Super Manager Be the Boss Everyone Wants to
Super Manager Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Supplemental Self-Study Presentation
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Overview
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Introduction Many studies have been conducted to determine the reasons that employees leave their jobs. Most reasons point squarely to their bosses: i • 39% said their supervisors didn’t keep their promises. • 37% said their supervisors failed to give credit when due. • 31% said their supervisor gave them the “silent treatment. ” • 27% said their supervisor made negative comments about them to others. • 23% said their supervisors blamed others to cover up their own mistakes or embarrassment. As a result, employees reported feeling more tension, mistrust, and exhaustion, and were less satisfied and less likely to take on additional tasks or work longer hours. In other words, managers directly affect their employees’ productivity and satisfaction in the workplace.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Introduction Part 2 On the flip side, in another study, 44% of employees said that their individual supervisor was the most important factor in increasing employee engagement. ii And when employees are engaged, 70% say they have a good understanding of how to meet customer needs (versus 17% of non-engaged employees), 78% would recommend their company’s products or services (versus 3% of non-engaged), and 86% say they very often feel happy at work (versus 11% of non-engaged). The bottom line: Managers influence employees’ satisfaction at work, for better or worse. This program will help you become a super manager—someone who everyone wants to work for.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Module 1: The Qualities of a Super Manager
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Unproductive Managerial Tendencies Common Obstacles If it were easy to be a super manager, we’d all have and be great bosses. But as we’ve seen, there are many bad bosses out there—so why is it so difficult to be a super manager? Here a few reasons. • Conflicting priorities: People know they will not be successful as a manager unless they get results. An emphasis on results may cause managers to lose sight of the importance of treating everyone with respect and appreciation, especially if business is not going well. • Lack of time: Doing the things that make you a good manager takes time. A manager has so many responsibilities; it is often tempting to put off some tasks to focus on others. For example, managers sometimes delay opportunities for employee development to take care of “fires, ” or tasks that must be dealt with immediately.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Unproductive Managerial Tendencies Part 2 Common Obstacles (continued) • Previous success as an individual performer: Often, the skills that lead to promotion to management are not the skills that make an effective manager. Skills such as fine attention to detail or the ability to work indecently can become detriments if managers use them in excess. • Lack of training: Being a manager requires a specific skill set that most people do not possess without training and/or experience. Changes in culture, society, and specific industries demand that managers continue their professional growth in order to maintain their effectiveness.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Unproductive Managerial Tendencies Part 3 Common Obstacles (continued) • Human nature: Robert Sutton shared a study in the June, 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review. iii The study—involving students, policy papers, and cookies—found that when people gain power, it causes them to focus more on their own wants and needs and less on those of others. In addition, it causes them to act as if the rules and norms that others are expected to follow don’t apply to them. – In addition, Sutton reported on other studies that found that employees tend to view their managers’ actions negatively. That is, when a manager behaves in a way that is unclear to employees, they tend to assume that something bad is going to happen. The combination of the tendency of managers to flaunt their power and the tendency of employees to assume the worst makes it difficult for people to become super managers. Boss
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For What Makes a Super Manager Super? Obviously, no one wants to be a bad boss. But the difference between being an average manager and a super manager can have a huge impact in your workplace, and it is worth striving to be the best you can be. Super managers have the ability to balance opposing characteristics: awareness of self and attention to others; consistency and flexibility; humility and confidence; focus and fun. You may exhibit some of these traits all the time or all these traits some of the time, but possessing all these traits in equal balance makes you the boss everyone wants to work for.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For What Makes a Super Manager Super? Part 2 This chart summarizes the differences between the attitude and behaviors of average and super managers. Average Managers Think about their strengths and weaknesses only during their annual performance appraisal (i. e. , once per year). Encourage career development and offer training to everyone. Praise employees and show appreciation. Are satisfied when things are going well. Super Managers Have a high degree of self-awareness that allows them to cultivate their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. Create individual learning and development plans tailored to each employee. Help employees build self-confidence and personal motivation. Foster autonomy and independence in their employees. Set challenging yet achievable goals, track progress, and provide resources to achieve goals. Encourage open, two-way conversations and actively seek feedback. Expect the best from all employees and work with individual employees to help them achieve what is possible for them. Seek innovation and continual improvements. Are focused mostly on themselves. Seek to serve others. Maintain control. Set reasonable goals. Communicate regularly. Set standards for performance and address underperformers.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Test Your Knowledge Read the question, then click on the answer. Which of the following best describes a Super Manager? A. They set reasonable goals so everyone can achieve them. B. They are satisfied when things are going well. C. They foster autonomy and independence in their employees. D. They focus on improving themselves more than developing their staff.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Module 2: Self-Awareness and Attentiveness to Others
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Self-Awareness The first balancing act of super managers involves a keen awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses as well as a deep insight into the strengths and weakness of individual employees, which we will examine later in this module. Benefits of Self-Awareness Being aware of your strengths and weaknesses as a manager: • Allows you to build on your strengths and minimize or compensate for your weaknesses. • Increases your effectiveness by knowing how to avoid overplaying your strengths to the point that they become weaknesses. – A common example of this is someone who is extremely detail-oriented. That usually serves them well and improves their performance. When promoted to management, however, this strength may lead to a tendency to micromanage others.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Self-Awareness Part 2 Benefits of Self-Awareness (continued) Being aware of your strengths and weaknesses as a manager: • • • Enables you to make better decisions by improving your awareness of your hot buttons (what triggers an angry response in you), fears, etc. , which may cause you to make poor decisions. Inspires you to be proactive in shaping your career, your approach to change, how you interact with others, etc. Increases your credibility with others, because demonstrating self-awareness conveys authenticity. In other words, it models to others that it’s okay to not have all the answers. Goal of self-awareness: Know, improve, and complement (not compliment!) your managerial skills.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Self-Awareness Part 3 How to Increase Your Self-Awareness • Ask for feedback. Seek it from your own manager, colleagues, and especially the employees you manage. You can do this formally with a written assessment, but it’s often easier and more effective to simply engage in a conversation. – Always accept their input non-judgmentally. Don’t get defensive and argue that they’re wrong! Thank them for being open and sharing with you. • Establish after-action reports. Make a habit of reviewing the process and outcome of every large project to determine what went well and what could be improved. • Engage in reflection. Whenever you make a major decision, write down what you expect will happen. Revisit the decision 6– 12 months later and compare what actually happened with your expectations. Draw lessons from the differences.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Self-Awareness Part 4 Take some time to practice applying that last bullet point for increasing your self-awareness— engaging in reflection. Think of a decision you recently made and consider the following questions. • What was the decision? • What had you hoped to accomplish, or what had you hoped would be the result of that decision? • What was the actual accomplishment/result? • Were there any differences between what you hoped for and what actually happened? Describe them. • What can you learn from these differences? • What will you do differently next time?
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Attentiveness to Others One of the very best ways to be a super manager—the boss everyone wants to work for—is to give individual attention to your staff members. However, as a manager you have so many things to do—how do you decide where to focus your efforts toward others? Focus on Strengths One study found that the biggest improvements result from helping employees develop their greatest strengths rather than correcting weaknesses. iv It was found that building strengths potentially increased employee engagement by nearly 80%, whereas correcting weaknesses increased engagement by 3%. Helping employees identify and develop “competency companions” —behaviors that support their main strength—also increases employee effectiveness.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Attentiveness to Others Part 2 A Real-World Example In an article for Harvard Business Review, v Marcus Buckingham shared an example of how a Walgreens store manager identified an employee’s strength and put it to work, effectively increasing the employee’s motivation as well as the store’s performance. This particular employee didn’t do well when given general guidance, but did extremely well when the task required him to be analytical and detail-oriented. In addition, the employee preferred organizing merchandise displays over interacting with customers. The store manager recognized this strength and gave the employee complete responsibility for scheduling and implementing merchandise display changes, freeing up other employees (who didn’t like restocking or reorganizing merchandise) to interact with customers. After the store manager implemented these adjustments, sales, profits, and customer satisfaction all increased.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Attentiveness to Others Part 3 Ways to Provide Individualized Attention • Coach: Help employees build on their strengths and improve their day-to-day performance by focusing on their top one to three strengths and doing the following: – Help employees set short- and long-term goals for their current position. – Provide regular and frequent feedback. Make positive reinforcement more common than corrective feedback. – Provide training and other methods for gaining experience and knowledge (shadowing, mentoring, delegating new tasks and responsibilities, participating in industry groups, etc. ). • Advisor: Help employees create a big picture of their careers, and think beyond their current position. – Help employees set long-term goals for their overall career. – Engage in uninterrupted, two-way career-development discussions. – Help employees identify their skills, interests, and values. – Provide a realistic picture of employees’ career options.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Attentiveness to Others Part 4 Ways to Provide Individualized Attention (continued) • Supporter: Help employees achieve their goals. – Provide resources such as time, opportunities, and contacts (your network). – Provide opportunities for exposure and visibility, such community involvement and serving on committees and task forces. – Assist employees in making lateral changes if doing so suits their career goals (i. e. , provide opportunities for employees to learn skills and gain meaningful experience in new positions that are not necessarily promotions).
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Rewards and Recognition Employees are like snowflakes—no two are the same. So don’t treat them the same. If you offer rewards and recognition (and you should!), find out what each individual employee prefers. Why would they be motivated by something that doesn’t interest them? Questions to Ask There’s nothing wrong with asking what they like pointblank fashion. Try using the following questions to be able to provide the individual attention employees deserve. • What is the best day at work you’ve had in the past year? What made it so good? • What is the best praise or recognition you’ve ever received? Why did you value it so much? • What is the best relationship with a manager you’ve ever had? What made it work?
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Individual Attention Assessment Consider providing the following assessment to your employees, asking them to answer honestly in order to help you develop your skills as a super manager. Statement Rating 1) My manager knows what I am good at and what I like to do. Yes No 2) My manager regularly talks to me about my performance and progress. Yes No 3) In the last week, my manager has praised me for doing good work. Yes No 4) My manager values and seeks my opinion. Yes No 5) My manager encourages my development with advice and ideas tailored specifically to me. Yes No 6) In the last six months, I have had an opportunity to attend training or obtain new skills or experience in some other way. Yes No 7) My manager knows what kind of recognition or reward is most meaningful to me. Yes No
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Test Your Knowledge Read the question, then click on the answer. Which of the following describes a Super Manager strategy for showing attention to employees? A. Focus on making the most of each employee’s strengths. B. Focus on eliminating each employee’s weaknesses. C. Provide training to your entire group so everyone learns the same information. D. Provide group recognition and rewards so your entire group stays motivated.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Module 3: Consistency and Flexibility
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For The Importance of Consistency An effective customer service policy is a good analogy for how the opposing concepts of consistency and flexibility work in harmony. A good customer service policy provides guidelines for all customer service reps to follow. But it also allows individual reps to use their judgment to make exceptions to the standard policy when doing so will benefit the customer and the organization. Where to Be Consistent Consistency builds trust because employees know what to expect. Think of consistency as cultivating habits. There are several areas in which you need to be consistent. • Values: Your values should be expressed consistently in what you say and do. For example, you shouldn’t say you value trust and at the same time tell white lies to your own boss.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For The Importance of Consistency Part 2 Where to Be Consistent (continued) • Attitude and Behavior: Your attitude and behavior should be consistent. For example, you shouldn’t grant complete autonomy to your employees and then ask for every detail of their work in an attempt to get up to speed on what you missed. Avoid exhibiting a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality that leaves employees guessing about who will show up each day—the nice, understanding, compassionate, rational manager, or the crazy, irrational, extreme manager. – Think of a teacher you respected. Chances are, this teacher responded to students in a consistent fashion. That is, the teacher was probably even-keeled, and if the teacher had any hot buttons, you knew what they were—they didn’t change. Such teachers don’t punish kids for chewing gum one day and ignore the behavior the next.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For What Values Will You Stand By? As mentioned, values are considered an important area of consistency. Review the following list of values and consider how important each one is to you. This will help you identify what you value most so you can be sure to express those values consistently and ultimately build trust with employees. • • • Helping others Intellectually challenging work Integrity Security (job stability and steady income) Professional development (includes ongoing learning and growth) Ability to influence others Friendships and warm working relationships Autonomy and independence Working in teams and groups Using creativity and being innovative Recognition for quality work in a visible/public way • • • Variety in activities Adventure and excitement Routine/predictable work projects Cutting-edge technologies or techniques Competition Strong financial compensation and financial rewards Having a positive impact on others and society Having self-respect and pride in work Balance between work and family life Loyalty and dependability Glamour, prestige, or social status
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Mental Flexibility Although flexibility in the workplace often involves when and where work gets done (telecommuting, compressed work weeks, job sharing, etc. ), we’re focusing on mental flexibility. Mental flexibility is being open to making changes to standard policies and procedures when it enables an employee or the organization to better meet customer, organization, or employee needs. It is also related to your willingness to modify your approach when faced with changing or unanticipated circumstances or events. When to Use Mental Flexibility Mental flexibility is useful when you need to: • Make suggestions for improving processes, methods, techniques, efficiency, etc. • Engage in creative problem solving. Let go of the status quo to try something new. • Adapt to change. Look for ways to implement changes at work rather than finding reasons that change won’t work. • Learn new skills or take on new projects.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Mental Flexibility Part 2 When to Use Mental Flexibility (continued) • Change your priorities based on circumstances. This requires judgment because, although you want to be flexible, you also want to avoid constantly changing your mind about what is most important, causing uncertainty and frustration among your employees. • Demonstrate resilience in the face of setbacks. Respond to mistakes and/or failure positively, by learning from them and determining what you will do differently next time.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Mental Flexibility Part 3 Intelligent Disobedience Intelligent disobedience is bending rules when appropriate for the overall welfare of your organization, your employees, or your customers. It requires using your judgment to determine when a rule actually hinders your organization more than it helps your organization. It requires risk taking, creativity, perseverance, and of course, flexibility. Examples include: • Standing up to senior management • Applying non-traditional or unexpected strategies to achieve a goal. • Knowing when and how to depart from the consensus opinion, standards, or processes.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Mental Flexibility Part 4 If You Feel Stuck If you are having trouble demonstrating mental flexibility, try these strategies. Developing flexibility in personal routines can be translated into developing flexibility at work. • • Agility: Change your routine, and do it spontaneously. Make small spur-of-the-moment changes, such as how you get to work, when you work out, where you get your morning coffee, with whom you eat lunch, etc. Novelty: Try something new. Take a class, try out a new recipe, study a foreign language, listen to different music, learn a new dance, learn a new computer program or download a new app. Agility Novelty
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Mental Flexibility Part 5 If You Feel Stuck (continued) • Stimulation: Engage in activities that pique your interest. Obviously, this will be different for every person. “Sparking” your brain in one area can spark a new idea or thought in another area. • Awareness: Question your self-talk. Listen to what you say to yourself throughout the day. If you often say negative things to yourself, substitute productive thoughts. For example, replace “I’ll embarrass myself if I try something new and don’t do it well” with “Learning something new is exciting and fun. ” Stimulation Awareness
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Test Your Knowledge Read the question, then click on the answer. Which of the following is an example of intelligent disobedience? A. Changing your mind whenever an employee complains. B. Demonstrating resilience in the face of setbacks. C. Disregarding a request from your manager. D. Knowing when and how to depart from the standard policies and practices.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Module 4: Humility and Confidence
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Characteristics and Benefits of Humility Many people have a negative impression of humility, especially in the workplace. Common negative associations include seeing it as: meek, weak, submissive, passive, unambitious, and perhaps even insincere. True humility is not associated with any of these qualities. Characteristics People with humility: • Hold a modest view of their importance. • Don’t believe they are better or more important than anyone else. • Possess an accurate assessment of their abilities. • Keep their accomplishments in perspective. • Engage in reflection with the goal of self-improvement.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Characteristics and Benefits of Humility Part 2 Benefits When people exhibit humility, they: • Gain the respect of others. • Gain credibility and are easier to relate to. • Find it easier to offer and accept help. “Humility does not mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of yourself less. ” —Ken Blanchard
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Humility in Action The following are some actions you can take to demonstrate humility. Be Open to Criticism and Debate • Avoid defensiveness when employees share information you don’t like. – Focus on the issue. Rephrase the content and try to view their intention as positive or helpful. – Listen carefully and find the truth in what they say. • Receive criticism tactfully. – Thank them for feeling comfortable enough to address the issue with you. – Don’t criticize them in return or try to refute everything they said. – You don’t have to agree with the criticism, but you should acknowledge the validity of their perceptions. Evaluate what they’ve said and decide what, if anything, you want to change in view of the information.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Humility in Action Part 2 Be Open to Criticism and Debate (continued) • Set ground rules for a constructive debate. – Keep an open mind. Be open to changing your opinion. Admit what you don’t know. – Don’t exaggerate. As much as possible, share only factual information, and acknowledge opinions as such—don’t make them sound like fact. – Don’t put down the other person’s point of view. – Find areas of agreement and work from there.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Humility in Action Part 3 Ask Questions should arise from an attitude of inquisitiveness, not from making accusations. The biggest benefit of asking questions is that they require you to listen! • Always use an even (“pass the peas, please”) tone of voice. • Open-ended questions almost always elicit more information than closed-ended ones. • Questions often sound less accusatory when you begin with “How. . . ” or “Help me understand. . . ” or “What do you mean by. . . ” • Rephrase employees’ answers to ensure you understand them accurately. • Listen to their answers.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Humility in Action Part 4 Always Strive to Learn and Improve • Keep “restocking your brain” with fresh ideas and information that you can apply on the job. • Dedicate a set amount of time each day/week/month to continuous learning. Read books, blogs, professional journals; participate in professional networking, workshops, and conferences; complete coursework online or on site; consult a coach or mentor. • Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Try something new, such as volunteering to give a presentation or participating in a cross-functional activity or team.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Displaying Confidence Super Managers show their confidence in a variety of ways. They show confidence in their employees by avoiding micromanaging. They are confident decision makers and have a bias toward action. Consciously Avoid Micromanaging stems from a lack of confidence in your employees’ ability to complete a task as well as you could yourself. On the other hand, it actually causes employees’ confidence to decrease. It also decreases employee morale and stifles their development. To avoid micromanaging, follow the tips on the next slide.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Displaying Confidence Part 2 Consciously Avoid Micromanaging (continued) • Identify your insecurities or issues that you tend to want to control. Ask yourself what you are most worried about. • Clearly articulate expectations about results and how they will be measured. • Don’t insist on perfection; be realistic on what you will consider successful accomplishment of the task or project. Remember, it doesn’t have to be done exactly the way you would do it for it to be successful! • Answer any questions and provide advice (if requested). • Give employees decision-making power.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Displaying Confidence Part 3 Follow these tips to be a confident decision maker. • • • Collect enough information, but not too much. Set a deadline for making the decision. If the decision is related to an issue you are familiar with, trust your intuition—that’s your experience in memory form. If the decision is related to an unfamiliar issue, come up with several options and identify the pros, cons, and feasibility of each. Determine the worst possible outcome for each option and its likelihood of occurring. Choose the option that best supports your department’s and/or organization’s values and goals—but be sure to also consider its pros, cons, and feasibility as well. Be committed to your choice, but not so committed that you can’t admit a mistake. Realize that almost all decisions can be changed, modified, or corrected. Very few are permanent.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Displaying Confidence Part 4 Combatting Indecisiveness If you have trouble making or implementing decisions and tend to get stalled, try these strategies: • Focus on what you want to accomplish or what will go right/well rather than on what could go wrong. • Break the decision/task into smaller segments. • Set deadlines to avoid inertia or overanalyzing. • If implementation is not your strong suit, enlist an employee or colleague to take on this responsibility or serve as an accountability partner to you. “Have a bias toward action—let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away. ” —Indira Gandhi
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Test Your Knowledge Read the question, then click on the answer. Which of the following is an accurate description of confident decision making? A. You can’t ever trust your gut and be confident about your decision. B. You can trust your intuition to make decisions about issues you are familiar with. C. Once you make a choice, you stick with it no matter what. D. You collect as much information as possible, even if it delays the decision.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Module 5: Focus and Fun
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Maintaining Focus and Achieving Results Super managers balance achieving results with having fun. We’ll begin by looking at how to maintain a focus on achieving results. Managers may possess all the fine qualities covered so far in this program; however, if they don’t produce results for their organization, they are not super managers. How to be Results-Oriented • • • Most important: Set clear expectations about what results are expected from each employee and how they will be measured. Make sure one person “owns” each task or project, even if he or she has team support to implement it. Individual accountability goes a long way toward achieving results. Reward people based on achieving results, not on “face time. ” Don’t favor employees who spend more time at work but don’t necessarily accomplish more than others.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Maintaining Focus and Achieving Results Part 2 How to be Results-Oriented (continued) • Try to avoid last-minute requests. This allows employees to plan their work and time as well as eliminate the potential for unnecessary “fires. ” As much as possible, allow employees to determine how to accomplish their work. Delegate tasks, and be clear about what decisions employees can make and when they should consult with you. • Along the same lines, schedule meetings only when necessary, and when you do schedule meetings, include only those people who really need to be there. Rethink how much of the meeting could be accomplished by other means, or how you could share the information/action items in other ways.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Maintaining Focus and Achieving Results Part 3 How to be Results-Oriented (continued) • Be a role model yourself: – For many managers, spending a few minutes at the end of the day to plan the next day allows them to launch immediately into their most important tasks in the morning, rather than waste time easing into their day. – Devote time every day to focused attention on your highest priorities. For that period of time, avoid interruptions and don’t answer the phone or respond to e-mails in order to concentrate on accomplishing your most important tasks. – Use your time wisely. For example, instead of allowing technology to distract you from your work, use it to increase your efficiency. – Get and stay organized. If this isn’t a strength of yours, enlist the help of an assistant who is more organized than you.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Chronic Underperformers Resolving Performance Issues Allowing chronic underperformers to maintain their status quo decreases the morale of everyone else. You don’t have to fire them immediately, but you do have to address their performance issues. Performance issues often revolve around a lack of common understanding about expectations. To increase understanding: • • • Ask the employee to write down the three most important things they get paid to do. Compare that to the list you make for the employee. If the two lists don’t match, work with the employee to clarify where their priorities should be. Then, allow a certain period of time for the employee to refocus his or her priorities. If their performance doesn’t improve, meet again and create a performance improvement plan.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Chronic Underperformers Part 2 Resolving Performance Issues (continued) • A performance improvement plan is a very helpful tool for ensuring top performance. It involves: – Asking the employee why they think they are underperforming. If they blame someone or something else for their situation, that is a sign that it may be difficult for them to change their behavior. If they accept responsibility, that is a sign that they want to improve. – Deciding whether to focus on training or effort. Training involves supporting the underperformer by providing additional information, experience and/or practice. Effort involves supporting the underperformer by removing obstacles that may be frustrating them and helping them find their motivation to accomplish the work.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Chronic Underperformers Part 3 Resolving Performance Issues (continued) – Setting a target date for improved performance and specific standards for the results to be achieved. Include consequences for nonperformance. – Meet with the underperformer regularly to assess their progress, as well as provide feedback and encouragement. • If the performance doesn’t improve to the predetermined standard by the agreed-upon date, implement the consequences for nonperformance.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Encouraging a Fun Working Environment In order to be a super manager, you can’t be so focused on achieving results that you forget to have fun. After all, people spend more of their waking hours at work than anywhere else. If they’re not having fun, they will quickly become dissatisfied and unmotivated, and that is not the kind of workforce you want to be managing. How to Foster Fun • Create a sense of belonging. Tell individual employees why you value them and how their contributions support the group. • Celebrate. Set aside five minutes at team meetings for each member to share something positive (personal or professional) that has happened since the last meeting. Also celebrate work anniversaries, birthdays, births of children or grandchildren, etc. • Provide spontaneous “stress breaks” with refreshments and snacks, silly toys, etc. • Organize voluntary social outings.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Encouraging a Fun Working Environment Part 2 How to Foster Fun (continued) • Allow employees creativity in how they decorate their workspace. • Create a bulletin board and post humorous cartoons (in good taste, of course!), anecdotes, positive thoughts, ideas for local activities, etc. • Laugh at yourself. Be cheerful. • Appoint a “fun sheriff” to “enforce” an uplifting atmosphere, such as posting a joke or cartoon of the day (again, in good taste, of course), adding seasonal decorations, organizing a potluck, etc. This could be a rotating role, the main responsibility of which is to remind employees to take their work seriously, but not themselves. “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ” —E. E. Cummings
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Test Your Knowledge Read the question, then click on the answer. Which of the following is true about chronic underperformers? A. The most frequent cause is a lack of common understanding about expectations. B. Ignoring them doesn’t affect the morale of the rest of the staff. C. You should fire them or transfer them as soon as possible. D. They can’t be helped.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Review
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For CASE STUDY—Apply What You’ve Learned Read the case study and answer the questions that follow in order to put your skills into practice. Organization: A furnace and air conditioning company People: Steve, the manager. Brian and Carlos, an installation team. Chris and Jenny, an installation team. Situation: Steve manages a group of employees who install furnaces and air conditioners. Because they are out in the field most of the time, it has been challenging for him to get to know each individual team member. One team in particular, Chris and Jenny, is performing below expectations. Like most managers, Steve is extremely busy, making sales calls, doing estimates, and resolving customer complaints, in addition to supervising four installation teams. Although he wants to help the underperforming team, he also has a sales quota to meet and it’s nearing the end of the quarter.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For CASE STUDY—Apply What You’ve Learned Part 2 Steve’s initial thought is to ask the highest performing team, Brian and Carlos, to provide some training or at least offer some advice to Chris and Jenny on how to improve. However, Brian and Carols have told Steve that they don’t have time to both do that and maintain their schedule and performance. Steve knows he has to make a decision about how to help the underperforming team. Since he doesn’t have time, he makes a quick decision, even though he doesn’t have much experience in this particular situation. Steve asks Chris and Jenny to meet him over their lunch break. He buys them lunch, and then shares his feedback. He tells them he has noticed that they are particularly slow when installing duct systems and suggests they speed up to increase their overall performance. Chris and Jenny are shocked at Steve’s abruptness and simply agree with him since they don’t know what else to say or do.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For CASE STUDY—Questions to Consider 1. What obstacles does Steve face in trying to be a Super Manager? 2. What can Steve do to get to know all of his employees better in order to be a better manager? 3. What role is most appropriate for Steve to serve in for each team? 4. What did Steve do well, and what can he do better in terms of analyzing the underperforming team and helping it improve? 5. How would you rate Steve’s decision making and why? 6. What are some additional actions Steve can take to be a Super Manager versus just an average manager? Review the ideas and suggested answers provided on the following slides.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For CASE STUDY—Suggested Answers 1. What obstacles does Steve face in trying to be a Super Manager? Steve exhibited two primary obstacles: imbalance of priorities and lack of time. Steve appears to want to help the underperforming team, but he also hopes the situation can be corrected in one meeting. He seems to be focused more on making his sales quota and improving their performance so he and the team look better rather than helping them develop as individuals. 2. What can Steve do to get to know all of his employees better in order to be a better manager? Since providing individual attention to employees is an essential aspect of being a Super Manager, Steve should make this a priority. He could go out on calls with each team, meet each team on its lunch break (which Steve did with one team), schedule specific break times or nonappointment times and meet with employees individually. And then he should ask questions— and let the employees do most of the talking.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For CASE STUDY—Suggested Answers Part 2 3. What role is most appropriate for Steve to serve in for each team? For the team that is underperforming, being a coach is most appropriate to help them get back on track. For the highest performing team, being a supporter may be most appropriate—if the team is not demonstrating cooperation or cohesion, they may be feeling undervalued or unsupported. 4. What did Steve do well, and what can he do better in terms of analyzing the underperforming team and helping it improve? Steve had observed the team, or at least analyzed the team’s performance first-hand, which is good. But he focused on their weakness instead of identifying their strength. A more effective strategy would be to build on strengths because that is most likely to improve their overall performance. Steve’s thought about involving the high performing team is a good one; he just needs to figure out a way to make it work. One strategy might be for Chris and Jenny to observe Brian and Carlos rather than vice versa, so Brian and Carlos don’t lose any productivity. Chris and Jenny can then identify some best practices they can adopt for themselves.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For CASE STUDY—Suggested Answers Part 3 5. How would you rate Steve’s decision making and why? Steve made a decision based on instinct for an issue he that he didn’t have much experience with. A better strategy for this type of situation is to use a more structured approach, identifying the pros, cons, and feasibility of each, and then choosing the option that best supports the organization’s goals. One thing he didn’t think through was Chris and Jenny’s reactions toward his feedback. 6. What are some additional actions Steve can take to be a Super Manager versus just an average manager? There are many things Steve can do. One place to start: focusing on the balance between achieving results and having fun. The fact that the high performing team is reluctant to help the low performing team indicates that the teams don’t feel connected. Creating opportunities to bond as a group and boosting the “fun factor” would help that. At the same time, focusing on helping the underperforming team improve in a significant way (not just one meeting) would not only improve that team’s effectiveness but also improve the overall performance and morale.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Congratulations! By now you should be able to: • Recognize and learn to balance the qualities of a super manager. • Develop a self-awareness of your managerial skills and display attentiveness to your employees. • Demonstrate consistency in your values, attitude, and behavior. • Identify when and how to appropriately exercise mental flexibility. • Display humility and confidence in both your decisions as a manger and the capabilities of your employees. • Ensure employees’ maintain focus. • Encourage employee satisfaction and motivation by creating a fun working environment.
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For Appendix
Super Manager: Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For References Buckingham, Marcus. The One Thing You Need to Know…About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success. New York: Free Press, 2005. Greshes, Warren. The Best Damn Management Book Ever: 9 Keys to Creating Self-Motivating High Achievers. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , 2012. Hill, Linda A. , and Kent Lineback. Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2011. Kraemer, Jr. , Harry M. Jansen. From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2011. Leahy, Terry. Management in 10 Words: Practical Advice from the Man Who Created One of the World’s Largest Retailers. New York: Crown Business, 2012. Sutton, Robert I. Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best…and Learn from the Worst. New York: Hatchette Book Group, 2010. Wagner, Rodd and James K. Harter. 12: The Elements of Great Managing. New York: Gallup Press, 2006. i http: //www. fsu. edu/news/2006/12/04/bad. boss/ ii http: //www. thesocialworkplace. com/2011/11/social-knows-employeeengagement-statistics-fall-2011 -ed/ iii http: //hbr. org/2009/06/how-to-be-a-good-boss-in-a-bad-economy/ iv http: //govleaders. org/whats_a_manager_to_do. htm v http: //hbr. org/2005/03/what-great-managers-do/ar/1
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