Improving Employee Performance through Leadership

This article discusses how effective leadership can improve employee performance and motivation. It explores different strategies such as motivation, communication, training, and accountability.

Business administration

Business administration
“How employee performance can be improved through leadership”
It is examined that performance of the employees plays an essential role in the
workplace. It is the responsibility of the leaders to support the employees, so that they can give
their best towards the activities which are assigned to them. Leadership is considered as the
practice skill that encompasses the ability of the individuals to guide the other employees. The
leaders play an important role in ensuring that the performance of the employees remains high.
So, to boost the performance of the employees it is necessary for the leaders to focus on the
different ways. It is observed that there are different ways of leadership that can help to improve
the performance of the employees (Lepper & Greene, 2015). Therefore, in this paper the
discussion will be made on the concept of leadership.
The first way that should be considered by the leaders, to improve the performance of the
employees is motivation. It has been examined that motivation is considered as one of the
essential factor that can help to bring improvisation in the working pattern of the employees. If
the employees are not motivated, then it could be difficult for them to be dedicated towards their
work. Motivated employees are also considered as an asset for the company. But it is the
responsibility of the leaders to motivate the employees so that they can give their best in the
workplace. It is important for the leaders to focus on the concept of motivational leadership in
which the main agenda is to boost the motivation level of the employees. The leaders should
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recognize the great work of the employees and should appreciate them so that they can feel
confident and dedicated towards their assigned task (Peters, 2015).
It is essential for the leaders to emphasize on “Maslow hierarchy of needs” theory so that
the needs of the workers can be fulfilled by the management. To motivate the employees there
are different stages according to the theory that should be followed (Healy, 2016). The first stage
is the basic needs of the employees that should be fulfilled such as clothing, shelter and sleep. In
the next stage which is safety and security needs, the leaders should emphasize on offering job
security, social stability and also health safety to its employees. Love and belongingness is the
next stage in which friendship and sense of connection should be maintained of the employees.
Fourth stage is self esteem needs that should be fulfilled by giving respect and confidence to the
employees. The last stage is self actualization stage in which it is important for the leaders to
focus on boosting the morality, creativity and acceptance of the employees (Acevedo, 2018).
The next way that can help to improve the performance of the employees by leadership is
“Communication”. The leaders should communicate with their workers on the regular basis.
They should be leave their employees uninformed about the organizational policies,
organizational change and also about the job expectations. It is examined that the employees who
feel that they are valued tries to improve their performance records and also work with
dedication. Without effective leadership communication, the workers will not feel appreciated
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and will be demotivated. Therefore, it is important for the leaders to share the important data
with the workers so that they can have proper understanding of the organizational goals and
objectives (Ruesch, Bateson, Pinsker & Combs, 2017). This technique can assist in maintaining
the ideas and opinions between the managers and workers. Also, if the flow of communication is
proper then employees will actively participate in sharing their views and opinions in context to
the process of the organization. The leadership skill should be reflected in a positive manner
towards the employees so that it could be easy to bring improvisation in their performance. The
leaders should jot down the differences and also the similarities among the workers and should
draft an action plan for acknowledging the differences and similarities. This is one of the
effective planning techniques that leaders should consider so that employees can identify their
goals. Also, the leaders should focus on interpersonal communication skills so that the
employees can feel positive at the time of communicating their problems with the management
(Habermas, 2015). Therefore, it can be said that communication strategy is also one of the
essential factor that should be considered by the leaders so that it could be attain the positive
outcome in reference to the performance of the employees.
The leadership should be showcased in such a manner that employees feel positive
towards their assigned work. It can be said that workplace professionalism becomes the
standards which should be adopted so that employee’s performance can be improved. The
employees are likely to meet the expectations when they are satisfied with the work. So, in the
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workplace the employees should be praised of their efforts so that they can generate positivity
towards their work. Also, the leader should emphasize on offering regular feedback to the
employees so that the employees can get to know their about weaknesses (Ehrich, Harris,
Klenowski, Smeed & Spina, 2015).
Training can also be considered as one of the effective way that should be considered by
the leaders to give direction and guidance to their employees. By considering the training
technique, it could be easy for the employees to gain knowledge in relation to the work which are
assigned to them. It is observed that poor performance of the employees often results when the
workers are not aware about their role. If the employees have in-depth knowledge of the
activities then it would be easy for them to complete the assigned work according to the
expectations (Bompa & Buzzichelli, 2018). The leaders should focus on giving minute detail
about the work to the employees so that the issue related with poor performance can be reduced.
This also helps to reduce the duplication of the efforts as one of the reasons of the poor
performance of the employees is duplication of work. So, training is the best approach that
should be considered so that employees can work with efficiency and dedication towards their
work. Leaders should give guide the employees through training as it is the best approach that
helps to improve the better understanding of the employees towards their working structure
(Carkhuff, 2017).
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The leaders should not be partial towards their employees. One of the leadership skills is
honesty that should be showcased by the leaders towards their employees. The rewarding system
should be designed by the leaders to bring improvisation in the performance of the employees.
The rewards should be given to the employees who exceeds from the set targets and also the
performance improvement plans should be designed whose performance is below the expectation
level. The leaders should work with their employees to create the plans that will help in
enhancing the skill sets and also the future roles for the employees. It has been analyzed that if
the leader invests time and energy on the employees then the returns will be positive. This
leadership activity will also help to boost the job satisfaction level of the employees and also
maintain the retention rate in the workplace (Lepper & Greene, 2015).
Also, leaders should focus on the concept of accountability in which the goals and
expectations should be clear. When the employees are not able to give their best then one of the
major factors in relation to leadership is accountability. It is stated that it cannot be said that the
employees do not try their best towards the task but sometimes the expectations of the employee
is not clear. To improve the performance of the employees, the leaders are the one who teaches
the employees that how important is to gain clarification before moving forward with the task
and it can help in improving the accountability. So, to bring clarity in the working pattern of the
employees, it is important for the leaders to conduct meetings and sessions so that employees can
have clarity towards the assigned work (Guetterman & Mitchell, 2016).
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It is necessary for the leaders to individualize every approach as it is noted that no
method of leadership and motivation can be effective for everyone. The good leader is the one
who understands the diverse styles of its employees and also offers them coaching by identifying
their unique needs. It is the role of the leader to identify the strength and weakness of the
employees so that the activities can be assigned to them accordingly. It is analyzed that to bring
improvisation in the performance of the employees, it is essential to assign the activities
according to the qualification and also experience of the employees towards the work. If the
employees are assigned the job role according to their capability then they are able to give their
best towards the work. So, one of the essential step that should be taken into consideration by the
leaders is assigning the task according to the capability and experience (Roughton,Crutchfield &
Waite, 2019).
It is noted that leadership styles considered by the employees also have an essential role
in improving the performance of the employees. The leadership style that should be considered
by the leaders should be effective so that employees can have the positive attitude towards their
assigned work. One of the best types of leadership is transactional leadership that should be
considered by the leaders so that employees can bring improvisation in their performance.
Transactional leadership style can be defined as the style that helps in promoting the leaders to
compliance with the followers by offering those rewards and punishments (Perreault, Cohen &
Blanchard, 2016). This leadership style is one of the parts of the styles of leadership in which the
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main aim of the leaders is to supervise the employees and also to analyze the performance of the
employees. It is seen that the leaders who consider this style create a set guidelines and norms in
relation to the performance of the employees and also it helps in boosting the productivity and
efficiency in the workplace. The direction is given by the leaders to their subordinates about
what should be done and what is their expectation level towards the assigned work (Anderson &
Sun, 2017).
When these guidelines and norms are explained to them then it assists them to perform
better towards the organizational goals and set targets. Transformational leaders are also
concerned about the status quo and also about the routine progress towards the set the targets.
The leaders have the aim to boost the motivation level of the employees and also the engagement
of the follower’s by giving direction towards the shared vision. It is examined that transactional
style of leadership assist to define the roles and responsibilities to the employees and also the
leaders emphasizes on setting the rules regarding rewarding, payment, bonuses and hours
(Kianto, Vanhala & Heilmann, 2016).
In the workplace, the transactional leaders consider the clear channel of command that
helps to manage the work of the employees. The leaders give proper guidance to the employees
if they have any channel at the time of conducting the assigned work. They act as the guide to
them to solve the problem, so it can be said that to improve the performance of the employees it
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is important or the leader to posses some characteristic of transactional leadership style (Dartey-
Baah, 2015).
Therefore, it can be concluded that the performance of the employees can be improved
through effective leadership. It is necessary for the leaders to consider the different ways so that
it could be easy to bring improvisation in the performance. The different ways that should be
considered by the leaders to boost the performance are motivation, communication, training,
accountability, approach related to individualization and transactional leadership approach.
These are the aspects on which the leaders should emphasize so that the employees can give their
best towards the assigned work. At the time of motivation, it is necessary for the leaders to
consider the motivational theory such as Maslow hierarchy of needs so that employees can feel
motivated towards work. So, these are the factors that should be considered by the leadership to
bring improvisation in the performance of the employees.
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