon.png)
![Conflict At Work: The Toll On You, Your Staff And Company [Infographic]](https://www.resourcefulmanager.com/wp-content/uploads/rm-conflict-infographic-hero.png)
