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Transcript

4 Powerful Ways To Energise Staff Who Do Not Take The Initiative · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Staff who do not take the initiative are very frustrating and time consuming to manage.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: The less initiative they take, the more time they spend unproductively, and the more time you need to spend organizing them and keeping tabs on where they have got to with their latest task.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Staff who do not take the initiative are often anchors for team performance.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can literally feel your bonus shrinking the longer they remain dependent on you for instructions for every task.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I remember my first staff member who refused to take any ownership and expected me to tell him exactly what he should do through pretty much his entire day.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Any problem he encountered, no matter how small, was my problem to resolve, and over he came with it.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Any decision needed, over he came.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was really tiring.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Luckily for me, about uh it took me about a month or so and he was very happy to make decisions and take actions on his own initiative.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: This transformation happened because of the actions I took.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: These actions will work just as well for you as they did for me.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: There are a number of reasons that stop staff taking the initiative.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some are environmental factors which the manager is in a great position to change.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Others are to do with the individual themselves.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Using a tailored management approach will encourage staff to be proactive.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here are four powerful ways to energize staff who do not take the initiative.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, use four actions to create psychological safety to encourage proactivity.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, align your actions to encourage staff taking the initiative.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Third, four actions to develop confidence and capability in staff who do not take the initiative.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then fourth, how to adapt your management style to encourage initiative.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: For each, I'm giving you practical actions that you can put into practice immediately.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Encouraging staff to be proactive is more a marathon than a sprint.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: It will take weeks at least.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Don't give up.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Keep implementing these actions and you'll see positive change happen.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: First, use four actions to create psychological safety for staff who don't take the initiative.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: If staff don't feel safe in making decisions and taking actions on their own initiative, they will not be proactive.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: They will keep asking you to make all the decisions and solve all the problems.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the manager actions that stop staff showing initiative include firstly publicly criticising staff who are not proactive.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, punishing mistakes made.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Third, showing disappointment or frustration or anger towards staff who don't do tasks exactly how the manager wants.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then fourth, giving detailed instructions for most tasks to staff who already know exactly what to do.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: These and similar actions stop staff being proactive.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Try to avoid doing them.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, what you should do to create psychological safety within the team are firstly set expectations really clearly, you know, writing, verbally, and through your subsequent decisions, actions and behaviors.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, give permission explicitly for staff to make certain decisions or take specific actions and focus on the outputs more than how they got there.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Third, create frameworks for staff to work within.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Again, focus on outputs more than how they work within those frameworks.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, be achievement oriented or output-oriented.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: If staff use a different approach than you would have done and it works well, praise them for it.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Create the conditions or the environment for staff to feel safe taking the initiative.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: You as a manager create this environment through your permissions, expectations and actions.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides resources and courses for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Managing teams effectively is a complex set of interdependent skills and approaches.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: 10 minutes gives you the basics.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Much more depth is needed to enable you to get career-changing results.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do visit us at enhance.training and take a look at the resources and courses to build your management expertise a lot quicker and push your management career forward a lot faster.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Second, align your actions to encourage staff taking the initiative.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Once you have given permission, set expectations and created frameworks, your actions are the most important thing to stay conscious of and align carefully to what you have told your staff.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Employees always pay a lot more attention to what you do rather than what you say.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Your actions are critical to transform staff who do not take the initiative.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do not punish learning mistakes, small mistakes, or staff doing things differently or not as well as you might.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: When staff do things wrong, and they will do, take them aside and in private teach and coach them so they know how to do better next time.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Never put them down or make them feel bad because they are taking the risk to try to learn and improve.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Pay a lot of attention to your decisions, actions, and reactions.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Pay a lot of attention to your non-verbal communication to team members.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: The more conscious you are of these, the better you will manage yourself.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Demand similar behaviour from all team members towards each other.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: On the positive side, praise loudly, publicly and privately all the team members who do show initiative.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Try to praise at least once per day, yet ideally several times a day.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Reward staff who take the initiative.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, here are four actions to develop confidence and capability in staff who do not take the initiative.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the time, individuals don't take the initiative because they don't feel confident doing a task or solving a problem.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: They might be scared of making mistakes, looking bad in front of colleagues, or worried about disappointing you or others.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Make the time to help them build their confidence and their expertise so they know how they can do what you ask of them and do it well.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here are four essential actions to help you achieve this.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, do your best to match developments and opportunities to capabilities.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: The bigger the gap, the more support you should offer to provide a safety net.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Second, make the time to teach and coach team members.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Teach when they just don't know what to do.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Coach when they do know but lack the confidence.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Third, delegate problems instead of tasks so they build their planning, organizing, decision-making and problem-solving skills.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Start with small, low-impact problems and build from there.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And fourth, use lots of praise for showing initiative, for effective working practices and for achieving good results.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: In short, help staff build skills and confidence and praise to reinforce good working practices.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, let's talk about how to adapt your management style to encourage initiative.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Match your management style and approach to always push team members a little bit out of their comfort zone, but not too far.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: For example, if an employee does not take the initiative because they simply do not know what to do, then delegate the task to the employee and give them lots of detailed instructions to cover the next step or two of the task.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: The next time they do this task, ask questions about what to do next before giving them any instructions.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then you could ask a lot of what if questions, you know, i.e.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: what if xxx happened, what would you do?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: When you are happy they have a good level of expertise, you could start delegating problems rather than just tasks.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: You would coach more than teach when they are struggling with the problem.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: By taking these steps, you are putting more reliance and more responsibility and ownership on them step by step.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Avoid taking this away from them.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let them off the hook at any point either, unless they're truly stuck.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Use a lot of praise when they do well, take sensible steps, solve problems, and deliver results.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Start this process by focusing on small steps and small problems, then build gradually as they take more initiative.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Be patient.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: The more you take this action consistently across the whole team, the quicker and quicker everyone in the team will start showing initiative in everything they do.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, as a manager, you have a lot of influence over staff who do not take the initiative.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: You create the environment in which they work, focus on what you say and do to encourage staff to be more proactive.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: The hard part is taking the very first step.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: After this, the following steps become a lot easier to take.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: You will need to be disciplined and keep focused on all these actions for several weeks before you start seeing noticeable results.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Once you get some proactivity, the pace of improvement will keep increasing.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget, managing teams effectively is a complex set of interdependent skills and approaches.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: 10 minutes gives you the basics.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Much more depth is needed to enable you to get career-changing results.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do visit us at enhance.training and take a look at the resources and courses to build your management expertise a lot quicker and push your management career forward a lot faster.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: As a reminder, the four powerful ways to energize employees who do not take the initiative are firstly, use four actions to create psychological safety.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, align your actions to encourage staff taking the initiative.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Third, four actions to develop confidence and capability in staff who do not take the initiative.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then fourth, how to adapt your management style to encourage initiative.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on four powerful ways to energize staff who do not take the initiative, please email me at support at enhance.