Today thousands of managers are sitting at their desks both puzzled and annoyed at the three-letter-word that keeps getting thrown at them by their young workers. Baby Boomer and Traditionalist leaders describe this word as sounding, as one manager told us, “like nails on a chalkboard.” What, you might ask, is this word? And, if you’re a Generation Y-er, you might ask, “Why is it driving you crazy?”
“Why.” It seems like such a small, innocent word. However, it is actually a loaded term that has different meanings depending on which generation you belong to. In this article, we’ll spell out what “why” means to both the older, seasoned managers, and the young, new workers. And, we’ll give you the tools to overcome your distaste for “why” and embrace it to your managerial advantage.
People are persuaded to say yes to your product, service, idea, initiative, approach etc based on the quality of your proposition and a positive impression about you. But how does one ensure this positive impression and enhance personal credibility?
Here are 3 ways:
Many companies promote and are proud of the fact that they have a very flat management hierarchy. This has both its good and bad sides. Clearly, flat should mean a shorter path to key influencers and decision makers. It can also mean more efficient.
On the negative side it masks reality, as organizational hierarchies will develop on their own and lack of their official documentation doesn’t serve the organization’s need for transparency. Flat hierarchies can also be used to hide ugly things, like favoritism and nepotism. Sometimes it is just a cheap trick to save money on salaries tied to managerial titles.
As of late I’ve been running into a series of situations where companies have taken a path that has allowed a leadership position to be structured in such a way that they have over 25 direct reports. In a managerial position where development is more a function of skills training for the team than individualized attention, I can see this being acceptable.
It’s almost that time of year again. Time to write those gloriously optimistic New Year’s resolutions. This year I’m going to…! Sure you are.
Do you know why fitness clubs usually charge for a full year up front? I was talking to the manager of such a club who told me that, not surprisingly, their new membership surged in January, but by February or March, most of those new members where nowhere to be seen. Though it would be very difficult to conduct a reliable study, I’ve seen numbers indicating that 75% to 98% of people fail to keep New Year’s resolutions.
If so many people break them, and you know who you are, then why make them in the first place? Because improvement is a good idea! But why should we only think of improvement on January 1st? How about February 1st, or June 8th, or Sept 14th? You get the idea.
How to Be a Leader Successfully - Using These Great Tips
Business Management, Business communication No Comments »I will be sharing with you my great secrets on how I make everyone working with me productive. In one way or another, we find ourselves in charge of a group and we will want to be successful with them.
You cannot do it alone; it is effectively done if you work with your subordinate and they are carrying out their duties rightly and willingly. Do not be a commander who drives people around like the herdsmen driving their cattle, but do be a Leader who makes people feels good about themselves and their work to produce good results.
Case study has shown it that people who feel good about themselves produce good results.
Reduction in Force Needs to Be a “Surgical Strategy”
Business Management, Business communication No Comments »During tough economic times a reduction in force (RIF) often becomes a necessity for many companies. Let’s face it; payroll expense is probably the biggest expense for the majority of companies in business today. Unfortunately, many leaders have a tendency to panic and make across the board cuts without regard for the long term effects, including employee morale and the overall health of the company and its ability to weather the economic storm.
Gutless Management
I have stated in many of my articles that economic turbulence can create a window of opportunity to gain market share. At the very least it offers you the opportunity to fix and repair many issues that should have been addressed months or years ago but due to the fact that profit was easy to come by, many of these issues were ignored, overlooked or just swept under the rug. This is especially true if these issues had a direct impact on employee relationships.
These days the theme of organisational life is change. Your teams are constantly subject to alterations and shifting priorities in working methods, market forces, staffing structures, etc. Of course, you too are subject to all of this.
However, as the manager or executive, your role is to think positive and find a way through change; for both you and your people. If, as is often said these days, your people are you biggest asset then it makes sense to have their interests at the heart of any major change programme.
5 Tips For Selecting Good KPIs For Your Business
Business Management, Business communication, Leadership No Comments »Consistent tracking of progress is critical in all business endeavors. Equally important is the use of good performance indicators. Knowing what constitutes a good indicator is helpful in choosing the best fit for an enterprise.
This article suggests five criteria for selecting actionable performance indicators for your business.
The Reason Why Our Leadership Training is Failing
Business communication, Leadership, Management No Comments »Training for the technical parts of jobs is easy. But training people to be flexible, develop empathy, to have interpersonal skills and be conscientious is much more difficult.
Training in industry has ignored these differences and generally used the same methods for both the technical information and emotional competence.
Cognitive abilities are based in one part of the brain and social and emotional competence is based in another part of the brain. When we learn technical information we use the neocortex. This operates as a distribution and storage center for information.
A well-functioning team must have strong and constant communication. Communication comes in many forms including written, verbal, and both inter-office and intra-office e-mail. In order for the team to be highly efficient, communication among the members of the team needs to be tracked to keep the team members accountable for their assigned tasks. In the tracking process, both the receiver and the sender create a record of the task.
There are four keys that you and your office can use to help the flow of information throughout the office: regular staff meetings, request forms, listing out questions, and being aggressive.
You are a leader, not a manager - there is a difference.
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