Three Ways to Build Successful Manager-Employee Relationships

When employees are knowledgeable and have good resources, they are better-informed, solve problems more quickly and make more data-driven decisions. In addition to knowing what they need to know, knowledgeable employees have a better understanding of what they don’t know, which also can contribute to better decision making across the organization.

Employees who make good decisions experience success on a regular basis. This contributes to job satisfaction and empowers employees to solve problems and make more decisions, which in turn, will make them feel more valued, more loyal, more likely to stay with the organization and more likely to produce higher-quality work.

To produce these results, the effective manager ensures employees are in jobs that make the most of their skill sets, and provides ongoing development as job responsibilities and qualifications change. To do these two things effectively, managers must take the time to get to know their people by listening carefully for potential performance issues and providing timely feedback.

As members of the most-distracted, information-packed and fast-moving workforce in history, good listening skills have never been more important. Talent managers cannot assume they know what employees want. Effective listening can help everyone slow down and fully consider a situation before reacting.

When managers model good listening skills, employees will learn to seek them out when they have a problem. Thus, managers will hear more, good and bad, in time to give feedback that can make a difference.

Timing can differentiate feedback from criticism. Early feedback allows employees to make changes and can impact a situation. Untimely feedback, no matter how well-intended, isn’t useful and often is perceived as an assignment of blame or criticism.

Managers that provide ongoing development can help build strong employee relationships. Development includes providing time and opportunities for cross training and personal development and takes into consideration individual job competencies and organizational needs. Again, this investment in individuals makes them feel valued, can increase loyalty to the company and will pay off in higher organizational performance.