Parenting Your Employees to Better Performance

Have you ever worked for someone who was such a micro-manager that it drove you crazy? And have you ever worked for someone who was so hands-off that you felt like a lone warrior on the battlefield? These are examples of you working for leaders who did not adapt their style based on the employee's needs. I would venture to guess that you were not entirely motivated to put out your very best effort every time when you were feeling such frustrations.

What can you, as a manager, do to prevent the same mistake? My suggestion is to follow what good parents do.

Good parents instinctively know how they need to manage their children. But we sometimes don't make the same connection when we are at work. Let's think about the different stages of a child's development.

The Toddler At this stage, there is so much they don't know. They are just learning the basics of how to walk, and run, and talk, and play with others. The parents are generally right there at almost every moment. They are very involved in the child's development.

• They set boundaries for the child: "don't' go near the stove, its hot!"
• They give very directive instructions: "Put the toy truck back into the basket."
• They give frequent feedback and encouragement: "That's right, this is a blue ball. Now pick out the red one. That's great!"

When you have an employee that is at the toddler stage in terms of job skills and proficiencies, you need to adopt the hands-on parenting style of leadership. First determine what they know and don't know. Set boundaries for them so they don't get into big trouble. Be very directive in what you want done, and provide them feedback and encouragement so they know whether they are progressing and satisfying your expectations or not.

The Teenager
At this stage, the child wants more independence, and prefers to figure things out for himself. But the parents know that they still need to provide supervision. And they also give the child more space to experiment and build confidence.

When your employees are at the teenager stage, they often think they know more then they actually do. Surely you were never guilty of this when you were a teenager, right? So, you still need to be around enough to keep them out of trouble. Instead of checking in with them every day, you can now check in with them every week on their progress.

Your requests can be less directive, and more objective defined ("I'd like you to clean up your room this weekend.") Instead of offering information and directions with every assignment, you can now wait for your employee to approach you with questions.

When your employees see they you have eased off your level of supervision, they know that you are feeling more comfortable with their ability to perform, and their confidence grows. But always remember to continue to give feedback and acknowledgement for their efforts.

The Young Adult
Now your employees are almost independent. Like a good parent, you have provided them all the skills and knowledge to make it on their own. At this point, you can ease off even more on giving directions and checking up on progress. Instead, you want to help them grow as contributors to your organization.

Now when you hand over an assignment, you can give the most crucial details and leave them to figure out the approach. You let them know that when they come to you with problems and questions, you would like to see their recommendations or solutions.

At this stage, your responsibility as a "parent" is quite light. But you must continue to give feedback and acknowledgement so your employees stay motivated to excel. They need to know that you have noticed their development and appreciate their efforts.

The Adult
Now you are on "easy street". Your child has moved out of the house, and is successful and productive. At this point, your role as parent is to show love and appreciation of the person they have become (thanks to your hard work), and to offer them opportunities for growth.

Your expectation of these employees is that they can pretty much operate without you. You provide them with the vision of where you are going and they immediately rally the troops and make a plan and start marching down the road.

When these employees encounter a problem, you expect them to come to you with a list of alternatives, the recommendation they want to choose, and just ask for your concurrence. They come prepared with all the critical information you need to make a sound decision. You can ask these employees to be mentors to your toddlers or teenagers and take some of the responsibilities from you. You continue to provide them feedback and acknowledgement so they know they are still on the right track.

Now take a look at your team, and make an assessment of what stage of development each of your employee is at present. Adopt the appropriate parenting/leadership style that is needed and your employee will respond. Most employees want to do a good job for you, so set your expectations clearly and watch them perform.

? 2005 Inez O. Ng

NOTE: You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send me a copy of your reprint at mailto:Inez@RealizationsUnltd.com

Are your business results suffering because of an ineffective management team? Find out what coaching with Inez Ng can do to improve the effectiveness of your leaders. Visit http://www.RealizationsUnltd.com for informative articles and resources. If your work group is struggling to keep up with the volume of email they are receiving, check out her ebook "Master Email without Breaking a Sweat!" at http://www.easyemailstrategies.com

---

Be a Change Agent ( Part 1)

Aligning business organizations to be successful in the present and keep on doing this in the future means to develop a new style of Leadership. To celebrate success in our days a leader... Read More

Choices in Appointing International Managers

Globalization is requiring companies to make important choices about how to deploy international managers. The costs of making the wrong choice are heavy both economically and in the emotional and physical toll it... Read More

Why Business Owners Need Security

The main reason is to stop any potential lawsuits from happening! But do you know how many individuals I have talked to about this very thing? Many! Do you know what the majority... Read More

Getting to Consensus

The need to get people in an organization to pull together comes out often in discussions about communication.Let's think of it as getting to consensus, to roll a bunch of similar issues into... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - The 4th C: Cumulative Money Problems

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.The 4th C: CUMULATIVE MONEY PROBLEMSConflicts over money are very high on the list of reasons that... Read More

Time Management Tip: Stop Micro-Managing Employees

If I was a fly on the wall what would I hear your employees say? Would it something like this? "They won't allow me to make even the simplest decisions." "The red tape... Read More

Can A Business Still Be Profitable When People Skills Are Absent?

In our current world of rapid and amazing technological advances, many entrepreneurs have managed to dramatically limit the need for staff in highly profitable operations of all kinds.It is therefore tempting and believable... Read More

Preparation: Your Companys Best Defense in Case of Catastrophe

You've hung out your shingle and are ready for business. But what if something unforeseen were to occur? Is your business truly ready for all that being in business entails? It only takes... Read More

Loyalty, Motivation And Work-Life Balance

Managers who aren't loyal to their people can't expect loyalty in return. Companies that complain about employee loyalty have usually done nothing to earn loyalty, often routinely lying to employees, demanding sacrifices that... Read More

The Email Trap

If you sit at a computer for most of the day, it's tempting to constantly check your email to see what's new. But that's a time management disaster if you're trying to make... Read More

What to do When You receive a Bad Check

As a small business operator, personal checks may be one method to receive payment for your goods or services. As a way to receive payment, a personal check is actually better than credit... Read More

3 Reasons Why CRM Strategies Fail

Customer relationship management (CRM) is one of the most effective tools for improving customer relationships and therefore increasing revenue, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. Unfortunately, some CRM strategies fail. This leaves CRM vendors... Read More

Punctuality in Business: What it Says About You

"Nothing inspires confidence in a business man sooner than punctuality, nor is there any habit which sooner saps his reputation than that of being always behind time." (W. Mathews)Being tardy can be a... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: The Role of Character in Leadership

This article relates to the Senior /Top Level Management competency, designed to measure satisfaction levels regarding top-level management at your organization. AlphaMeasure defines senior management as the team of individuals at the highest... Read More

How To Own A Business... Instead Of A Job

Every business is run by someone who took on a risk with their time and money. So I believe that person should be rewarded. Too often as business owners we forget to enjoy... Read More

6 Steps to Effective Communication

Effective leaders are known for being excellent communicators. Here's what to do.1) Avoid "Not." Negative talk encourages arguments, counter attacks, and attempts to solve your problems. It also creates a negative impression. For... Read More

Innovation Management ? does the idea fit with the firm?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly,... Read More

Micromanagement and Delegation

Micro-Management and Delegation Recently I had a long discussion with a friend of mine about Managers and managing. She is a former HR Manager for... Read More

Benefits of Virtual Assistance

A virtual assistant is an individual who provides business services to other professionals. They're considered virtual because they perform their services from a remote location. Communications with their clients take place through telephone,... Read More

Communicating CEOs

I see a PR firm has done a survey on the amount of time Canadian CEOs spend on communication, and found they spend almost half of their time on communication.I think we're supposed... Read More

Its All About The Customers, Baby

If you want to ensure a steady stream of customers in your business, you must always remember why you're in business in the first place.Sure you want to earn a decent income for... Read More

Turnover is Not a Problem

"Ha!" you say. "For someone to make a statement like that, they obviously haven't worked in the real world and certainly have never had to run a company." Well, let me assure you.... Read More

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Finding The Perfect Balance

This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life. It explores issues such as priority of family and... Read More

Have You Always Thought That The Best Ideas Come From Research Or Management? Think Again

Many entrepreneurs and chief executive officers are unaware that there are many factors that put ordinary workers at a great advantage over R&D and management when it comes to generating useful improvement ideas... Read More

The Few & the Many: Free Trade, Outsourcing, & Communication

Have you noticed that some sound ideas get bad publicity? Two I have in mind are outsourcing and free trade.No doubt you could name others, but looking at these two initiatives helps us... Read More

Setting Direction Within an Organization

FINDING DIRECTION: An organization can't succeed without direction. Direction means having clear goals and guidelines; set goals and guidelines for staff to follow. When staff direction is needed, you must provide effective procedures... Read More

Quality Standards with ISO 9001

Standardizing Quality SystemsThe ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, was established in 1947 to develop international standards for everything from electronics to management systems. Having over 13,000 standards currently in place, ISO has... Read More

What Makes A Good Media Story?

Media relations can be difficult, but also rewarding. And the lessons we learn from working with newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and online publications should increase the effectiveness of all our communication initiatives.That's because... Read More

Try It Out On Your Team First

Wow! You're brilliant! You have a great idea. You've looked at it every possible way to find holes in your logic, fallacies in your assumptions. You know it will work and you can't... Read More