Get the best out of your team

What you need to know:

  • Hire the Right Employees for the Job: According to Nansereko, employers should hire people who are qualified for a particular job to avoid cases of workers doing inappropriate work.
  • Motivation: Paying higher salaries is not the only way to get your team to deliver better results, Dorcus Murungi discovered other strategies.

In order to push employees to do their best in every part of their job, organisations need to be proactive. This can be through creating opportunities for their team members to excel and also rewarding them for what they do best.
Each worker has the potential to excel if given the treatment they desire.
“If you want to have best results at work, you need to understand your workers and treat them in a desirable way,” says Joweria Nansereko, Human Resource Manager at Graben 4PL.

Employers need to motivate their workers for the best results.
“Workers are different and they are motivated by different things. In order for them deliver good results, an employer needs to effectively motivate their team. This can be done by gaining a deep understanding about each worker on the team and finding out what makes them feel good about their work,” she says.
Bonuses for extra efforts: A team will be highly motivated if you make them feel appreciated. Though most companies concentrate on external rewards through corporate social responsibility, internal motivation is more powerful.

“Employers must know that before you reach out to reward the outside public, your workers are crucial and they play a leading role towards the success of a company,” says Lucy Asiimwe, Human Resource Manager at Ministry of Public Service.
Understand each workers strength and weaknesses: Asiimwe says in order for workers to give the best results, they need to be given tasks that they best can accomplish. She observes that the reason why some workers underperform is because they are given tasks in which they have no interest.

She adds that it is imperative for a team to work when they want, noting that the flexibility can be worth a lot more than money.
Hire the Right Employees for the Job: According to Nansereko, employers should hire people who are qualified for a particular job to avoid cases of workers doing inappropriate work. She said some employers hire unqualified people just to save money but those people end up underperforming.
“You may want to hire someone with less education or experience to save money on your payroll, or you may be doing your relative a favour. However, situations like this rarely work out well for your company. The people you hire and their co-workers have to do extra work just to cover up for those that cannot do what they were hired for is a situation that will hinder productivity.

Check workload: It is important for employers to engage in workforce forecasting so that you have enough people to satisfy your existing workload. She adds that when employees are overworked because they are doing a job meant for two or more workers, they get burned out, their performance will suffer, and an employer has to deal with low morale and low productivity.

Work.”Sometimes it is just bad manners, but sometimes rudeness is about frustration and an inability to talk about what is really going on. Give them the chance to talk about what is behind their tone by reflecting that they seem frustrated and asking why,” she says.

Opt out of the drama
Kirungi says that when dealing with a tricky coworker, workers should avoid getting involved in the bad working ethics.

“Joining in will only escalate the situation. So if it feels like you are going to lose your cool, walk away and come back and address things when the situation and you are calmer,” says Kirungi