How To Get The Best From Staff – The Dragon’s Way

* Survey showed employees regarded managers as “the least trusted group’.
* Staff morale in the west has hit rock bottom but China’s GDP grew strong.
* What can we learn from eastern insights in to personal impact and relationships?

Research showed that employees regarded senior manager as “the least trusted group”. Today, a big challenge in business is how senior managers can exercise the right kind of leadership styles to win hearts and minds and get the best performance from employees.

Trust is the cornerstone of relationships of all kinds. In business, it is pivotal to employer and employees relationships. Effective leadership styles are more about personal impact and connection than job titles and status. This article will highlight three great Chinese philosophers' insights into leadership styles:

Tip 1: Sun Tzu said, “Know yourself and know others.”

Sun Tzu (500 BC) wrote in The Art of War: “Know yourself and know others, you will win hundreds of battles.” In business it means managers, business owners and chief executives need to focus on the uniqueness of their products and services, match it with customer needs, and market it with right resources. If you want to get excellent performance from employees, tell them why your products and services are excellent and make them feel they are doing something special for customers. Have you ever been served by someone full of enthusiasm and total belief in the product or service he or she is promoting to you? How wonderful did it make you feel?

Tip 2: Lao Tzu’s “Action, non-action.”

Lao Tzu (600 BC) said, “action, non-action”. At workplaces, it happens when employees are so absorbed in their job that their efforts are no longer a contrived endeavour. To achieve this, firstly you need to recruit people with a desire of a dream job, not just a pay cheque. You also need to deal with the “moaners”, those who dampen the team spirit. If they have talent, find other opportunities for them; if not, take tough action. It is only worth the effort to keep those who have drive. If you have an exciting product and service to offer and you want your staff to be totally in it with you, one question you need to ask yourself is: do you still have the spark in you?

Tip 3: Confucius’s precept of “Trust”.

Surveys in the USA showed that employees regard senior managers as “the least trusted group” whereas in the UK, 1 in 6 workers don’t believe a word their employer says. Trust, a key precept in Confucius’s teaching, refers to “the words people say to each other” in the Chinese language. It is pivotal to winning commitment from staff. As managers and chief executives you should say what you mean and mean what you say. Sending mixed messages is a trust-reducing behaviour. When things don’t work out as planned, don’t cover things up with “business speaks”. Employees do not anticipate perfection but they do expect honesty. They only respect trusting bosses.

Team performance rockets when employees are enthused about the company’s products and services, and when they are totally engaged with customers and their roles. You can trust that the staff will go an extra mile to make things happen. It is not a dream team it can be real.