People Management - back to basics The systems, processes and tools to manage people have grown significantly. Yet, it’s important to keep reminding ourselves of the basics. Like they say, the basics never go out of fashion and for all you know, significant value addition may still be coming from there. Organizations that manage to tap ‘discretionary effort’ of their people have a distinct advantage over those that cannot. Enormous amount of evidence has been available in Gallup reports, year after year. While Gallup provides research-backed levers to enhance engagement and tap into discretionary effort, to me it boils down to how the leaders and the managers craft their plans and communicate with their people. It can make or mar an organization. And done well, it can help tap the discretionary effort for the benefit of the organization. If you can communicate, why are you doing what you are doing, and where do you want to reach, you have taken the first step towards aligning your people with what you want to accomplish- the 1st step to tap the discretionary effort. Needless to add, the communication needs to be such that your people can connect with it. And that requires understanding of who your people are. As the larger vision gets broken down to smaller goals and tasks, the execution can quickly get uninspiring and repetitive. That’s why leaders and managers periodically need to keep articulating and reinforcing how the smaller tasks being carried out are actually moving the organization towards the inspiring vision. This reinforcement can make the repetitive task also engaging and inspiring. As you lead this journey, some of your people will excel in their contribution. How do you communicate your appreciation of those who excel, at the same time emphasizing that others can also do it, and extending the support they need to excel. This is what drives high performance culture in your organization. As your organization grows, so do the aspirations of your people. How aware are you of their growing aspirations regarding learning, career growth and higher compensation etc? And then, how do you craft, communicate and execute your plans will drive retention and the discretionary effort on the job. Last but certainly not the least, it’s rare that you get everything right in your plans and communication and ensure that it lands on your people the same way. Therefore, keep your two-way feedback channels active. That’s what enables you to make adjustments and respond to issues before it gets late. Are you paying attention to the basics? Why or why not? What are some of the key challenges? #manmanagement #leadership #founder #ceos #cxos #discretionaryeffort #employeeengagement
Dr.It is well articulated article on back to basics of leading people. True leaders with the vision and passion have these attributes naturally, they don’t take extra efforts to manage people or performance. The people management skills cannot be taught in classrooms; unless these attributes are present to some degree in a person! The irony is that industries and HR professionals believe that people management skills can be taught to develop a person who can’t trust others!
There are so many touch points for leaders but in the chaos or the management of the routine many a times leaders stray away from these nuanced touch points, the routine things that need to be done periodically . The macro is important but we need to attend and take care of the micro too ! All of us need to periodically go back to the basics and tinker a little there as a continuous improvement as the basics continually evolve while remaining relevant and more can be done in little ways.
Well articulated Pramod as always and just to add a pov this is where genuine recognition helps to build and appreciates effort
Without Basics, it's like, "Trishankh" you are neither grounded nor at the peak. Great one Pramod Solanki, Ph. D. . Thanks for sharing.
Agree, Pramod Solanki, Ph. D. tapping into people's discretionary effort is the key to higher-performing companies
insightful - as usual
Just a thought. 'Does not an individual's own discretionary efforts, not withstanding the inputs from Management, also matter to a great extent?'
Well said!
Growth Catalyst for Organisations & Individuals | Leadership Coach | HR Advisor | Consulting CHRO | Honorary Member at Institute of Directors | Founder @ Performance Enablers | Ex - L&T, Sun Pharma, TCS, IIMA and JBIMS
6moHow do you see the basics of people management?