4 New Ways to Manage your Employees by Shana Rivett

1. Listen to your employees.

Employers who actively listen to their employees prompt dialogue; this can lead to the exploration of unknown

opportunities for improvement within their organization. Listening means inquiring, understanding, being open

with employees and allowing them to challenge your ideas. Listening builds trust which can create and enforce

a positive work culture in your company. Build long term relationships and show appreciation for your

employees; after all, they are a company’s greatest asset.

2. Have an authentic leadership style.

Lead by example and be authentic at work. This means employers should be transparent in their decisions and

open in their discussions with employees. It also means employees should put personal interests aside, and place

the objectives of the organization first. Employers motivate employees by creating purpose and passion in their

company’s vision, and ensure that the organization's work culture is inspirational. Employees should feel that

the company believes in their abilities and will help them grow in their careers. Trusting in your employees'

abilities will influence them to wholeheartedly buy into your company’s vision; encouraging them will increase

productivity, and create new knowledge for the company.

3. Establish a learning environment.

The key to facilitating a learning environment is in engaging your employees. Find opportunities to connect,

and create an environment that fosters teamwork and produces collaborative learning. This comes down to each

member sharing what they know – knowledge and expertise. In a learning environment, creative thinking can be

ignited allowing collaborative knowledge work to happen, new ideas to be implemented and existing processes

to be improved. Employees need to be able to trust each other in this environment to share ideas on change

initiatives; explore the untested, and come up with solutions. A company should create opportunities at and

outside of work to produce a learning environment so everyone can learn as a team and innovate together. In

this collaborative environment, everyone is both a leader and a follower; everyone is an equal member on the

team coming together to achieve common goals.

4. Create a mentorship program.

Engage employees with mentorship opportunities. Employees want to know that they add value to a company.

New communication channels and strategic thinking initiatives will create a collaborative work

environment and benefit an organization in the long run. A mentorship program can close the gap in

generational differences; between more senior management and new employees. Mentors gain new skills with

the ability to impact and influence, and mentees develop personal growth and professional development. A

mentorship program is a positive influence on an organization’s work culture as it can further influence

employees to buy into a company’s vision, and retain long-term talented employees.

Shana Rivett has a bachelor’s degree in Leadership; she is a Communications Specialist, Business Consultant and Social

Entrepreneur. If you are looking for a management consultant who can generate a new leadership project and hit the

ground running, contact Shana at shana.rivett@gmail.com.