Page 76 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

Entering the Organization 61

spective of their employees, and employees need to understand and respect
the perspective of the leader. There is no better time to begin working on your
relationships than your first day and throughout your first year. Mutual respect
is based on mutual understanding of needs and demands.

Practice Self-Monitoring
Employees need feedback on how well they are doing, and leaders and man-
agers need information on what employees are doing. Monitoring and feed-
back are essential in helping employees keep track of how well they are
meeting the challenge. Enabling employees to choose how to get the work
done requires self-monitoring and personal responsibility for quality and out-
put. Periodic checks on progress, process, and quality, as well as coaching with
reassessment and adjustment of work goals, help employees achieve their qual-
ity and quantity goals. Many managers also encourage peer monitoring, usu-
ally in team meetings where team members discuss goals and achievements
and their contribution to the team’s accomplishments. This approach is pop-
ular in self-directed, peer-led teams.

Build on Successful Experiences
Success begets success! People who use their abilities in challenging situations
are more consistently successful. They learn to use their capabilities, develop
new skills and abilities, and learn what is required for success. Empowering
leaders offer challenges that build on their people’s successes and increase the
chances for top performance under trying circumstances.
Empowering leaders help their people to be successful. They set up an envi-
ronment that encourages a positive self-concept and a feeling that people are
fulfilling constructive and valuable goals.

We have identified six things leaders can do to help ensure high employee per-
formance. As a newly appointed leader, you have an excellent opportunity to
affect your people in ways that can truly make a difference on the job. The
process of “buying in” versus “dropping out” begins in the first days following
your appointment. Employees often make the decision to be part of the solu-
tion rather than part of the problem within weeks, certainly within a few
months, of your arrival. With strong engagement comes the use of discre-
tionary effort and time. Employees who feel empowered become positive and
creatively committed to the organization’s success.