What Makes Them Tick? 8 Reasons Managers Should Study Human Behaviour
Few managers would argue that employee behaviour and motivation play a vital role in increasing an organisation’s productivity. But how many have the skills to understand and motivate their employees in a positive way?
According to Principal Organisational Psychologist Cheryl Adams, of Think Trek Consulting, there are 8 Reasons Managers Should Study Human Behaviour, plus an important rule to L.I.V.E by for success as an emotionally intelligent manager.
8 Reasons Managers Should Study Human Behaviour:
- Return on Investment (ROI). The key reason to invest your time and focus into people is return on your most important investment and asset – your people. Research shows for every dollar spent on your staff’s wellbeing and emotional intelligence (EI), you have a return of 2.3 dollars.^
- Employee well-being: Good work place and practices = well-being = ROI. In today’s fast-paced environment, employee satisfaction is important; however, staff well-being and mental health is a priority.
- Happiness: Get to know your staff and their needs, interests, motivators and try to incorporate these into the work place and watch their happiness and well-being grow.
- Productivity! Happy employees are productive employees.
- Creativity: Managers should encourage staff to be creative with work practices to keep up with change. Creativity comes from staff feeling safe, having good well-being and being praised and valued for coming up with new ideas.
- Ability to manage ambiguity: Businesses are constantly changing and staff need to be able to bend and adapt to change. Understanding your staff will allow you to identity the best way to support staff with change and to manage ambiguity.
- Manager satisfaction: Being a manager is an inherently difficult job so be kind to yourself and invest time in your people to increase your own satisfaction, well-being and productivity.
- Increased skill level of your team: getting to know your staff will allow you to understand their strengths (and incorporate these into the workplace) as well as areas for development. In this way, you are up-skilling your staff and developing a capability workforce, making your job easier.
Understanding Emotional Intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence is understanding the impact you have on other people and how other people impact on you as well as having the self-control and motivation to act in a positive manner with your motivations, needs and feelings. Any manager can learn Emotional Intelligence (EI) and increase staff well-being.
Adams says there’s a simple rule to L.I.V.E by to get to know your staff and encourage Emotional Intelligence (EI) and well-being. She says it’s often the little things have the biggest impact.
L-I-V-E is a helpful acronym to remind us to practice small and simple steps at work to create a great environment for staff.
Listen
- Make eye contact
- Pay attention to what others have to say
- Don’t interrupt
Include
- Invite to participate
- Invite to socialise
- Keep in the loop
- Build on other ideas
Value
- Give credit where it’s due
- Encourage strengths
- Acknowledge accomplishments
- Respect others differences
- Benefit of the doubt
Engage
- Say hello and goodbye
- Give equal time to all
- Ask for input
- Open body language
Study to Enhance Your Management Emotional Intelligence
If you’re in a management role or are considering a course in Management and Leadership it’s likely your success will depend on an in-depth understanding of what drive the people who work for you.
If you’d like to better understand what makes people tick, consider studying with Australian Online Courses, specifically Understanding the Brain and Behaviour. This professional development course explores the human mind, brain and behaviour and provides an insight into the functions of the human brain as well as the applications of neuropsychological research in the areas of business, technology and fitness and health.
To learn how to avoid miscommunication, resolve conflicts and build a cohesive work environment study Develop Emotional Intelligence to enhance your management skills. At the end of this online course you will be equipped to improve your work relationships, reduce stress and increase your motivation and productivity.
^ Creating a mentally healthy workplace: Return on Investment Analysis. https://www.headsup.org.au/docs/default-source/resources/beyondblue_workplaceroi_finalreport_may-2014.pdf
