Effective People Management: Strategies for Building a Productive and Positive Workplace Culture

Handling people in an organization is a critical aspect of managing a business effectively. Leaders must be equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to create an environment that fosters collaboration, motivation, and productivity.?

In this article, we will discuss three types of Traits and some essential strategies for building a productive and positive workplace culture for "Effective People Management"

Understanding the good, the bad, and the ugly

The Problem Statement

First, let's start understanding three broader categories of Traits that we can observe in an Employee.

A. THE SHEEP IN A LION’S CLOTHING

• Lack of Skills: They try to show the skills they don't posses?
• They show more than they do
• They take the credit for most of the good things happening in the Firm
• They play the victim card.
• Lack of Accountability: Point to someone else when something goes wrong.
• Inability to Adapt

Such employees can have a negative impact on a company's success and culture.

They don't have new things to say. Hear them out in 10 meetings, take the union of all the contents they said in all those meetings and you would find "those unique words or lines" getting repeated in most of the discussions.

B. Misguided Missiles

We call them Missiles because they have all the talents needed to be successful, however, they are putting effort in the wrong direction and hence 'misguided'. One of the below may be true for them:

• Leadership team unable to recognize the potential
• They are unhappy due to a bad environment (Bad Manager / Micromanagement / No Role Model / Incorrect Examples They See Around) When such employees do not find a right role model, they start behaving like their manager/leader and believe that's what they should also be doing to get into next level.
• They possess all the necessary skills to finish the assigned tasks.

C. The Self-Starter

Self-starters are individuals who have a proactive mindset, take initiative, and are self-motivated to achieve their goals. They do not wait for instructions or guidance from others and are willing to take risks and learn from their mistakes.?

• They are goal-oriented.
• They are Self-motivated.
• They are resourceful - Can work with limited resources.
• They are proactive.
• They are resilient.
• They observe people and situations better.

The list is long, however, as they gain the experience they start practicing all the positive behaviors that a leader must have.

In all these 3 categories, there are few in between two categories. Those are the people who have a high chance of moving to the next category under the right leadership and guidance.

What You Can Do To Create A Good Culture

Having a good culture is crucial for the success and sustainability of any organization. Culture refers to the values, beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that shape the organization's working environment. Good culture helps an organization to "Attract and Retain Talents", "Boosts Morale and Productivity", and helps Organization to progress towards success.

It's very essential to set the right example i.e. those who perform should grow, those who need help will be mentored, and those who are struggling would be mentored and guided to get into the appropriate roles.

How to handle them?

Type A: Those who are not showing traits of A' and belong to category A

This is the toughest problem to address. A tough conversation generally needs in this case.

Let's be straight and tell the truth. A discussion should happen to provide the 'true feedback' without using a 'sandwich feedback style - start with positive, then negative, and end with positive'. The moment we use any positive, such people take only the positives out of the meeting. Leaders must be very clear in the feedback message to see some improvement soon. If there is no improvement observed after a certain time (say 6 months) then the Leader/Manager should review the current role, evaluate the skills, and recommend a better, suitable, and different role in the organization. Few organizations do have performance improvement plans, however, it works only in a few cases (or we can say it rarely works - whatever the reason).

Type B:

It's easy to put them on the right track. Sometimes, just showing that caring is enough. However, providing the right mentorship, training, and guidance will help them move in the right direction and grow in the organization. They need the right role model in the organization.?

Sometimes they get demotivated when their manager is not better than them in particular skill/technology. This can be solved by helping them to understand what it takes to play a bigger role in the organization (problem-solving, vision, bigger picture, architecture, business knowledge, etc.) and they would understand. Once they get respect for their leader/manager then it's easy to get them on the right track. However, if we have not-so-good-leader then that is a must problem to solve otherwise we will lose them soon.

Recognizing and appreciating team members for their hard work and accomplishments can go a long way in boosting their morale and motivation. Leaders must celebrate the achievements of their team members and provide them with opportunities for growth and development.

Type C:

Give them what they want. Pay them better. Keep them on the right promotion path and that's it.?

They don't differentiate between big or small work and work in the organization's interest.

In conclusion, bad technology employees can be detrimental to the success of a technology team or company. By identifying and addressing these negative traits, employers can foster a positive and productive workplace culture and hire employees who are a better fit for their technology roles.

This is a personal opinion of Sanjeev Mishra based on his 20 years of experience in Technology and Leadership. For any query or help on building a team, you can reach out to him at [email protected]