Answer to Question 1
Here are four things that you can do to obtain peak performance from your employees:
1 . Set high standards and stick to them. Employees become demoralized when managers do not hold themselves to the same high standards set for other workers in the organization. Employees are stimulated to work hard with managers who expect a lot of themselves, believe in excellence, and set a good example.
2 . Put the right person in the right job. Employees take pride in meeting a challenge and doing a job well. Their sense of accomplishment enhances their performance. Under utilizing employees' skills destroys their motivation.
3 . Keep employees informed about their performance. Employees should be able to control, measure, and evaluate their own performance. To do this, they need to know and understand the standard against which their performance is being compared. The job description and performance appraisal interview help keep employees informed about what managers expect of them. Keep in mind the unwritten rule of managing people: Put praise in writing. But when you must reprimand an employee, do so verbally and in private.
4 . Allow employees to be a part of the process. One means of motivating employees is to give them a managerial vision, a sense of how their work contributes to the success of the project, program, or organization. In a sense, a manager cannot give his own vision to his employees, but he can allow them to help mold and shape the vision, thereby making it theirs as well as his.
Answer to Question 2
The first step to take when delegating your work to subordinates is to evaluate their skill levels and the difficulty of the task. The trick is to select the employee with the appropriate skills who will find the task challenging but not frustrating.
Once you have chosen the best employee, give him or her all the information needed to do the job well. Be honest about the work; if it's drudgery, say so.
Do these three things to ensure success:
1 . Give the employee responsibility for completing the project or task.
2 . Hold the employee accountable for the results.
3 . Provide the employee with the authority to make needed decisions, direct others to help with the project, and carry out actions as required.
Make sure the employee has the necessary materials, equipment, time, and funds to complete the project.
Evaluate the employee's progress periodically and be prepared to accept a less-than-perfect result.