How To Stretch Your Team Without Straining Them
Effective team management is vital in any industry.
As a manager, it’s your duty to ensure that you aren’t straining your team – even when you’re stretching them to see how much they can achieve when they’re pushed. It’s very possible to burnout your employees when you try to stretch their goals too far.
Caught up in their successes, you may end up pushing them further than they can handle.
Long working hours, sacrificed weekends, and feeling like you’re at work all the time is not a route you want your employees to take.
They should enjoy their jobs, not start disliking them.
Stop overstretching before it occurs
Before asking your employees to take on extra duties or reach for new goals, you should ensure that they have the time to take on extra tasks.
If the work that you’re going to be proposing would take your employee over their contracted hours, consider splitting the duties between a team of people.
Stretching your employees should be a decision that they, themselves, are involved in.
An employee is only responsible for the work outlined in their contract, the rest is optional, and they typically accept extra work to impress their employers.
When employees are overstretched, they can quickly become fatigued.
There are signs your team management leaders can look out for; such as increased lateness, absences, and sudden holiday requests.
Praise the efforts of your employees
Team management leaders should be paying attention to the employees that they manage.
Praise their efforts towards an outcome, rather than just the outcome, itself.
This way, you’ll be running a company that looks after all of its employees, rather than a company that runs on the achievements of your employees.
Everyone matters, from your telesales team to your supervisors and beyond.
Pay attention to how your employees go about completing their duties everyday – do they go the extra mile for customers?
How to they react to negative and positive experiences with clients?
Look for the little things, and you’ll start to build up the picture of who that employee is.
Be patient
As an employer, you may be underestimating how long it will take for employee to learn new skills.
Be patient with your new employees and your employees who are seeking out extra training.
If they’re willing to learn, then they will turn into some of the best assets your company has.
Motivate your team
It’s important that you, as an employer, understand what motivates people.
Your employees are more likely to be motivated when they can control some of the aspects of their work, and they feel like they are on a clear path to building skills towards advancing their place in your company.
Motivate your team by offering them more training and days to express themselves as individuals.
Celebrate their successes and embrace their mistakes.
No good business was built entirely on successes; because without a few failures, how would we ever learn to be better at our jobs?
Maintain the work-life balance
Without good work-life balance, your employees will find their work frustrating and time consuming.
Ensure that none of your employees are working over their designated set hours without previous approval for overtime.
Employees working overtime deserve to be paid for the overtime they do, especially when they’re doing it as a favour or to complete extra projects that management ask them to complete.
Your employees should have a life outside of work, which means that they should feel like they can have time off without consequences, whether it’s to spend time with their family or go on holiday.
