Because a manager is interacting so intimately with all parties, he or she will instinctively have knowledge of what clicks, who should be made to work together with whom and how to deal with problems.

But while a manager by virtue of the nature of his work has to be an insider, working closely at the sharp-end of the business every day, the leader does not.

He can work from the sidelines and inspire change without even having a personal stake in what’s happening today.

Leadership is needed for future growth and development in any business. It is a strategic activity, requiring vision, creativity and market-wisdom.

Management is what gets work done; what brings today’s cash-flow and ensures the health of the business right now and in the foreseeable future.

It is the true force and inspiration behind any successful organization, without which, there would be no future.

We all like to be acknowledged, but for thousands, even millions of employees, such recognition never happens.

From one day to the next, there are no positive messages for their contribution – yet as their boss, you can do this – and it will pay untold benefit for your business, organisation and, of course, you and your people.

Encouraged by the recognition, Jenny Wrighton went home from work that day, full of self-belief and wonder that she had made the leap at last.

In her last job, she had always felt that she was unsuitable, in fact below par, for the place. On her very first day at this new job, it was different. On the very first day, her supervisor had recognised her in a way that no-one had done before.

At 17, she had gone into the workplace ready to conquer the world. A positive girl, she had never understood that her hard work, unstoppable enthusiasm and keen willingness might not be enough.

At the last place, where Jenny had worked for nearly two years, they had, subtly, yet consistently, knocked that out of her, through criticising, embarrassing and slighting her.

So much so, that she had changed to be cynical, sceptical and sarcastic. In the end they had to part, badly, and it had taken a few weeks for Jenny to build the courage to go for another job.

Yet on the very first day in the new place, someone had made her day, just by saying two little words – ‘Well done’.

In life, especially in our busy workplaces, there sometimes seems to be no time to say, ‘Well done’.

Yet we all know how it feels when we are on the receiving end, just as Julia did. It costs nothing, except a few moments and a bit of focus – but it makes the world of difference.

For Jenny Wrighton, tomorrow would be another good day, because the culture was naturally supportive, encouraging and enlightened. And her place of work would come to benefit over the years she would stay.

She would contribute more, become a great team player, work well when delegated to and have simple, yet constructive ideas about how to take the business forward.

Two little words, ‘Well Done’ – that’s all it takes.

When we are talking about communication, it does not necessarily refer to face-to-face communication.

Memos, emails, phone calls, video calls, letters etc are all important in your behaviors.

Whenever you have contact from someone on your team, make sure you acknowledge it as soon as you can at least – even if you are going to take time to reply to it.

It’s just as important as the times you can have conversations – maybe even more so.

If you looking to develop a functional, productive team, it is important to make your employees feel that they are an indispensable part of it.

Putting your listening skills to optimum use when you are communicating with the people working under you can truly make the difference.

“A leader needs to be in touch with the employees and to communicate with them on a daily basis.”
Donald Peterson, Former Chairman, Ford Motor Company

It sounds almost to crazy to say it, yet it’s true. Top managers have to be in a place where they understand how their people are doing all of the time.

It doesn’t have to be formal. It doesn’t need to be heavy. In fact it’s really good the lighter the better. It’s about your people being comfortable with you and opening themselves up (it might be little-by-little at first) as you do too.

Then you get signals on your sensitive radar.

How on earth else could anyone find out about what is going on at the sharp end of a business, other than communicating directly with them regularly?

How to do it? Well, it’s all about just getting out there, showing an interest in the people your business depends on. Listening a lot and saying much less. Valuing their contribution by hearing them and how they are feeling.

The first step is just to get out there and show an interest.

Prime your conversations, by asking questions likely to stimulate interest, then, let your people take the lead and talk to you. Your listening will be very attractive to them and they will appreciate it and say more.

By asking questions that require answers from them and avoiding the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ that can come otherwise, you will truly find out what makes your people tick, one at a time.

Then work on keeping up your interactions with them – about anything – with a schedule of actions intended to maintain your visibility.

Developing long-term relationships with as many of your people as possible, is the very best investment of your time you can make.

It’s amazing how many managers feel that they just cannot be absent from their workplace because they are ‘irreplaceable’. By empowering their employees, much more is possible…

When a manager feels unable to be away from their business, because they do not have capable people in place, it must be a very frustrating experience.

Empowerment – A Management ‘Must-Have’

Many managers are taught to be “hands-on” and not pass on tasks of any importance to their subordinates.

When they try to take a step upwards into a full management role, it makes them feel uncomfortable – as if they are not working ‘hard enough’.

So they find it hard to not  do the whole job, despite having people around them who would willingly do a bit more.

Without Empowerment Employees Will Do Less

Some employees enjoy being able to say, “call back on Monday”, or “I can’t make that decision, you need to speak with the manager”.

That way they can get off making a decision and risk less.

Why be dealing with an unruly, dissatisfied customer, when they could be doing something less stressful with their time?

Only The Manager Is Responsible

Many managers unknowingly encourage this type of behavior.

It’s quite a step to recognize that employees will evolve their capabilities when they have the trust of the manager and are allowed to do more.

Particularly for customer-facing employees, the ability to act fast and delight customers needs to be a given in any business.

Customers Want Employee Empowerment

Customers like to have their problems fixed by the first person they approach. Having an employee call for the manager only causes irritation and frustration.

They believe that the manager is waiting in the back office, or that the employees have been trained to give this response, and therefore, it becomes an excuse for the employees to blame it on the manager, and the customer to blame it on the manager.

It’s a no-win situation for a manager that wants to portray that they are in control.

A Manager’s Strength Is His Team

A manager cannot do it all – their performance depends on how they get the best from their team.

For example, if you let your employees know that you expect them to make a reasonable decision in your absence, let them know that they are the manager in control when you are gone.

You will stand behind the logical decisions they make, and then let them know what you might have done different, you are teaching them to become a manager.

Any manager with that sort of team ethic will benefit hugely from the freedom that comes as a result.

With Empowerment Everyone’s A Winner

Of course, when a manager has been used to keeping every tricky decision to themselves, it’s a bit of a fear to let things go – and it can be one of the  best things they can learn to do.

Their people start to feel that they are contributing more fully and, perhaps most importantly, recognize that they can personally make a difference to the success of the organization.

This is the principle of management development through empowerment.

Turning Teams Around

It’s an amazing experience as a manager when you turn someone on to the hidden capabilities they have within them already.

They begin to reach a level of management development that all managers should desire-a staff that can exist without them.

Where there are a bunch of employees who are not able to contribute fully because a manager hasn’t been able to ‘let go’ enough, they almost wilfully step back when they could get more involved.

They shy away from making decisions they aren’t regularly called to make.

If a manager makes all the top decisions and involves his people as a minimum, they will do as they’re told, collect their regular salary slip and do only what’s asked of them.

Every successful manager must trust their team and have a good relationship with employees. When there is trust and support from the manager, employees perform better.

Employees never feel comfortable under a boss who doesn’t trust them or whom they don’t trust.

In the absence of mutual trust productivity falls as the employees get into politics, covering their backs and other counterproductive activity.

Not trusting each other will affect morale, which leads to a deterioration in customer satisfaction as the focus shifts from the business needs to internal wrangling.

One of the most vital components is being able to effectively communicate. A manager must communicate well to build strong relationships with their people.

In difficult times, employees might think no news as bad news, so a manager must keep in close touch. Lack of communication reduces trust; being open with information creates it.

So, since utilizing and distributing resources is what is demanded from the manager, he cannot afford to be overly authoritarian.

If he is, then he may push his workers into being less productive.

Instead he should be the friendly but firm guide who inspires dedication to a common end.

Any manager’s goal is to maximize resources and reap the highest results, while dealing efficiently with clients and their quirks (as well as employees).

So while leadership focuses on taking companies onto new directions and give them new visions and aims, good managers help inspire employees deliver results in the shorter term in a focused way.

This helps the company to consistently reap profits right now, maintaining stability and equilibrium, so providing a healthy environment for the longer term potential the leader seeks to unleash.

So a good manager will know how to handle stakeholders, clients and workers with equal ease, keeping things moving along nicely.

Informal communication within the office is an excellent way to collect feedback about the way things are going – policies, ideas, plans, relationships even.

Not only can what you hear around the place have a great value in terms of ‘intelligence’, but if you start to get creative, you will seek out feedback from teams away from your own.

For example, you might be able to find out how the sales department feel about the impact your admin team have on their side of the business, and use that knowledge to make focused improvements yourself.

A manager needs to have good communication skills. It is one of the major elements of communication. One of the most vital skills in any manager or supervisor’s portfolio of skills. But why? What are the benefits of being a good communicator? Often a manager is asked to explain or make understood a new policy which is to be implemented or a particular process that is already in use be refined. It could be that new approaches are needed to make the difference in our challenging world.

For example, there may be times when he needs to find out where internal systems are holding back growth, resulting in poor performance in a business. He might decide to make a presentation suggesting improved measures which would add impetus by making the systems and processes more effective. In order to convey his strategy and get that established, it’s essential for him to communicate well.

And, you know, another skill is the simple, day to day activity of listening to and talking with your people – as simple as that. So, of course, it’s important to master the art of communication. How and where are you to begin, if you are planning on fine-tuning this skill?

Misunderstandings often come from communication gaps, leading to more and more frustration! While trying to explain something new to the audience, it’s sometimes found that the manager is wrongly interpreted or seems to be speaking out of context. During breaks, it’s worth checking with the audience whether they have followed and where necessary, amend a presentation the next time. It’s also worth exploring where they misunderstood and learning from this for the future.

When your people have come up with a problem, you might have felt that you understood all it’s complex twists and turns. Trust me; you are not the only one to misinterpret what you thought you understood – it’s so easy! When people are given a problem, they divert their attention towards finding a solution to it and in doing so they fail to understand the various aspects that the particular issue involves. By listening very carefully to the problem, by paying close attention to the detail and asking incisive questions, you will ensure there is little home for misunderstanding. This is a really effective way of getting into a problem and resolving it.

All the decisions you take might not be right but you can cut down on the number of wrong decisions. If you write down all possibilities and evaluate their various pros and cons, you will, without doubt make better decisions. Also, if you want to put into effect the decision you have taken, it’s worth thinking also from the recipient’s point of view in advance.

When working with a team, top-class communication and collaboration is essential. You need to manage your team well and build team-spirit where you can. Where new ideas and plans are going to be implemented, let your team know about it in the most timely fashion – if possible, get them involved in the ‘how’ of the implementation. Another thing you can do is to discuss changes fully with them, so they can voice their opinions and integrate their contributions in how they feel it will be best to work in future.

Resources for your communication activities need to be arranged and, where investment allows, improved over time. New support staff can be involved to make things run more smoothly and more appropriate equipment bought. These are a few ways to improve the technical side of your communication skill. So, starting today, it’s worth deciding that you are going to take yourself the top of the communications scale with your people.

Developing your personal communication skill is one of the most important tactics in your management development toolkit. It has the potential to catalyse great success. Only you can do it!