Leadership

7 ingredients for enthusiastic employees (special managers)

Nicolien Bot
by Nicolien Bot
views

There are 7 interesting ingredients for executives to get out of their employees what’s in them and make their talent fizzle. Check if you as a manager are using these ingredients! That way you will know if you can motivate staff to perform well.

Why is sustainable employability so important for organizations?

‘Change is the only constant’ – Your organization is constantly changing, imperceptibly on a day-to-day level, but on a year-to-year basis there is change. Especially if there is a reorganization, which is often a – modest – revolution. Then the whole organization is shaking on its legs for a while, until the dust settles again and everyone goes back to work.

Free discovery call

Lacking assertiveness or selfconfidence?

Does it inhibit you at work and want to get rid of that? That's possible with our 40 days individual coaching program. Lets meet, see if we have a 'click' and if I can help you.

> Book your free call

In any case, for organizations, change means that the employees hired in the past may not be the employees of the future.

But you can’t fire and replace all those people at once; it doesn’t work that way. So how do you get your employees to the point where they are able to develop themselves and take steps that benefit themselves, and benefit the organization?

The goal of sustainable employability is twofold for organizations: on the one hand, to enable your own people to develop in such a way that they make a lasting contribution to the organization’s goals, and on the other hand, to develop employees who are so good and enthusiastic that they can easily find another job in the labor market, should circumstances require it.

No organization benefits from keeping its employees stupid. After all, the organization is a sum of all its employees. If those fizzle with enthusiasm, the organization as a whole will also fizzle. If they get stuck, the organization will grind to a halt and eventually suffer.

Below we provide 7 ingredients for executives to get what’s in them out of their employees:

Ingredient 1. Provide / create space for your professionals

As organizations are becoming more flexible, traditional certainties are falling away. Setting guidelines from above and managing employees from the hierarchy no longer works. Employees must be given every opportunity to practice their profession and specialty to the best of their ability.

So approach them as professionals; after all, they have the knowledge. The movement towards more agility and flexibility thus requires more initiative from employees. This means more self-management and sometimes employees still find that a bit scary.

Some of them do like having someone who regularly tells them what to do. From the line, as a manager, you can coach these employees in this.

Ingredient 2. Ask them to update their resume every year

Why, I’m not asking for my own employees ‘ resume, do I? Yes you do. In fact, you do that to make it clear to them that they need to think at least once each year about where they are, and where they want to go.

What have they accomplished in the past year that merits a mention on the resume? If so, you have employees working on their own development, consider yourself lucky. If not, that’s a wake-up call that stagnation is imminent.
After all, the resume has long since ceased to be a static document, updated only with the next job change. No job is static, its content is constantly changing, at least, if you as a manager give it the space to do so.

Discussing the updated resume with your employee every year automatically brings you to the question: and what are you going to do next? Now we’re talking!

Ingredient 3. Facilitate their development

Even though the responsibility for personal development lies with the employee (see “Self-Direction”), as a manager you are partly responsible for creating the frameworks in which the employee can realize that development. You have an essential but rather facilitating role.

This is because you can release the necessary budgets. By the way, it’s an open secret that in many organizations the training budget is never spent, even though the employer has often committed to it in collective bargaining agreements. Make use of the resources that are there!

Investing in the development of your employees is investing in the future of the organization.
Some may say, “and what if I invest in an employee, who then defects to a competitor?” One answer to that question is, “and what if you don’t invest in your employees and they stay?

But even stronger: investing in your employees does not stand alone. In fact, you must also give them the space to really do justice to their talents and skills within the organization. If you don’t, you indeed run the risk of them walking away. And rightly so!

Ingredient 4. Promote job rotation

With an employee doing the same job for years, there is a creeping danger of routine and stagnation. To prevent this, job rotation is useful every 3 to 5 years or so. It keeps employees alert, they learn to look at things from a different angle, it breaks the routine and people learn new things again.

That does not mean, by the way, that an employee has to take on a completely different job, much less step up. Horizontal job rotation is equally valuable.

As a manager, do you have a record of how long someone has been in the same position? Usually not. Start with it and talk about it with your employees. They will not be surprised, because they themselves have been walking around with the same question for a while.

Ingredient 5. Encourage talent development

The old familiar talent management, with its familiar lists of top talents and high-potentials has been declared dead. Everyone has a talent.

However… an employee doesn’t always have a sense of what their exact talent is right now. Ask them to define their talent, and then ask them how they themselves think they can best showcase their talent. You’ll be amazed!

An employee who can use his or her talent naturally becomes much happier at work. He or she becomes effervescent, work comes off easier, performance is higher, colleagues happier. Be sure to provide customization, though.

Not everyone has the same talent. Moreover, not everyone can “stretch” equally. So keep in mind the individual capabilities of your employees. What is important here is that everyone can take a step. Some a smaller step, others a big leap. Doesn’t matter, as long as there is movement.

Ingredient 6. Provide a pleasant mix of young and older workers

Young employees bring élan and impetuosity into the organization. This turns the world upside down, new means of communication make their appearance, it becomes possible for three people to work on the same document at the same time, the work can be done a lot more efficiently.

That’s where older employees (and you) learn a lot. At the same time, older employees have the experience that allows them to oversee things better, recognize the pitfalls and know what works and what doesn’t.

Both can learn a lot from each other, they keep each other sharp. Younger colleagues challenge the older ones, the older ones provide a faster learning curve for younger colleagues.

As a manager, you take advantage of this mix of youthfulness and thoughtful experience. You can devote yourself fully to your coaching duties and you won’t have to worry about crazy things happening in your department.

Ingredient 7. Put the focus on working in teams

In all organizations, working in teams has increased in importance. As a manager, you can put an important focus on that. Teams play an important role in creating employee engagement.

Well-functioning teams also give people a sense of safety and security within an organization.”

In conclusion

In short, you as managers hold the key of making your employees enjoy a lifetime of great work. Create space for talent, let each person develop and step up. Then you will get vibrant employees. The sum of vibrant employees is a vibrant organization. Great to lead that, right? You want to be able to do that all your life, don’t you?

Free discovery call

Lacking assertiveness or selfconfidence?

Does it inhibit you at work and want to get rid of that? That's possible with our 40 days individual coaching program. Lets meet, see if we have a 'click' and if I can help you.

> Book your free call

Recommended for you

Gain self-confidence

Four ways to control your nerves during a presentation

views
Gain self-confidence

Vier manieren om je zenuwen de baas te blijven bij een presentatie

views
More assertive

6 top manieren om dank je wel te zeggen in een e-mail

views
More assertive

6 awesome ways to say thank you in an email

views
Career

Quick DIY guide for personal growth

views
Career

Snelle DIY-gids voor zelfontplooiing & zelfontwikkeling

views
Leadership

My co-workers never give me feedback (& here’s why!)

views
Leadership

Mijn medewerkers geven me nooit feedback (& dit is waarom!)

views
Leadership

Pffft, emotions of employees. How do I deal with that?

views
Leadership

Pffft, emoties van medewerkers. Hoe deal ik daarmee?

views

Recent articles