Conversations Matter..!!

What key elements help a Manager to make his / her employees more productive?

Everyone wants to meet timelines with qualitative output. However the individual operating plans which are set during their scheduled reviews drive the performances, at times it is difficult for Managers to help their direct reports to achieve their targets.

Some of these thoughts may help you in making your direct reports more productive and be accountable for their deliverables.

The idea of working with people is largely driven by 'communication'. This key aspect drives the teams towards their achieving goals in organizations. Since communication plays a very important role in this set up, Managers holding conversations with their teams also has a greater value in it. But the other side of this also has some negative impact, some conversations by Managers may lead to disempowerment in teams and that would directly impact their performance. However, Managers try to have better conversations, at times they fail in creating greater impact. Most Managers would not know that by little practice and effort, they could be great communicators and help their team members get the intentions in right sense. This seems to be a time taking process but can create a great collaborative working culture by consistent practice.

Try these steps:

Next time, when you want to have a conversation with one of your team members, ponder on the below questions before you engage them.

1.       What are my intentions for this conversation?

2.       How this conversation is going to help the team member with whom I am going to hold this conversation?

3.       What are the current challenges, burdens and conflicts of my team member?

4.       Am I going to add more challenges, burdens and create more conflicts for my team member by holding this conversation?

The invitation for you is, every time when you want to get into some conversation with someone in your team or with anyone else, try to ponder on these questions, initially it would take some time but by practice you will surely get it into your subconscious and see the greater results to cause a great working environment.

What else you need to help your team members achieve their KRA?

You may get a thought that, this is time consuming and a long process which merely help in getting instant results. But it’s a journey and this journey has a hope which has great value, the value of 'learning' and 'leading'.

Are you rushing to hold a meeting with someone? Hold yourself for a moment, try the above process once and see the difference.

Good luck.