Every employee on your team has unique talents and skills that your company needs to succeed, and for them to reach their full potential, you need to dedicate yourself to being the best manager they’ve ever had. Improve productivity and boost morale by making these eight tactics part of your management approach.  

Develop a smart recruiting process.

There are plenty of tools designed to make recruitment more efficient and attract top talent to your company, but one thing these platforms can’t do is evaluate how well a potential hire fits your existing team. A candidate with a stellar resume, impressive educational background, and mind-blowing skill set might have it all together on paper, but if he or she isn’t willing to work hard and participate in effective collaborations, it could make employee management more difficult.  Along with talent and a team spirit, the best employees: 

• Have a strong desire to learn. 
• Want to grow as part of the company.
• Are genuine and open. 
• Consider the job more than just a paycheck.

Work with your HR department to establish a recruiting process in which potential candidates are evaluated for more than just their credentials. Look for other beneficial traits while using interviews and follow-ups to determine which applicants can benefit your company the most with their useful knowledge, dynamic personalities, and strong levels of commitment.  

Communicate effectively.

A survey conducted by Entrepreneur revealed only 15 percent of employees “are satisfied with the quality of communication” where they work. This means a staggering 85 percent think their employers don’t pay attention to them or just plain stink at communicating. 

Good managers recognize employees have needs and concerns and they foster a work atmosphere where open dialogue is encouraged. Let your team know they can come to you with their problems and ideas and set up a system designed to ensure everyone has a chance to be heard. Show them you value employee input by correcting problems and giving serious consideration to suggestions for improvements in various areas of the company. 

Open communication goes both ways, so you have to be prepared to share with your employees when you’re experiencing setbacks with the potential to affect their jobs. Be real and honest in your discussions; people can tell if you’re hiding something or trying to put on a front. When you’re willing to be a little vulnerable, your employees will be more comfortable coming to you.  

Streamline workflows. 

Listening to your employees will inevitably bring some workflow issues to your attention. With all the rapid changes taking place in business technology, everything from the way you accept credit card payments, to the management of customer data has become more complex. If any part of the system is slow or your employees aren’t familiar with the way modern tools work, it could be a hindrance and prevent them from reaching their full productive potential.  Periodically ask your team about the issues they encounter during the normal course of doing their jobs and connect with the IT department to correct the problems as soon as possible. Be open to making continual adjustments to refine the system and provide training whenever new applications are introduced.  

Offer continual opportunities for education.

Young professionals are looking for workplaces where managers care about personal and professional growth among their teams. According to Monster, about 72 percent of employees think their managers don’t care at all. Imagine going to work every day and doing the exact same thing, never improving or getting anywhere. You’ve probably had this feeling, like being a hamster on a wheel without direction in your career. If you’re honest with yourself, you couldn’t wait to get out the door and into a better job where you could use your talents to accomplish something worthwhile.  Don’t subject your employees to the same experience. Provide as many opportunities as you can for them to attend educational or career seminars, spend time at trade shows, or take college courses relevant to their jobs. Supporting them in a continual process of learning not only builds their skill sets but also provides your company with a workforce knowledgeable about the latest industry tools and trends. Any investment you make in employee education should more than pay for itself as you pull ahead of the competition.  

Monitor performance continually.

The days of the annual performance review are over, or at least they should be. If your company is still living in the stone age and waiting 12 whole months to look at how employees are doing, something is seriously wrong. It’s time to drag yourself into the modern era of performance monitoring systems and consistent, constructive feedback.  An employee monitoring platform gives you a window into the strengths, weaknesses, efficiency, and productivity of everyone on your team. Instead of waiting until the end of the year to weed out the people who are underperforming and drop a nasty bombshell on them, you can look at where team members are struggling and offer options to help them grow.  Find a platform suitable for the structure of your business and use the included reporting tools to map your employees’ journeys. Provide regular feedback to everyone on the team and let them know their success is your main concern.