Every CFO wants each member of Finance to reach his or her potential. Of course, their own leadership skills play a vital role in getting staffers there.
Here are two tactics successful managers employ to bring out the most in their employees:
Turn their mistakes into learning experiences. Many employees are afraid to screw up for a variety of reasons — they think it will always be held against them, it will prevent them from moving up, etc. — but there’s a real danger there. With that type of mindset, chances are these staffers won’t challenge themselves and reach their full potential.
Key: Instead of stressing what an employee did wrong, stress what they could do better or differently the next time around.
Formal feedback — on a regular basis. Research shows that regular, formal feedback from supervisors and managers results in consistent employee improvement in the areas discussed. The popular school of thought being: The longer the lag time between formal feedback, the more challenging it is to live up to what’s expected.