3 Tips for Offering Your Employees Guidance When They Need It Most

You want the very best for your employees. You want them to thrive in their roles, working on projects and tasks that are meaningful to them and valuable to the company. You want them to feel heard, included and understood — especially when they speak up and offer their opinion. You want them to learn and grow in their roles, eventually moving on to bigger, more prestigious positions.

As a manager, you are guiding your team’s ship. You’re at the helm, constantly looking ahead and thinking about potential obstacles. You’re a problem solver, keenly aware of when team morale is down or friction between teammates is rocking the boat. A lot falls on your shoulders, including your employees’ professional (and sometimes personal) needs.

Employee support is vital to their success and how they show up every day for work. If an employee doesn’t feel supported, they are less inclined to put forward their best effort. They may coast, doing the minimum amount of work to slide by. However, employees who feel encouraged and satisfied with their jobs are more loyal to their teams and company. They’re more likely to think creatively, own certain responsibilities, and perform better.

That said, all employees are going to need guidance and counsel. That’s a large responsibility of being a manager. But how you provide this guidance is almost as important as what kind of guidance you provide. Here are some suggestions on how you can offer your employees guidance when they need it most.

1. Develop a Plan

People like to know what to expect next; they want to know that if A happens then B is to come. Surprises, especially in the workplace, can be stressful and can leave everyone feeling uneasy. Developing an employee support plan that includes advice from leadership, mentors, advocates, and peers can be advantageous. This plan can comprise the whys and hows of working together and alongside other teams. It can also include resources for how an employee can move through the ranks of the company, gaining leadership roles along the way.

One way to proactively shape an employee’s overall experience is with employee journey mapping. This type of support map starts with onboarding and ends with an employee’s exit interview. The main purpose of an employee journey map is to find areas of improvement and ways to better show up for the team, increasing hire retention and loyalty. By providing this map, you’re giving employees everything they need to show up and perform their roles.

Having a laid-out map is also beneficial to the company as a whole. Human resources teams can anticipate what an employee will need and when they can show up better for their employees. This may look like providing additional benefits, such as better maternity or paternity leave coverage from new parents or support for caregivers of aging parents. It’s a way to track what is occurring across the organization, identifying trends and patterns to improve and optimize the employee experience.

2. Lean on Technology

With a plan in hand, you have a better grasp on what kind of day-to-day support your employees need. But no matter how good of a manager you are, you cannot always provide the same level of support to all your employees at the same time. Thankfully, there are new technology platforms that can manage certain aspects of this for you.

For new hires, onboarding tools can take the guesswork and assumptions out of starting a new job. They may be used to a process from their last company and be working under this speculation until others become annoyed that they are messing up the workflow. To avoid this situation, implement onboarding software that will streamline the process for them in an automated way. The new hire will feel like their new company is taking care of them, while you as the manager can show up and provide additional assistance.

Other supportive tech tools include recognition software so employees can recognize others’ achievements and scheduling software so hourly workers know when they’re on call. To find the best tools for your team or company, think of the areas where you’re not able to show up 100%. Whether you’re managing a team of two or 200, leveraging technology to support your employees will also in turn support you.

3. Foster Open Communication

Employees who feel like their opinions are welcomed and validated are more likely to feel satisfied in their roles. At the same time, a hesitant employee is more likely to become disgruntled over time, particularly if they feel others are being treated differently than them. By fostering open communication between you and your direct employees as well as amongst the team, you’re setting everyone up for success.

Fostering open communication begins with building trust. If you are transparent with everyone on the team on how things are going, they are more likely to be transparent with you. You may find out, for example, that one part of the workflow is really bogging them down. Solving this problem shows that you care about how things are going and are ready to actively find solutions.

Open communication also entails active listening, meaning not interrupting or jumping in and offering advice unsolicited. This can be a hard technique to learn, especially if you are a manager with more experience than others on your team. When an employee comes to you asking for help, listen to what they are requesting. Don’t assume they need one thing if they’re asking for another. Ask them what would be helpful and provide the guidance they are seeking at that time.

Conclusion

Offering employees guidance can be a hard thing to navigate. On one hand, you want to provide them with all the tools and resources they need to be productive at their jobs. But at the same time, you don’t want to be overbearing and micromanage their needs. Use these aforementioned tips and show up for them in the best way you can every day.