Good leaders understand the difference between managing things and leading people. They don’t view their employees as objects that must be controlled – they view them as individuals with valuable experience, skills, and potential.
As a leader, it is your responsibility to make the most of your employees’ experience, utilise their skills, and unlock their potential. The more you invest in your people, the more invested they will be in achieving the company vision.
The benefits of investing in your team
If you take the time to understand your team members, you’ll be better placed to motivate and inspire them. They’ll feel more valued, meaning they’ll be more engaged. However, building a highly motivated team isn’t the only benefit of investing in your people.
Learn from each other and innovate together
When you’re invested in training and developing your team members, it benefits everyone. Each employee can share newly acquired knowledge, techniques and learning with the rest of the team, and inform you of updates and innovations in the industry. If everyone is openly sharing ideas and knowledge, your team will become better at innovating, creating, and problem-solving.
Attract and retain top talent
Investing in your employees makes them feel valued and if they feel valued, they are less likely to look for opportunities outside your organisation. This allows you to retain top talent and create a positive workplace culture. Word will spread about what a great team you are to work for which means you’ll start attracting better candidates when you recruit.
Become known for developing talent
The successes of your team are your successes. If your team members consistently hit targets, earn promotions, or perform to high levels, you’ll gain a reputation as someone who knows how to get the best from people. Not only will that set you up for career progression, but it will also help you attract the best people to your team.
Future proof your business
Things move fast in the business world and companies that do not stay up to date with the latest innovations and systems can quickly lose their competitive advantage. Continuously training and developing your team will ensure you have access to the latest knowledge, skills, tools and techniques. You’ll be better placed to serve your customers and you won’t have huge skill gaps later down the line.
Improve productivity
Happy, motivated staff are more productive. This means better results and better profits. Plus, if you don’t have to constantly micro-manage demotivated team members, you’ll have more time to work on business development and your own personal development.
How to be a more invested manager
Being invested in your people is about more than just offering generic training courses and clear routes for progression. If you want to get the most from your teams, you need to take time to build meaningful connections and ensure every team member feels valued and supported.
Get to know individual team members
The more you know about each team member, the better. Take time to understand what motivates them, what their career aspirations are, and how you can help them reach their personal goals.
Offer opportunities to learn new skills
It’s important to ensure your employees have the necessary training to carry out their roles effectively, but why stop there? Just because somebody doesn’t currently have the skills to do something, it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be great at it. Look for opportunities to cross-skill or upskill employees.
Schedule regular one-to-ones
Schedule one-on-one meetings with each team member and let them set the agenda. This gives employees a chance to speak openly about their challenges, successes, aspirations, ideas or suggestions for improvement. Not only will this make employees feel valued and listened to, but it could give you some great insights and ideas.
Celebrate successes and achievements
People want to be acknowledged for their successes so make sure you give praise when employees work hard or go above and beyond. Remember to thank your team members when they have done a good job. Celebrate individual and team achievements.
Reinforce company values
Consistently communicate the company values and recognise employees who display those values in the work they do. Lead by example and demonstrate the values in your own work and behaviour.
Invest in yourself
Being a leader is about leading others, and you can’t do that effectively if you are neglecting yourself. As well as developing your team, you need to invest in your own development too.
Set personal vision and values
What are your career goals, core values and beliefs? What is important to you? What motivates you? Is it important that your work has a positive impact on the wider community? Does inspiring people motivate you? Is creating a healthy work-life balance your priority?
Setting your own personal vision and values helps keep you motivated and engaged with your work.
Put a development plan in place
Which skills would you like to develop or learn? Which strengths could you build on? Where are your biggest areas for improvement? Are there any formal qualifications you’d like to gain?
Decide what you’d like to develop and look for training opportunities that will help you build your skills, experience, knowledge and confidence.
Back yourself
Leaders are often brilliant at advocating for their employees but struggle to advocate for themselves. If you want to progress in your career, you need to back yourself. Ask your managers to invest in you. You might be surprised by how willing they are to support you, especially if you go to them with a clear development plan.
Developing Invested Leaders
As a manager or leader, there’s always something new to learn or a skill you can improve and develop. Organisations need to support managers and leaders in this development, but you also need to invest in yourself.
Getting formal leadership and management training will not only help you build your leadership skills, it will also help you grow in confidence, and increase your chances of career progression.
Alternative Partnership delivers ILM-accredited Leadership and Management training programmes to support you and your teams in gaining formal, nationally recognised qualifications.
Find out more about our current ILM courses here or get in touch to discuss how our services could benefit you.