How can you empower your employees to take on the New Year with gusto, to feel empowered to bring new ideas into the fold and push forward with them? It starts with your workforce planning model, with your leadership and the effect that you can have on your employees.
Leading your employees in the vein that you’d wish them to perform is key to coaxing the performance you desire, so your changes and choices start close to home.
Doing this in the New Year can be difficult, minds are generally a little slow after the festive break, following a routine of eating, drinking and sleeping, an overdose of TV and plenty of leisurely activities, carried out at your own pace. Getting back into the working mindset never-mind hitting the ground running, doesn’t come easily to us all; your workforce planning model should be there to help you to help your employees cope with this transition back to a productive, proactive working approach!
Slow & Steady
Number one, account for this potential slow turnaround, unless you have deadlines that can not be avoided on day one, then it’s best to allow your employees to come back to a minimum stress environment, ease them in slowly if you like.
They’ll thank you for it and come back to work the next day with a better attitude than if they had been thrown straight in the deep end after a more than a week off work – avoid the cold water shock!
Get Back On Track
Giving them the space to get back to the grind on their own terms is great for the first day or even two, but they are your team, and you need results, so getting your workforce back on track as soon as possible should be a priority in your workforce planning model.
Ensure your team’s aims are aligned, that the team knows where you are all heading and drill down more specifically so that individuals know what their goals for the month, quarter or the year are. The way in which you present and secure these goals matters, your energy needs to be positive and energetic rather than putting on the pressure immediately.
The Year Ahead
Aside from setting goals for your workforce and communicating these clearly, it would be best if you had your own clear plans and aims laid out for the year or more, whether these come from you or higher management. As we began with, leadership and leadership style is vital in empowering and energising employees for the New Year, so your workforce planning model needs to account for your own organisation.
If you know what the team is working towards, not only now but in the second, third and fourth quarter, you can provide perspective and drive where it is needed.
Don’t Stop There
The New Year often needs a kick start but employees need constant empowerment, to keep the momentum going, you’ll want to find your groove when it comes to being a manager who empowers their team all year round!
As for ways to do this?
Listen
Listening to your workforce will allow you to learn their needs, know where and what they are lacking and struggling with but better yet where their passions and successes lie.
Praise
Everyone responds well to praise, and a great leader will know when to dish out that praise. Empowering your employees through praise can be incredibly effective, so if praise isn’t your forte, then maybe it can be your New Year’s resolution.
Trust
Giving the room to grow and make unmanaged decisions should be another part of your workforce planning model. Part of strong leadership is sometimes knowing when to just trust and step back.
We also have a couple of other blogs which you might find useful for looking after your employees!
How to Tackle and Prevent Workplace Bullying in Your Business
