If you are a small business owner, you can agree with us that it takes a good manager and a team of loyal employees to make a successful organization or business. How? When workers perform at their best, the goal of a business or an organization is achieved. But, many business owners, executives, or managers are at a loss on how to successfully manage their employees. This is one major reason why organizations or businesses fail. In this article, we will show you how to create a functional work environment through an efficient employee management scheme. In addition, you could also look at this website to have an idea of what it means to start and run a successful business.

Open communication is the key

A culture of open communication takes effort. A lot of it. But, it’s worth it. Open communication fosters accountability and transparency among workers in an organization. It gives them a sense of duty as it helps them understand what’s required of them, and where their strength and weakness lies. When you encourage employees to offer feedback via open communication, it eliminates insecurities and boosts the self-esteem of the workers as their voice is heard and their opinions are taken seriously.

On the flip side, when open communication is lacking, things get pretty slowed down, sometimes even leading to business failure or collapse.

Reward hard work

When people put in extra effort in doing something, they deserve attention or credit, or even rewards. What makes you a good manager or executive is your ability to recognize hard work. You can create a reward system to this effect. Rewards such as a day off, peer recognition (i.e. rewarding them in front of other employees), words of encouragement dinner, etc. will motivate your employees to give all their best next time.

Sometimes you have got to discipline too

When employees consistently exhibit poor performance, do not turn a blind eye. You must be direct and objective. However, you must be compassionate too. The whole goal of discipline is to motivate your workers to do better and not berate them. How do you go about this? Meet with them and communicate your expectations in simple terms. Productive dialogue doesn’t have to be very long and very official. Sometimes the solution may be additional training or learning.

However, some situations require the use of an iron rod and not verbal counseling. Situations such as drug abuse, sexual abuse, etc. can lead to automatic termination of the job.

PS. Don’t forget to document the details of all disciplinary conversations, and avoid any bias in the documentation! 

Be honest

When dealing with people, it is expedient you are aware of your flaws, strength, and limitations. In that way, you will be able to relate with your employees base on their makeup. This will also reveal the human side of you other than trying to sound distant, official, and robotic every single time. It will also deter you from placing unrealistic expectations on your workers.

It is not enough to be aware of your flaws or weaknesses. Sometimes you need to admit it and own your mistakes up too. How? When you make a mistake, and you feel the pressure, let your workers know. Remember it’s all about creating an environment where everyone feels and acts human.

The bottom line

Rome was not built in a day. Don’t expect quick results when it comes to employee management. Remember, you are dealing with humans and not machines or robots. You could also get a useful source of information on how to run a small business here.