Not getting the results you want from your Employees? 7 Steps to Create a Productive and Innovative Organization, by Loretta Kuhland

Are you busy tracking down the status of projects and work that should have been done?  Are you consistently disappointed with results taking longer than you thought? Are you chasing updates rather than being briefed on the status of projects? Do you wish your employees would take the lead?

How do you get to a place where your time is spent on strategic planning, motivating and guiding staff, building relationships with stakeholders… with time left for the gym and dinner before 9pm?
 
It really isn’t as difficult as you would think. But, it does take a shift in focus and a conscious shift in how you spend your time.

First, you need to invest time and energy to create a different work environment.  How?

1. Communicate the vision for where you want to go and provide the roadmap for getting there (and do this more often than you think necessary)
2. Share how each project - and each employee - contributes to the vision (and reinforce this message every chance you get)
3. Be clear on what you expect regarding the work product, deadlines, how employees should handle questions, problems, ideas, and what you value, e.g.: collaboration, openness, a heads up if a deadline will be missed (if someone didn’t meet your expectations, discuss it to understand what happened, allow his/her to explain)
4. Ensure employees have the knowledge, skills, ability, interest, and motivation to be successful. Hire with thought; provide orientation; provide opportunities to continue to learn and grow professionally
5. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Talk with your employees – one-on-one and as a team – about what is going on, how they did, what you see, what you want.  Expect the same of all employees. Remember, some employees need more time to process and more time to discuss – give it to them! You need each member of the team engaged 100% because you base your expectations on that engagement
6. Manage performance. Provide continuous feedback, timely and respectfully – for good work, for missed expectations, and for professional development; require all your managers to do the same. If the employee isn’t suited to the work or the environment, exit him/her respectfully.  [Note: this includes you; you need to be constantly evolving and learning as well so ensure you get feedback and have support]
7. Be planful and organized, respecting everyone’s time – and expect the same from everyone, e.g.: good meeting and project management.

 
Once the expectations for the environment are out there, you need to nurture and deepen the work community you have created. This work is ongoing:

1. Manage to the individual. Get to know each employee and allow him/her to get to know you, e.g.: check in with employees, ask how they are doing, let them ask questions, ask about their family and their interests, share a story of your own. Learn what motivates each employee. This time is an investment that will pay off 100 fold; you are building relationships and loyalties
2. Don’t dictate and don’t punish! Learn to breadth; don’t react immediately and emotionally. Ask what happened. Employees who live in fear do not take risks/innovate; they hide. Use any detours, mistakes, and issues as a teaching moment. The goal is for the individual/team to learn for themselves and relieve you of the need to correct failed processes or develop better paths. Each problem is an opportunity to reinforce the self-learning and collaborative culture that brings innovation and success
3. Address issues, timely – whether it’s performance, attitude, lack of resources. Don’t let things fester. The unattended doesn’t disappear; it magnifies and underminds
4. Be as forthcoming and honest as appropriate. Lack of information creates a vacuum and wastes energies on rumors and suppositio
5. Celebrate successes – little and big, work related (e.g.: meeting deadlines, new ideas, PR, promotions, employees going above & beyond expectations) and personal (e.g.: work anniversaries, weddings, babies). Use story telling along the way to reinforce your culture and to create bonds.

 
By shifting your focus to develop a living culture of trust and understanding, you will have created a work environment where all employees know what they need to do and why. When they don’t hit the mark, they are supported. When they do hit the mark, they are celebrated – as individuals and as teams. Employees will feel safe to work to their utmost and to take the initiative. Employees will be motivated to work for the vision.
 
It’s time. Stop complaining about what isn’t happening and create the work environment that innovates and follows through.  ​