Managing Employees

When an employee comes into your office with an issue, how do you respond? Do you see your messengers as guides or just complainers?

In the workplace, “Shooting the Messenger” is an expression to describe a manager who reacts harshly to an employee that bears bad news. This person is brave enough to step into the manager’s office to share their concerns. Yet, the manager doesn’t want to deal with the problem so they lash out instead.

How you communicate will determine how successful you become in business.  Communication is critical in interacting with others, providing direction or feedback to your employees or presenting a business idea.   Strong leaders know that how they communicate affects the outcome.

No one is perfect at communicating and we generally have a certain style that we revert to in our communication.  Communication is both verbal and non-verbal and the non-verbal messages are read more often than verbal. Check out this site and take a quick test:  Communication Styles    There is no judgment here…rather give some time to recognize the style you use most frequently and how it could potentially affect how your manage your employees.

Your employees watch closely how you manage them, your boss and your peers and they will emulate your behavior.  How you manage your relationships with other managers will affect the relationship you have with your direct reports.   You lead by example!

Becoming a strong manager means you will need to develop skills in managing up (your boss), managing employees and managing your relationship with other managers.  All departments in a business need to interact and effectively work together for the success of the company.