Most of us judge ourselves on our motivations rather than our actions.  However, employees only get to judge us by our actions. Getting in touch with what we’re doing rather than what we intended is a huge step in the right direction when it comes to managing employees!

There are two common flashpoints that adversely impact employee performance.

1.       The employee is unclear about the manager’s expectations.

Goals should cascade down from the owner to his employees so that everyone understands how they contribute to the objectives of the team. To check the alignment in your office it is helpful to ask “What are the top three priorities in your role? “Why is this so important?” The way these questions are answered will give a lot of good clues for developing the manager/employee relationship.

2.       Managers fail to adapt their styles to the employees’ preferred styles.

Every employee/manager relationship is unique and requires a different management approach.  For example, the approach taken by a highly decisive boss working with a highly decisive employee should be significantly different from the approach taken by this same boss when working with a less decisive employee.

Managers and employees who understand each other’s preferred styles will better understand how to communicate and work together effectively. We have identified seven factors that strongly predict the compatibility between a manager and employees. These are: self-assurance, self reliance, conformity, optimism, decisiveness, objectivity, and approach to learning.

Relying on the assessment of a manager and employees allows objective information to be used to work more effectively toward a common goal.

Linda Winlock is the owner and President of Personnel Profiling Inc. Established in 1987, Personnel Profiling provides organization development, employment assessments and human resource services to companies throughout the nation. Linda has over 20 years of experience working with all types of industries and company sizes. In addition, she is an Area Director for Profiles International. Profiles International provides employment assessments and services to over 40,000 clients in 122 countries. Linda’s formal education includes a Master’s Degree in Education with a concentration in counseling psychology. She is available for phone consultation at (502)895-9297 or by email at lwinlock@personnelprofiling.com and www.personnelprofiling.com.

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