Managing Employees

Employees have so little time to learn and they have to eat…so why not put the two together.    Lunchtime seminars are great way to share in-house knowledge as well as bring in external business tools.

Like any program, you have to market it….what’s the value to the employee to give up their lunch or to stop working. What’s the value to the company?

More and more employees eat while working.  You want to manage the employee’s effectiveness on the job.  This could be a nice break for them.   Visually I believe that we need a change and taking employees away from the PC for an hour gives such a break. 

Managing employee’s expectations is composed of open and honest communication with members of your team, as well as strong listening skills to what is important to your employees.

What areas do managers need to communicate to their team?

• Performance of the company
• Company and department goals
• Industry changes
• Compensation and career expectations
• New hires - performance standards for your department
• Ongoing performance feedback to each member of your team

You are excited…just received a job offer as Manager of your own department.  There will be many challenges ahead as you begin to handle your new responsibilities.  One situation that will immediately challenge you is if you are replacing an existing manager in those responsibilities.  Though it’s the company’s decision to transfer the management responsibilities to you, you will have to deal with the reaction from the existing individual.

First, congratulate yourself for receiving the recognition that you have strong leadership and management skills and are talented in your field.    Knowing that you have the ability to manage employees will guide you in handling any employee related situation that comes you way.

Smashing the clock at BestBuy.com….wow…read this article.  Is your work environment anything like what is happening at BestBuy?  May be your business can’t operate the exact way, but how open are you to creating the necessary flexibility that fits your business.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_50/b4013001.htm

In reading this article, I learned an innovative and effective way to managing employees.  What I gathered from this article is that the manager is most effective when they help their employees become ‘accountable’ for their performance. Today’s manager has to be focused on results and not on the employee’s presence in the workplace.  That is when flexibility in the workplace becomes a viable option.