The more people you have to manage, whether it be for a job, a charity, or a church, the more difficult it can be. After all, you will have as many different personalities as the number of people you have, and each individual has different needs, values, and quirks. So how can you manage the people involved, keep them interested, without alienating anyone? Here are some tips from an executive coach expert:
Set common Goals
Make sure that you inform everyone of the big picture, and what you are trying to achieve. For example, if you are a sales office, set a common goal for the whole agency, then break down the goal by department. Let’s suppose you want to sell 2000 widgets per month. You should split that goal down by week, and even by day, and then divide per department, and salesperson. So the individual salesman may only be responsible for 100 widget sales a month, but that will contribute to the big goal.
Have Managers that you can rely on
If you have, say, 100 people you are responsible for managing in an office, that may be too many without some managers in between you and the 100 people. For example, a McDonald’s store manager may have 100 people that work in the store, but will also have assistant managers to run a particular shift, and crew chiefs to handle things like managing the cashiers, or supervising the line cooks. It would be silly if the store manager did not have those managers below him or her, and delegate authority to help run the store. McDonald’s has a management structure designed that way so that everybody is properly supervised.
Be Accessible for Suggestions
Having an open-door policy is crucial, and is much easier to do these days, with so many methods of communication available. Ask your staff for ideas in which they can anonymously, or openly, contribute ideas. From writing emails in to discreetly leaving notes in a suggestion box, executive coach experts says that employees can let you know of ways to improve things with these methods. You do not have to act on every suggestion, of course, but at least be open to receiving them. If you are, your staff will notice, and be more likely to contribute.
Acknowledge others’ contributions
You cannot go it alone, especially when you have to manage so many people. So make sure that you acknowledge what others are doing to make your company a success. Offering things like regular raises and bonuses, comp time, and employee of the month awards can help keep morale high in your organization.
Have a Good Training and Tracking System
When you have this number of employees, you cannot rely on word of mouth to communicate things, and Post-It notes for tracking. You need to have a more formal system to both explain your standard operating procedures, and to track performance. There are a variety of computer programs on the market that can help with that.
Get an Executive Coach
You can also talk to an executive coach, like at the Institute for Coaching, for some individualized advice on your situation. Good luck.
Lisa Swan writes for a variety of websites.