Home Health & Hospice Week

Follow these 5 steps to make your team more cohesive and more productive.

Before you became a leader, someone noticed your potential and nurtured it. The best way for you to return the favor is to bring out the leadership drive in your employees.

Initial step: Before your staffers can soar on their own, you must teach them how to work well with others, says leadership coach John Milsap. Here's his five-step plan for bringing out the best in your staff:

Step 1: Help employees iron out their expectations. Any time they're working with others, your staffers will be tempted to assume that their expectations reflect everyone else's. Yet, you know this is unlikely to be true.

Best: Ask employees to express their expectations with the group. That way, everyone can adjust and revise their goals and strategies before anyone gets frustrated.

Step 2: Create communication channels. While communication avenues may seem obvious, more company conflicts arise from communication breakdowns than any other misunderstanding.

Action plan: Show your staffers multiple ways to share their thoughts and plans. For example, your company may offer space on the Intranet or a listserv, in addition to general e-mail, for staff communication.

Step 3: Teach conflict resolution. No group work goes off without a hitch. Arrange for your employees to participate in workshops and seminars that help them deal with conflicts in a positive way.

Step 4: Establish consequences. Your em-ployees must understand that everyone's contribution can make -- or break -- your team's success. Spell out the positive and negative consequences of common actions to help your employees make good decisions.

Step 5: Celebrate everyone's achievements. Future leaders must learn to applaud everyone's shining moments, not just their own. Even a simple celebration, such as a congratulatory e-mail, could be enough to make your staff feel appreciated.