Six Tips for enhancing employee self-esteem

1. Praise a specific task or job. Go beyond generalizations when acknowledging good performance. Point out the specific behaviour(s) that caught your attention. "I appreciated the extra time you put in getting the widget report for this morning's meeting." is better than, "You're doing good work."
2. Arrange for performance recognition from the boss. When an extra-mile job is completed by an employee make sure that the credit is communicated up the company structure and get your boss to provide some sort of recognition. A simple memo from the boss saying "thank you" can go a long way to building an employee's confidence.
3. Give special assignments. Let an employee see your confidence in them by asking them to undertake special projects. (This doesn't mean the crappy jobs you don't want.) For example, a change in legislation is going to affect your business. Get an employee to research the new law and prepare recommendations on implementing the changes.
4. Give teaching assignments. Recognize an employee's skill set by having them pass their knowledge on to new employees.
5. When giving task instructions take the time to explain why you want some done a certain way. "Because I said so," doesn't work for your teenagers and it's not going to work for employees.
6. When an employee is experiencing performance problems, be constructive and positive in your correction. Stress the behaviours you want to see while continuing to emphasize the those things already being done well.

While these tips are written in the singular, most of them apply when working with team performance. Technorati Tags: Employee+Motivation, Self-esteem, Leadership, Management Related Posts:

• Developing Positive Employee Self-Esteem