You probably know people who think: «Come to work, sit from 9 to 6, and get paid». This is a common story that negatively affects employee motivation and company results. It's preferable to have a team that strives for real achievements, ready to create, innovate, and contribute to the common cause. How to find such specialists, and develop and motivate them, I will discuss in this article.

Clearly Define the Expected Result

If you hire someone hoping they will just do what they're told, the outcome won't be positive. To avoid misunderstanding, always clearly state the expected results.

Let's take an example. Imagine you have a manufacturing workshop. The head of this workshop controls all stages of work. He has a team of specialists under his command. The expected result from this leader is to increase the quality of production or improve labor productivity.

The key to success is a clear and specific task setting. An ideal requirement is when the result can be quantitatively assessed. For instance, if demanding to conclude deals with new partners, you can set a numerical goal. In terms of production, the amount of product produced should be measurable.

Record Subordinates' Achievements

Employees should regularly record their achievements and analyze them. Consider a salesperson who closed 15 contracts this week and 12 the previous week. By recording results each week, you can assess the progress of each specialist.

Reports in digital format and charts showing dynamics help employees evaluate their own successes. If current indicators are better than previous ones, it means their productivity is increasing. Conversely, if the indicators have worsened, adjustment and a different prioritization are needed. This simple control system is a key element in management and can significantly ease the tasks of the leader, making the process more automated.

Don't Do Your Employees' Work for Them

Often, leaders allow their subordinates to come to them with every difficult question. This might boost the leader's self-esteem, but in reality, such behavior fosters a lack of initiative and responsibility in the team.

What to do?

When your subordinate comes to you with a problem or question, your first question should be:

— «How would you propose to solve this?»

Give them time to think. Your goal is to motivate them to come up with their own solution, even if it's not perfect.

If the employee's suggestion is incomplete or ineffective, help them by asking questions. Your goal is to teach them analytical thinking and decision-making. Perhaps the employee doesn't have complete or correct information. Ask them what information their decision is based on and suggest considering additional factors.

If the subordinate is not ready to make decisions due to a lack of competence, share your experience and knowledge. But first, ensure that they really tried to find a solution independently. Over time, you will help them become more autonomous and competent in decision-making.

Monitor the Progress of Tasks

Regardless of the instructions or tasks you give to an employee, it happens that they get distracted or reassess priorities. Any new assignment can be an obstacle. To overcome it, effort is required, and not everyone is ready for this, especially if the task seems unimportant.

For example, consider creating a document, preparing a presentation, or writing a letter. It requires time and effort. If a person is used to a certain routine, they may try to postpone new responsibilities, risking missing deadlines. This will happen only if you do not monitor the execution.

Your role as a leader is to guide and advise your employee, emphasizing the importance of timely task completion. This helps them focus and overcome emerging difficulties.

Main Benefit

Thanks to your delicate but persistent supervision, employees become more confident, understanding that they can successfully overcome obstacles. Gradually, you will need less effort to monitor the execution of assignments.

How to Develop Interest in Work Among Employees?

I'll start with something not so obvious. If you want your employees to show interest and responsibility towards their work, it makes sense to start by showing interest and responsibility in and your work first. Primarily, this refers to the founder of the company, but also to the managers.

• Start with Yourself

If the boss is not engaged, it's hard to expect engagement from the employees. I believe that any management tools should be implemented from the top down. This doesn't mean that everyone should do the same work or follow identical instructions. But any changes in the company should come from the owner to the subordinates. This means that the leader should infect others with interest in the activity.

For example, a company founder has clear responsibilities that no one else will perform. And they should be interested in these duties: forming strategy, developing the product, building the organizational structure, etc. All these are the tasks of the owner, and the best way to increase employee engagement is to perform your job well. Perhaps it's necessary to first understand everything and how it works. All other tools won't work if you're not genuinely interested in your activity.

• Promote Ideology

You need to promote ideology, strategy, and goals among subordinates, i.e., do the owner's job. The third point I want to make is that leaders often kill subordinates' initiative by giving them ready-made solutions. Therefore, to cultivate an interest in work and increase the level of responsibility, you need to be demanding. You should require that the employee brings not a problem, but a solution. They should not complain but find solutions.

Unfortunately, at some point, you will have to fire employees. Because as the company grows and requirements increase, new challenges arise, some team members will no longer keep up with you and cope with everything. Therefore, sacrifices are necessary. By the way, this also increases engagement: when you do not tolerate mediocrity and constantly get rid of those who do not grow.

Conclusion

To foster responsibility and teach the team to make decisions, use the following four principles:

1. Clearly define the expected outcome.

2. Regularly assess achieved results.

3. Expect ready solutions, not offering them yourself.

4. Constantly monitor the progress of tasks.

The higher the engagement and responsibility for the result, the faster the company will achieve its goals. Teaching employees to make decisions independently and take on commitments is possible, but it requires the effort of the leader.