Management is a privilege and those who are the most successful at it find themselves enjoying their work beyond measure and promoted often. You can master these five secrets with some dedication to simple things take a minimum of time and produce an incredible result. The first thing you must master is praise. You need to know that your employees are literally starving for your praise, despite their protestations that it isn't really all that important. Sometimes it is a simple, “nice job.” Other times they really want to sit with you and have you let them tell you about their pride in what they have done and have you acknowledge that. Managers that will not make or take the time for this, even though everything else is done well, will find over time that the morale of their group suffers. O once saw the CEO of a hospital stop in the hallway and lean down to an employee who was on his hands and knees scraping something off the floor and hand him a little token from his pocket. The look on that employee's face said it all, he was beaming. Keep the praise simple. This isn't about nominating people for awards that take mountains of paperwork, it is about day to day simple praise. An easy way to train yourself to make this a priority is to put ten pieces of a treat in your pocket every morning. Make a pledge not to leave work until all ten treats are handed out. You can use candy, bubble gum, a gold star or plastic monkeys if that's your style. Do this every day for two weeks and the habit is yours for a lifetime. Good managers don't forget to praise their bosses as well. Second, think positively about all the people who work for you. Every manager needs a record of some kind on paper or your computer that lists all the incredible attributes of the people who work for you. Things will go wrong in the workplace and you need to keep your perspective about your people. Before any feedback about a mistake or other performance issues, read your list of what this person does well. Employees will follow a leader to the end of the earth that remembers their good traits and puts their mistakes in perspective Third, stay poised in the face of upset. When the crisis hits, the danger is high, the mistake is big remember your employees are probably feeling a hundred times worse than you and are ten times more afraid of what comes next. They are looking to you to steady the boat and help everyone get to safety. If you blow, scream or otherwise misbehave they will remember that long after the event has passed and withhold information for fear of your reaction. If you have to let off steam, do it where they can not see or hear you and then return to the situation with a calm, poised demeanor to help them get things resolved. A punching bag in the janitorial closet or supply room works well for this purpose. Just be sure no one can see or hear you. Fourth, plan and communicate five times more than you think you should. We have a propensity in management to assume that things are understood and that everyone is in the same place that we are. Not true. Due to the natural filters that are in our system we hear things differently, perceive situations differently and quite often miss the point. A good manager communicates, asks, communicates again and asks again. They make sure everyone has access to the whole plan, not just a piece so they feel involved and understand where they fit in the scheme of things. Fifth, be playful and be sure everyone is enjoying their work and working with you. Does this mean silliness and standing on your head? No, do what is comfortable for you. One company that does this well works without too much play all week, however every employee knows that on Friday morning at 7:30 there is a brief all hands meeting and fun is the name of the game. Work is discussed and jokes and fun are passed around liberally. At the meeting closest to Halloween they can be assured that the entire management team will show up in full costume to the delight of the troops. Another company wants everyone to enjoy their weekend after a hard week of work so they start playing dance music in the lobby/atrium of their building at 3pm on Friday afternoons. People come down and dance for a few minutes in this time before they head home for a restful and hopefully playful weekend. When a big success occurs, throw a fun celebration, more than food in the kitchen, take everyone bowling or somewhere they will all have some fun. Occasionally bring in a humorist or engaging motivational speaker in for your lunch hour. Let your employees see you having fun and enjoying your work. |
