Navigating and facilitating change
It is crucial for both managers and the rest of employees to master workplace skills in order to boost productivity. One of the vital skills is the ability to navigate and facilitate change process.
Although the leadership of an organization is largely charged with the role of navigating and executing change, it is prudent to mention that the subordinate staff in lower ranks should also be involved in the process. A combination of factors usually accompanies the process of change. For example, employees have to pass through the processes of development and learning before they eventually mature as productive workers (Exter, Grayson & Maher, 2013).
Before any process of change is embraced and eventually adopted, a robust change management committee should be set up to navigate the proposals. When employees participate in the change process, they gain a sense of worth even as they work for an organization. Active participation is also an effective means to motivate employees.
Communicating bad news
Bad news in an organization can be delivered through a narrative approach. For example, layoffs are usually bad news for employees. It is often a major leadership challenge to break bad news to employees. Hence, it is upon managers and supervisors to learn the best workplace skills to handle such an eventuality (Ayoko & Pekerti, 2008). Although a number of leadership communication tools exist, the choice should rely on the nature of bad news and target groups or individuals in an organization.
Employing the narrative approach as a leadership communication tool has been preferred for a long time owing to its effectiveness. On the other hand, a bulleted power-point style can also be used to break bad news. Research findings indicate that a negative effect contained in a bad message can be minimized when a narrative presentation is used to communicate unpleasant news. Nonetheless, a narrative style can be rather complicated and time-consuming even though it adequately prepares the targeted persons.
Dealing with complaints constructively
Administrative and employee-to-employee complaints are inevitable at workplace. Unreasonable or illogical complaints may be received from some employees. However, requisite skills should be mastered by the leadership of an organization so as to avoid negative connotations or feedbacks among complainants (Ryan, 2011).
Listening to the presented complaint is the initial step of dealing with any form of dissatisfaction at workplace. The listener should never interrupt the complainant during presentation. It is highly likely that the aggrieved person may get even more furious owing to poor listening occasioned by constant interruption.
It is necessary to recap the issues at hand after the complaint has been presented by the aggrieved person. The latter ensures that the piece of complain has been fully comprehended. Thereafter, apologies should be made as soon as possible if required. On a final note, a resolution stage is reached after adequate investigation has been carried out.
Developing empowered relationships
Building a positive relationship is a key ingredient in the growth and development of both employees and an organization. Managers, employees and co-workers should equally seek to enhance positive relationships throughout their working period in an organization (Krot & Lewicka, 2012).
An empowered relationship can be successfully developed through the aspect of trust. The latter is a complex phenomenon that requires adequate understanding by all members of an organization. Employees who do not trust each other can hardly build any lasting relationships at workplace.
Both an institutional and interpersonal relationships are pertinent at workplace. Therefore, the various dimensions of trust must be identified, embraced and applied by managers and the subordinates as part and parcel of building formidable relationships.
References
Ayoko, O. B., & Pekerti, A. A. (2008). The mediating and moderating effects of conflict and communication openness on workplace trust. International Journal of Conflict Management, 19(4), 297-318.
Exter, N., Grayson, D., & Maher, R. (2013). Facilitating organizational change for embedding sustainability into academia: A case study. The Journal of Management Development, 32(3), 319-332.
Krot, K., & Lewicka, D. (2012). The Importance of Trust in Manager-Employee Relationships. International Journal of Electronic Business Management, 10(3), 224-233.
Ryan, S. (2011). Dealing with complaints: A positive staged approach is best. Occupational Health, 63(11), 21.