Editor's note: Employers want to get the most
out of their employees, and most employees want to give their employer their
best work. So why is it that employers and employees often end up on
different pages?
Chris Anderson looks at how employers and
employees communicate and how it might be improved to actually empower each
employee to higher performance and everyone to greater
satisfaction.
Top 7 Methods to Empower Employees
by: Chris Anderson
How many times have you asked someone to do
something like “draw up a plan for such and such project”? Your employee
completes the plan, but then you say, “That is not what I wanted” or “That
is not how you do it”. And so the employee thinks: but you didn’t tell me
exactly how you wanted it done.
If you find yourself having back and forth
misunderstandings with your employees, then you might have a communication
problem. And this could be creating bad feelings, low morale and inefficiencies.
To remedy this, perhaps it’s time you thought about creating a Policies and
Procedures Manual.
Let’s look at 7 methods to strengthen
communication and performance.
1. Implement Effective Policies and Procedures
A Policies and Procedures Manual is a
communication tool designed to empower employers, managers and employees with a
consistent approach to accomplishing their daily tasks. It provides a set of
policies, plans, reports, forms and work routines that convey the pulse of the
organization.
A properly developed manual focuses everyday
business communications between employees and management on what is really
important to get the job done. This focus is the first step in empowering
employees. Empowerment requires a shared vision, the communication of necessary
information and adequate training.
2. Convey Management Policy and Vision
An organization’s manual should be used to
communicate both corporate policies and the appropriate procedures for
implementation of the policy in a combined style format. If employees know the
vision, then they feel confident to make decisions. Keep in mind, though,
policies should not be confused with procedures.
Policy - A definite course or method of action
to guide and determine present and future decisions. A policy is a guide to
decision-making under a given set of circumstances within the framework of
corporate objectives, goals and management philosophies.
Procedure - A particular way of accomplishing
something, or an established way of doing things. A procedure is a series of
steps followed in a definite regular order that ensure the consistent and
repetitive approach to actions.
3. Improve Communication and Efficiently Run
Operations
A manual serves to translate the company's
business philosophies and desires into action. A well-designed manual is an
invaluable communication tool for efficiently running operations within
departments and bridging the gap between interrelated departments. If a
department has specific information that it requires to process a task, then
this information is easily captured in a form that accompanies the task. Forms
are commonplace in business, acting as a guide for such things as purchase
orders, employment applications or asset requisitions.
4. Reduce Business Process Training Time
A policies and procedures manual is a
functional guide for training new and existing employees. It prevents
difficulties in performing duties due to lack of understanding or inconsistent
approaches from personnel changes. And it will assist in developing a consistent
method in handling any task.
5. Improve Productivity and Decision Making
Policies and procedures speed up employee
decision making by having a handy, authoritative source for answering questions.
Well-developed and documented manuals can ensure compliance with regulatory
agencies affecting your business, including the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), government
contracting authorities and independent certification organizations (i.e. ISO).
6. Strengthen Organization and Quality
A comprehensive manual covering all departments
within an organization can become a "quality" manual for the whole
company. This will help ensure optimal operations and consistent delivery of the
finest in product or service from the company.
It will "empower” employees to make
decisions independently without the need or time delays of involving various
levels of management. A well thought out manual will enable just about everyone
in the organization the ability and flexibility to make the right decisions in
his or her job responsibilities.
For example, a customer service representative
should be able to handle a customer's problem and have the authority to resolve
the problem right on the spot. In addition, a production team should be able to
diagnose a quality problem and formulate and resolve the problem in conjunction
with engineering without having to go through various channels up and down the
corporate ladder.
7. Meet Objectives with Policies and
Procedures Manual
The goal of the policies and procedures manual
is to identify the ways and means of communicating, as well as getting the
service performed or the product manufactured at the least cost in the minimal
amount of time. Not only will it be used to empower an organization, but it will
have the added benefit of increasing job satisfaction and employee morale.
About The Author
Janice
Byer is a certified Master Virtual Assistant and owner of Docu-Type
Administrative & Web Design Services (http://www.docutype.net).
See this and other articles on her website.
jbyer@docutype.net
