By Harvey Deutschendorf
A lot of time, effort and resources have been spent in recent years by organizations in efforts to find ways to motivate employees in order to get them to increase their performance. From foosball to sambuca fountains to games rooms there is constantly something new that organizations are trying to get people to stay. The major problem with blanket perks and benefits is that when it comes to employees, one size doesn’t fit all. Every employee is different and what motivates and drives one may not work for another. There are also numerous personality tests that are done during staff retreats. Valuable information regarding staff can be obtained from these. Unfortunately, there is often no follow up and the information is forgotten shortly after the retreat. Whether someone is highly extroverted, introverted, likes to work alone or loves to be part of a team, leaders who are take the time, interest and effort to get to know their employees are well positioned to get their best effort.
Here are some ways leaders can get to know their people at a deeper level
While personality tests are often carried out during retreats and as fun, team building exercises, they can be beneficial if used to try and understand employees and leverage their individual styles. The major benefit is that they can be an opening for emotionally intelligent leaders to learn more about their people. The caveat is that the leader must make it perfectly clear that all styles are equal, welcome and will lead to a stronger team and organization. The person who hates to be micromanaged and enjoys working alone, has just as important a role as the extrovert who loves attention and wants to be surrounded by others. Leaders can follow up after the tests to see how their employees see these traits playing out in the workplace. It is also an opportunity for leaders to get to know their people on a deeper personal level. Areas to explore would be their favorite parts of the job as well as the parts that they dread the most.
To get their staff to be more open and build the trust that is needed for their staff to share, leaders need to model the behavior they are seeking. They can start by being honest, open and transparent about their own traits, likes, dislikes and how they best like to be approached. In my book, The Other Kind of Smart, I offer examples of how leaders were able to build trust and sharing. It is crucial that leaders who are able to fully engage all types of staff learn how to become excellent listeners. The fifth of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Most people listen to respond, rather than to hear what is really being said. Emotionally intelligent leaders continuously strive to listen to understand.
Large numbers of staff and new members continuously being onboarded make it more difficult for leaders to learn about individual preferences and get to know their people at a deeper level. Leaders can use portions of staff meetings to share personal information. To do this they need to take the lead, take some risk and be open and vulnerable with their own sharing. Staff should never feel that they have to share more than they are willing to or comfortable with. In order to keep track of preferences of a lot of staff, especially ones that have not been there long, leaders can record relevant information that they can use to make to help them slot people into teams and assign work. As work needs to be done, deadlines met and new projects are taken on, it will not always be possible to put people in areas that they prefer and will take advantage of their skill sets. For example, a particular employee is very independent, productive, but prefers to work alone. The organization takes on a new project that needs all “hands on board” working closely as a team. Knowing that this person works better and prefers to work alone, the leader approaches him/her and first acknowledges his/her preference, but is told that the project needs his input during this time. By first acknowledging the person’s preference, the chances of getting their buy in to the project go up substantially.
Giving recognition is another area that it becomes important to know someone’s preference. The loud extrovert who loves attention may welcome public recognition, while the introvert may be very uncomfortable and prefer to be recognized privately. This is an area that an emotionally intelligent leader needs to get right as recognition given in the wrong manner could defeat the purpose and turn the receiver off. If the leader isn’t sure they could check with coworkers, past employers or anyone that knows the person well.
Everyone loves to be recognized and appreciated for who they are and the unique attributes and skills they bring to work. Leaders who make the effort to go the extra mile to do this will be rewarded with increased loyalty, less absenteeism and a happier, more productive workplace.
