You may have already decided on your personal New Year's resolutions, but have you considered your upcoming goals as a manager? If not, now is an opportune time to reflect on those areas in which you can play a role in your company's future success and how you can help your employees acquire the necessary strengths and skills to excel in their jobs. In today's competitive business environment, it's also beneficial to strategize on how to retain top talent and attract other skilled individuals to your firm as employment levels remain high. Following are three key "management resolutions" that can increase your career advancement opportunities in the coming years.
Help employees achieve work-family balance. In a recent consumer survey by our company, a majority of respondents rated the ability to balance work and family as their top career concern for the future, above earning a competitive salary and job security. Yet in a separate poll of executives, more than half of those polled said firms are only somewhat successful in helping their staff juggle these dual commitments, and 43 percent said businesses are unsuccessful in these efforts. The lesson? Organizations that develop innovative, effective programs to help their staff meet competing obligations will have an edge in recruiting and retaining top-notch employees. But that's not the only advantage of helping your staff in this area. Workers who are provided added control over their schedules and other assistance in managing their work and career demands can devote more time on the job to being as productive as possible.
Serve as a "springboard" for creativity. Most companies have realized the benefits of encouraging employee creativity and risk-taking. But with risk occassionally comes failure. No matter how much encouragement you provide staff members to "think outside the box," if you don't help them bounce back when their creative ideas are unsuccessful, morale can decrease quickly. Since conscientious workers are often their own worst critics, they may mentally berate themselves when a setback occurs, even if you don't criticize their efforts. Let employees know up front that you don't expect all risks to yield positive results, and share with them some of your own experiences to illustrate this point. When a mishap occurs, remind employees of their positive contributions and analyze what went wrong to prevent similar instances in the future. By acting as a coach and a mentor rather than a "boss" or commander you increase your employees' resilience and keep the creative ideas flowing.
Cultivate leadership. Finding senior-level workers is a challenge, and it probably won't be any easier in the coming years. By preparing and training staff-level employees to assume leadership positions, you ensure that your company will have the human capital it needs to grow. A mentoring program pairing junior and senior staff members can prepare employees for advancement, as can offering training opportunities or subsidizing coursework. If your current staff lacks experience in a particular area, consider bringing in a senior-level project professional to train an employee for a new role. Along with equipping your company for expansion, investing in your employees and promoting from within show workers that strong performance is rewarded.
While a new year brings new challenges, it also provides opportunities. By helping your employees balance work and personal obligations, encouraging creativity and planting the "seeds" of talent you'll need to ensure future growth, you set the stage for a healthy, profitable future.
-- Article courtesy of Julie Thompson, Great Plains District Public
Relations Coordinator for Robert Half International, which has more than 250
locations in North America, Europe and Australia, and offers online job
search services at
www.rhii.com.
