A 4-step process for effective leadership - CleanLink

Regardless of your role in the commercial cleaning industry, proven leadership strategies can go a long way in increasing a company's bottom line and keeping the best people on board and engaged. In a SmartBrief article by Paul B. Thornton, managers can follow an applicable 4-step model when it comes to staying organized and keeping employees motivated and happy at work.

Step 1: Diagnose a situation

While it is admirable for any manager to strive for improvement, it cannot be done properly without a clear picture of the work environment. This analysis can be divided into three parts:

• The organization as a whole: Is the proposed strategy feasible for the current work environment and corporate culture?
• Key Processes: Understand the scope of services and products and whether they are optimized
• People at work: Do employees have the right approach to daily tasks, do they have a personality that fits the company culture and do they have the knowledge to be competent?

Tips for considering each of these facets include analyzing data like financial statements, gathering employee feedback on day-to-day operations, and ensuring a wide variety of voices are heard in these discussions.

Step 2: Identify Opportunities

This applies to both individual and organizational levels. Individually, this means looking at leaders and assessing whether their feedback is timely, helpful, and whether they have the right resources to succeed.

From an organizational perspective, this means assessing day-to-day systems and potential areas that need improvement from an efficiency perspective. Tips for spotting opportunities include open discussions with clients, advisors, and colleagues to see if any ideas didn't surface. Additionally, studying the habits of the company's best employees can lead to a hands-on approach where others in the company can learn useful tactics.

Step 3: Submit your message

An improvement plan is a good start, but it can fail if not properly communicated. Employees need to understand exactly why this will lead to positive change. It comes down to understanding employee trends and what they respond to best. This probably varies by personality type, but some prefer a purely logical argument to improve results, others like the emotional argument that pulls them to heart, while others like examples like their own experiences and why you encouraged them to start a process to change.

Tips for doing this effectively include practicing a presentation several times beforehand and welcoming feedback from others on how best to share ideas.

Step 4: Activate others

Any improvement in an organization means that the people who are to make it happen must be properly trained and resourced. This includes offering incentives like bonuses, reducing demand for non-core tasks, and allowing employees to take the lead on various projects.

The best way to do this is to ask employees what they think they can do better and quickly give them opportunities for success that give them confidence.

The full article can be found here . You can find more tips on employee management and motivation here .

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