Take the Time to Know How Your Employees are Doing

Do you know how your employees are doing?

Don’t just say yes. Really think about it. Think about the individual coworkers that you see day-to-day, and ask yourself if you truly know how they are doing.

It is important to keep up with how your employees are doing for many reasons.

Think of how you feel when someone really takes the time to get to know you, and to check up on you regularly. It makes you feel valued and important, right? Maybe it increases your mood, puts a smile on your face or encourages you to ask how someone else is doing. No matter what, there’s no doubt that it makes you feel good.

If you see the benefit of this in your own life, make sure to apply it in your workplace. If you take the time to get to know your staff members and check up on them regularly, it will surely make them feel valued and important as well.

As the work relationship grows, your employee will continue to feel more and more a part of the team, and your business will be sure to grow in these three areas: customer service, work environment, and vision pursuit.

Customer Service

Business owners depend on their staff to provide excellent customer service. Think about the quality of service, or lack thereof, that would be provided by employees that hate their job.

If someone comes to work each and every day upset, frustrated or in a bad mood, they’re not going to represent the company well in any capacity.

The more that you can do to make your employees feel appreciated and thankful to be working where they are, the more they will naturally provide greater customer service.

Work Environment

All parts of your business create a culture within your company. One of these parts includes the team you build up. The staff members you employ have a large effect on the atmosphere of your office.

Who would want their workers talking behind their backs? What business owner would desire their employees to dislike them?

Care for your employees well, and the environment of your workplace will certainly be pleasant.

Vision Pursuit

Look at your business vision. Are you going in that direction? Or are you moving farther away from what you originally desired for your company?

Do your employees know about your vision?

As you care for your employees and show them that you appreciate them and are thankful for all that they do, they will naturally show that they love their job.

This is where loyalty develops. They want your company to see success. They want your company to grow.

If they know your vision and are being taken care of by their authority, they will surely work their best and hardest to pursue the company’s vision.

How can you apply this?

Here is just one example. Maybe you have noticed that one of your employees has been slacking lately. Try taking them out to lunch and see what they’re going through. Ask how you can pray for them.

This simple act can make a huge difference in terms of their performance as an employee and their happiness as a person.

Ryan C. Bailey is an Executive Coach who helps business leaders develop in-demand high performing teams.

Grit: An Indicator of Success?

Repeatedly in research, the same question is being presented: Is intelligence the determinant of achievement and success?

The idea was first introduced over a century ago by a man named William James, who asked two questions:

“What are the types of human abilities and, second by what diverse means do individuals unleash these abilities?”

From these questions, the concept of intellect and ways of measuring it were derived. People wanted to know what makes someone smart and how you could distinguish those individuals from others. Since then, IQ has been studied extensively because it is measurable and familiar.

However, if IQ is the determinant of success, then how do individuals of similar IQ vary so widely in their achievement? Do traditionally non-cognitive attributes, such as creativity, motivation, leadership, perseverance and passion, play no role in success?

IQ is an Incomplete Measure of Success

Research demonstrates that understanding IQ is only touching the surface of human intellect and our capabilities for achievement.

The concept of intellect needs to be broadened.

There is a need for the inclusion of soft skills as attributes of intellect just as traditional cognitive processes are. When these characteristics become an addition to the pre-existing understanding of intellect, then a score on a test is not the only determining factor of future success and outcomes. There are far too many forms of intelligence and talent to be limited to one measure of capability.

In settings of which there are many highly distinguished and set apart individuals (such as medicine, law, investing and academia), individuals were asked what makes someone stand out. Frequently, the answers had little to do with IQ.

Grit: What is it and what does it have to do with success?

Distinguished individuals stood out in their field due to what researchers calls “grit”. Grit is defined as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress” (Duckworth, 2007).

What sets successful people apart is not how smart they are, but rather their innate traits that make them hard workers and over-comers of obstacles.

Another study surveyed 140 eighth grade students to examine just one aspect of grit: self-discipline. These findings showed intelligence alone does not determine success. The study produced significant data showing self-discipline is a substantial predictor of academic performance, more so than IQ.

Intellectual factors (including those discussed above like soft skills) as well as non-intellectual factors (such as self-discipline or grit) have to work together to produce outcomes. IQ alone is not enough.

Think of your most successful co-worker or employee. What sets them apart from the rest? Is it their intellect? Or are there other factors contributing to their achievements? We’d love to hear your feedback!

Ryan C. Bailey is an Executive Coach who helps business leaders develop in-demand high performing teams.

It's Not You, It's Me (And Other Management Skills)

Management Skills

A lot of times, it’s easy for managers to blame the downfalls of the company and its work environment on the fault of the employees they are managing. Their thoughts are full of ‘if only’s and ‘should have’s.

“If only my employees were more motivated.”

“This employee should have worked harder for a better outcome.”

But what if the problem isn’t your employees? What if the root of the problem is actually you?

The Manager Controls the Outcome

It’s easy to play the blame game when the outcome depends on the performance of others. However, our role as leaders is to manage our employees in such a way that the team reaches its goals together. It is the responsibility of the manager to ensure success. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, and it will depend on the unique structure and environment of your workplace and employees. Your behavior today will drive tomorrow’s results. Regardless of present circumstances, you can make changes now as management that will change the future outcomes of your organization.

Communication is Key

If you expect specific results, you must be able to communicate those expectations to your employees. When you’re unhappy in a relationship, you must communicate the changes that need to happen for the relationship to succeed. Otherwise, the relationship will continue on as it is.

Just as a football team can’t play well if the coach never calls the play, your employees can’t perform if you don’t communicate the game plan. Seeing the big picture of where you are taking the company may be the push your employees need to make a change. It is hard to move forward with no direction. Perspective will give your employees new insight and reduce your frustration as a manager.

We’re All in This Together

Don’t allow yourself to get into the habit of a “me vs. them” mentality with your employees. If you are just as liable for the performance of your company as they are, then you should be in this together. You are their accountability, and they are yours. You can’t do it without them, and vice versa. So don’t make it a competition between you and them. You’re on the same team, partners in the same relationship, hopefully working toward the same goals. Maybe it’s time you get in the game alongside them.

Ryan C. Bailey is an Executive Coach who helps business leaders develop in-demand high performing teams.