New Year's Resolutions and the Role of the Manager
14th December 2015
New Year’s Resolutions and the Role of the Manager
According to a well-respected UK HR journal, this is the time of year when between one and two people out of every four start to actively take steps to find another job. It seems that the start of a new year is seen as a period for renewal and decisions. Career goals resurface alongside an apparent determination to address areas of dissatisfaction and frustration in current roles.
This begs the question about what organisations generally and managers, in particular, can do to retain, re-motivate and develop the people in their teams and departments.
Here are six simple yet very effective steps you or your managers can take to ensure your people do not start a new year with a new organisation!
1. Discuss personal goals
Use the opportunity that the new year provides to ask people about their goals for the coming year. Make sure that this conversation is about what they are looking to accomplish for themselves rather than just what they have to deliver for you.
2. Touch-base meetings
Honour one on one time. The new year is not the time to be cancelling or missing those important touch-base moments with team members. Use them to ask people for their ideas on how their work and that of the team can be improved.
3. Motivate through feedback
Be on the ball and increase positive and constructive feedback. All the research says that good feedback is a great motivator, so now is the time to remind people about what they are good at and what they can contribute over the next twelve months.
4. Give challenging assignments
Identify stretching assignments for team members. Show you value them by discussing and agreeing assignments and mini-projects that they can progress and have some ownership of.
5. Give work meaning
Re-visit or share with team members the priorities for the business, department or team to ensure that people are clear about the importance of their contribution and their work is given as much meaning as possible.
6. Suggest mentoring
Encourage people to volunteer to be a mentor in your organisation. Giving something back can be very rewarding and motivating. If your company does not have a mentoring scheme, why not think about introducing one in 2016?