Being a leader is not about telling people what to do, micromanaging, and beating down on those who make mistakes.
To be a great leader, you must see the best in people and use those strengths in your organization and help them grow on their weaknesses. If someone is struggling, you want to ensure you are not beating down on them. You need to ensure a few things:
1 - Are they brand new? If so, they need time to understand your processes, their job, and their duties. It is your job to get them the assistance they need, or help them yourself to feel part of a great team where communication and collaboration are 100% acceptable.
2 - Are they properly trained? Did you provide proper training, On-The-Job training, outsourced training, any and all training needed legally? If not, that is on you and you need to ensure that is done.
3 - Did you ask them if there are any issues? Are you actively listening? Following up after the first few days is key to understanding how they are feeling about the job, if they feel they had proper training, or if there are any hiccups you do not yet know about. Listen to what they say and create your action plan together.
4 - If they have been there awhile and all the items above are done, you need to do a Performance Improvement Plan. This is not to talk down to them. This is a plan you come up WITH them to ensure they receive any training, assistance, etc they need. You may have missed something too.
5 - If all else fails, yelling or being demeaning is still NOT acceptable as a leader. What you do is start the disciplinary process. This allows time for them to improve and also can help you show you are doing all you can should the need to terminate come up.
This is not an exhaustive list, but one you should look at to ensure you are empowering, enabling, and teaching your employees to be their own leaders and collaborative/ communicative teams.
Now go Be a Great Leader!
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tara@twinlifecoaching.ca
