When an employee's job performance does not meet your expectations, training may or may not help. It is important to analyze the discrepancy between desired performance and actual performance before taking action. Analysis may show that training can help. However, poor performance may be due to many other causes. One factor that has a significant effect on performance is how you manage your employees. Even experienced managers can forget the basic do’s and don’ts of management. For example, here is a fundamental managerial technique that seems to be ignored by many supervisors and managers when managing inexperienced employees.
Managing inexperienced employees:
Teach inexperienced employees the basics and then allow them the leeway they need to develop. Overcome the impulse to intervene too much in inexperienced employees' work. Your role is twofold: 1) to protect your school from costly mistakes, and 2) provide guidance and resources so that inexperienced employees can learn to solve problems themselves. When mistakes are made, help inexperienced employees learn from these mistakes by discussing causes and lessons learned.
When inexperienced employees come to you with problems, avoid the impulse to solve them. Instead, try asking "What have you done to resolve it?" This will encourage your employees to use their own resourcefulness to solve problems. It will also discourage what is called "reverse delegation," whereby employees inappropriately return delegated tasks back to you.
What tips do you have for managing inexperienced employees?
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