New managers think that it is up to them to dominate conversations with employees. Hence, most of them fail to listen, especially to the concerns and ideas of employees, leading to poor communication. As Epictetus (Greek philosopher) famously said, “Nature has given men one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak”. Managers who invest the time and efforts necessary for improving their personal listening skills not only experience an improv

"Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply." --Stephen R. Covey, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We spend a lot of time in school learning how to communicate. We take classes in written and spoken communication such as business writing , presentations and debate. We learnt how to express ourselves. But there were hardly any classes that taught us listening skills. Listening is every bit as important as spe

The performance review meeting is a formal conversation based upon the informal conversations that have happened prior. The goal is to make the meeting productive and produce outcomes that benefit both the employee and the company. Here is a guide to conducting performance appraisals in 10 easy steps: Click here for our interactive module: https://www.noodlefactory.com.sg/portal/course/dea5159f-4bf8-11e7-8a48-06fb09d22481 Set the climate for a productive interchange. Welcome

Most appraisals consist of an annual meeting between the manager and the direct report. In recent years, organisations have attempted to enhance the performance management system by incorporating feedback from various sources. One of these is called peer appraisal. Peer appraisal is the assessment of the individual by people working in the same job function and is considered as part of the 360 degree performance appraisal. There is evidence to suggest that peer assessments ar

Would you give a candid review of your boss for appraisal purposes? Managers are used to delivering feedback to employees during performance appraisal but what happens when the role is reversed? Giving feedback to your managers can be a daunting experience for many of us who are accustomed to the receiving end of feedback. In reality, great managers seek feedback and are open to change. Giving your manager feedback can help them improve. However, given the top-down culture of

It is year end at RST Company. Managers and employees are going through their annual routine of performance appraisal. Malcolm the Manager manages a team of 10 employees. He sure has a lot on his plate, having to meet with direct reports and filling out forms as Human Resources (HR) department needs the performance appraisal to be completed by the end of the month. Malcolm figures that the fastest way to do it would be to email a copy of the appraisal form to each employee he

Team building activities are a good way to build up rapport and cohesiveness among the employees in your organisation.  "Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people." --Steve Jobs   Click here for our module on the 6 steps to follow to run a successful team building activity:  http://noodlefactory.com.sg/course/6-steps-to-conduct-a-successful-team-building-activity

While team members are usually friendly and accommodating at the initial stages, there is bound to be conflict sooner or later. How you handle conflict among your employees demonstrates your ability to engage with employees. 1. Take every grievance seriously. If your employee is upset to the point that he or she has to come to you with the problem, that is reason enough for you to hear them out. He or she may be looking for someone to vent their frustrations on and look for a

Teambuilding with your employees can be fun, rewarding and productive.  However, there are some challenges you may encounter during the teambuilding process. Here are some ways to tackle them: Employees do not understand the instructions Sometimes you may see employees asking one another what to do, nothing happens when the activity begins or them not doing what is expected. This could be due to poorly explained instructions, too lengthy or too fast. To prevent this from happ

As a manager, your responsibility is to ensure that everyone is contributing in a team.    Here are 5 tips to help you bring out the best in your team:   “Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold.”—Proverbs 11:27   1. Be a good coach An important skill for any team leader or manager is to be able to coach effectively to draw out the capabilities of your team members. Your ability to ask the right questions and bring different insights becomes more i

It can be tough when it comes to reaching a decision that is agreed upon by everyone in a team. What are some of the behaviours that good teams adopt in making decisions?   1. Develop a well-defined criteria Before making any decision, the team must develop a set of criteria to determine whether the choice is a good one. One way to use this is to adopt the use of decision matrixes. The use of decision making matrices is a good evaluating tool that allows the team to score eac

Being aware of your emotions, understanding your personality and what motivates you are some factors that are important to developing effective managerial ability. If you cannot manage yourself, you will not be able to manage anyone else. Here are 4 steps to increase self-awareness.    1. Seek honest feedback We may not always be aware of how we come across to others, hence it is important to seek out someone we can trust to give us honest and direct feedback. This could be a

“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn” - Albert Einstein Coaching is about creating the conditions necessary for learning and growth. What are some ways that a coach can provide support for their coachees to succeed? 1. Let the coachee know that you are approachable and available Your coachee needs to know that he can contact you when he needs assistance. Let the coachee know your available timings and what times to avoid s

Before Pauline agreed to become a manager, she sought advice from a senior manager in the company.  This senior manager said, "You are awfully trusting and that can get you into trouble. I never trusted my staff. If you blindy trust people, you will fail!" Many managers who embrace the traditional command and control model believe that it is foolish to trust employees.  As a manager, building trust in your team is important. Refusing to trust anyone will not help you manage m

As our lives become seemingly hectic with demanding work schedules, there is a need to explore new ways of problem solving that will make us more productive as we execute our daily tasks.      Here are some ways to develop creative potential in your team members: 1. Sharpen expertise Send your staff for training, workshops, courses so that they will gain new knowledge and skills to do their work better. With new knowledge, people can make better connections to previous experi

A good project team requires more than technical skills. Here are some principles to guide you on team selection: 1. Less is more Fewer of the right people is much better than more of the wrong ones. When it comes to team selection, quality trumps quantity. For example, a team could comprise of only 4 people. Each member of the team understands the project’s direction and their role. This team will work more efficiently than an over-staffed team. 2. Availability is key Are th

There are thousands of managers out there, trying to recruit, train and retain their staff. They all want the same thing: To earn the respect of their direct reports, to please their bosses and to avoid that so often come with people managerment. What are the qualities of a good manager?  We have listed the following qualities. Do you have all or some of them? Are you confident? A healthy level of self-confidence is required to succeed at being a manager. Having confidence in

Writing skills are as important in electronic messages as in paper communication. Not everyone is skilled at writing emails or knows when email is required. Here are some tips to follow that will cut down time spent on writing emails: Choose your recipients with care. Plan to send copies to only those people who absolutely need the message. To help recipients prioritize email, highlight in the subject header whether the email requires any type of action. For instance “New pro

New managers who are conducting performance appraisals for the first time can be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information accumulated on their employees over the year but is unsure how to use the information to assess performance. The first step would be to look at the goals that were set at the beginning of the year. For each goal that was set, use the following questions to guide you: Has the employee achieved this goal? Why or why not? How do I know whether the emplo

A coaching observation checklist provides guidance for managers in observing whether coaching is done correctly and will make performance coaching much more effective.  Download our useful checklist now! Coaching Observation Checklist