Choosing the Right Management Tools

Team management tools help leaders organize work, listen to and motivate employees, keep them engaged, and align them with the company’s overall goals and strategy. These tools offer significant time and productivity gains, boosting team efficiency. Zest breaks down nine of the best tools for effective team management.

Essential Management Tools for Today’s Workplace

In today’s fast-paced business environment, effective management is crucial. Agile management, in particular, emphasizes quick decision-making, flexibility, and teamwork. Managers face several key challenges: 🟢 Inspiring their teams 🟢 Fostering collaboration and open communication 🟢 Implementing ongoing improvements 🟢 Maintaining high levels of motivation, engagement, and performance The recent health crisis has highlighted the importance of employee engagement. With many people working remotely, maintaining a sense of purpose and motivation has become more challenging than ever. To address these challenges, it’s essential to have the right management and HR tools at your disposal. While some tools require specialized software, others are more straightforward. When selecting tools, consider factors like cost and effectiveness. Here are some of the most valuable engagement tools:

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Active Listening Techniques
• Metaplan Brainstorming
• Engagement Barometer (like Zest)
• SMART Goal Setting

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

This classic model helps managers understand and address employee needs, from basic requirements to self-fulfillment. By focusing on these different levels, you can create more effective motivation strategies. 👉 Physiological needs 👉 Safety needs 👉 Belonging needs 👉 Esteem needs 👉 Self-actualization needs In summary, this management tool helps identify the key needs of employees and address them through an effective motivation plan.

Active Listening

This powerful technique involves fully concentrating on, understanding, and responding to your team members. It includes: 1️⃣ Giving your full attention 2️⃣ Asking clarifying questions 3️⃣ Digging deeper to understand underlying issues 4️⃣ Summarizing to ensure mutual understanding

Metaplan Brainstorming

This visual brainstorming method uses sticky notes and a board to collect and organize ideas. It’s great for encouraging creativity and participation from all team members.

Engagement Barometer (Zest)

Tools like Zest’s Engagement Barometer offer real-time insights into employee engagement. Features like surveys, mood tracking, and engagement metrics help managers stay in tune with their team’s needs and concerns. This objective, realistic, and qualitative tool detects employee expectations, weak signals, and irritants throughout the employee experience, starting from onboarding. Zest’s advantage: The Engageometer, designed by our Lab team, provides a scientific questionnaire, benchmarking, and the flexibility of customized questions.

SMART Method

This team management tool is used in various fields to set clear objectives. The SMART method offers multiple benefits for teamwork: 🚀 Efficient task distribution 🚀 Strengthened motivation 🚀 Maintained engagement 🚀 Clear definition of each person’s role Don’t confuse the SMART method with the OKR method.

HR Dashboard

This management tool significantly facilitates decision-making. It allows organizations to be steered using several performance indicators, track business activities’ evolution, and anticipate certain results. To build a dashboard, use your preferred spreadsheet software or, better yet, an HR software suite. Zest’s advantage: Intuitive dashboards (Cockpit) updated in real-time for a 360-degree view.

Stakeholder Map

This diagram provides a global view of all employees’ involvement levels. It indicates engagement levels and lack of interest by category.
🧑‍💼 The ambassador is 100% involved in project realization and can self-motivate

🧑‍💼 The wait-and-see employee’s involvement level isn’t optimal and needs motivation to become an ally

🧑‍💼 The skeptical employee is full of uncertainties and concerns, tending to doubt everything

🧑‍💼 The hostile employee (or opponent) refuses to get involved, opposes everything, and only wants to abandon work

This information on each profile gives a precise indication of the forces present in a work team. Zest’s advantage: eNPS measurement to identify promoter employees.

Operational Review

The operational review is a team management tool aimed at facilitating exchange moments with employees. It allows them to share opinions on business activities or projects, evaluate individual contributions, dysfunctions, progress, and areas for improvement. It can be used via communication software or HR software allowing unlimited communication.

Annual Review

Finally, the annual performance review is a privileged exchange time between manager and employee. It evaluates the past year’s work and performance and sets objectives for the coming year. It’s also an opportunity to review skills, training needs, and career prospects. Zest’s advantage: Flexibility of the Interview feature and templates provided in the library.

Zest Optimizes Your Team Management and Performance!

Why choose Zest as a management tool?

Zest is a useful, high-performing, simple, effective, and easy-to-use SaaS management tool that adapts to your practices and internal processes. It’s an ideal visualization tool for remote and international teams, integrating everything (diagnosis/audit, steering, monitoring, measurement, action plan) and facilitating recognition. In summary, it helps better manage teams daily.

It allows:
🟩  Conducting surveys (regular feedback, thematic surveys… complementary approaches to optimize talent management and retention)
🟩  Regular communication with teams
🟩  Skills management
🟩  Modernizing practices such as listening, annual performance reviews, etc. Zest is designed to support companies of all sizes: startups, small, medium, and large enterprises.

Choosing Zest means optimizing human resource management and strengthening employee engagement and loyalty. It’s a fantastic lever for motivation and retention.