Management by Walking Around: Motivating and Developing Staff

MBWAhas a benefit for employee morale. If a Higher-Level middle manager or senior manager does it, he or she may end up talking to staff who normally don’t see managers that high up. The manager will get to know them and their jobs better. The employees will feel that the higher-ups care about their work.

Management by walking around doesn’t have to be a random, unstructured or unplanned act. It can be done with a purpose that adds value to the practice. It is not about catching your employees by surprise, but to see work happen in real-time, not just in front of the screen. 

1. Managing by Wandering lets the manager:
2. Talk to other managers along the way about important issues.
3. Encourage and praise employees to their faces for recent good work rather than by an impersonal email.
4. Get a more accurate read of what people really think from their facial expressions and body language.
5. Observe whether employees are working or goofing off. 
6. Build stronger relationships, which is much easier to do in person than by phone or email.
7. Find how tasks are actually done.