“Managing and leading my team just takes up so much of my time!”
I’m willing to bet if you’re a manager, this thought resonates with you. It also probably comes as no surprise when I tell you it’s the most common grievance I hear from business owners.
Now I don’t have a silver bullet solution that can fix this all too common complaint but there has just been some Australian research released around how you can spend that time with your people in a way that will drive business results.
The HR Coach Research Institute has been analysing the feedback from more than 26,000 employees (that’s a lot of people!) across 500 Australian organisations over the past two years with the purpose of examining the differences between low, medium and high-performing organisations.
This research reveals that at the beating heart of high performance is strong management. Obvious, right?
Hmmm, I’m afraid to say it’s not as obvious as you would think, as over the past decade the research indicates that organisations have been investing in developing leadership as opposed to investing in developing management.
What do I mean when I refer to ‘management’? I’m referring to management as the one-to-one relationships between managers and the people in their team who directly report to them. And the results of these 500 organisations and their 26,000 employees has told us that strong management leads to a strong business – hands down.
So what does strong management look like and what are these so called ‘strong managers’ doing differently to everyone else?
The research tells us that strong management is all about the conversation.
Yep, back to good old fashion one-to-one communication. So as a manager if you want a positive ROI on your time, it boils down to what you say and how you say it. But we have so many conversations at work – which ones make a difference?
The HR Coach Research Institute have identified five types of conversations that, if done well, drive improvement within business. These are conversations around ideas, delegating, thinking, feedback and the conversations that take place in meetings.
Regardless of the type of conversation, there are some key elements that underpin every successful conversation:
- Firstly, remember that a conversation involves speaking and listening. It’s a two-way process and everyone needs to take part in the conversation.
- Secondly, be clear on what the conversation is about. Agree on the objective/s of the conversation at the beginning.
- Remember to be respectful and open. If you’re familiar with Brené Browns work you’ll know the importance of being vulnerable and building trust.
- Finally, be mindful. Remember to focus on building the relationship and encouraging new thinking.
Nic Morris
Founder & Managing Director, Human Tribe
This article was originally published by Business Chicks on 29th June 2016.
