Brilliant Data clearly shows how the size of a work group can affect the group’s and the employee’s level of engagement. And we often comes back to engagement as a factor that affects a lot of other things, such as performance, efficiency, and so on. Our data also shows how stress, conflicts and even sickness absence are affected by the size of the group.
Group size is a parameter that is easy to control, but there are sectors and organisations that on average still have very large work groups. So what can you do if you can’t employ new managers and reduce the group?
We have listed five successful actions you can take as the manager of a large group to make the best of the situation:
1. Clarity drives engagement. As manager of a large group, it’s important that you specify clear expectations. If you have no influence on the group size – be clear about what your role is, and what steps you as the manager will take to ensure you have the right expectations.
2. We all have the same amount of time – the difficulty is to prioritize the right things in the right order – as the manager of a large group, be clear about your own priorities as well as the group’s priorities – to ensure that the time you have is spent on the right things in relation to the targets, but also that employees feel good. Clear targets reduce stress – how can you help your employees to be clear about their targets, and what do they have to do to achieve the targets?
3. Monitoring – is what drives change and improvement. It’s a good idea to look at how you currently monitor, and what you can do to make monitoring more positive and fun.
4. Reinforce the right behaviour. Monitor impact. People implement more of those actions that are rewarded by you as the manager. 80% positive feedback builds a positive and innovative culture.
5. Nothing can replace being seen and heard. Reflect on the different ways you as a manager can see your employees. What other tools can you use than physical or digital meetings?
If your workplace needs guidance on how you should work with your management, contact us at hello@brilliantfuture.se, and we’ll put you in touch with our Brilliant colleagues who are adept at optimizing every organisation.