Become More Productive and Successful, Rough Guider [ebook reader wifi .TXT] 📗

to many is to spend time with loved ones.  Well, lo and behold, it is the same at work.  Make sure that your staff know that they can knock on your door to discuss something important to them and, even more importantly, they have the confidence that you will take their issue seriously.

 

Don’t fob them off.  Staff have feelings too.  When they bring an issue to your attention make sure that you agree on how you will help, logging down any action points for yourself, and come back to them with your feedback in a timely manner.  If they ask for your help and you offer to help, make sure that you actually help and it is visible to them.  Otherwise you’ll be worse off than if you hadn’t offered to help in the first place.

 

Listen.  Ok, all good management books highlight the importance of listening.  But this is a different kind of listening.  Why don’t you ask one of your key staff out for a coffee at break or lunch (or simply go to a meeting room or your office) and ask them to speak about their life at work; frustrations, likes, dislikes and so on.  Agree not to interrupt them for (say) 10 minutes.  And, whatever you do, don’t interrupt them.   They will feel totally refreshed after the 10 minutes and you will feel really good too.  (Weirdly) you’ll also feel so much closer to them and that new bond will probably survive for a few months without much further effort.  So just think how strong it would be if you repeated that exercise on a regular basis – perhaps 2-3 times a year.  After they have finished, you should comment and of course offer advice and guidance when this is required.  Don’t forget to follow up on the things you have agreed to look into.

 

Listen.  In case you skipped the paragraph above.  Listening is so very important and, by the way, this isn’t the time to skim read.

 

Set clear objectives and goals.  I know that this sounds so obvious, and it looks like it has been taken directly out of a standard textbook, but if they don’t have clear objectives and goals (or whatever you want to call them) you can’t fairly judge their performance.  How do you set these?  A concise bullet point summary is shown below:

 

Set targets (it’s the same thing) that are achievable

 

Set targets that are challenging (but the bullet point above still holds)

 

Set targets that, if achieved, make them look good

 

Set targets that, if achieved, should certainly make you look good

 

Let them know how their goals fit into the overall goals of the department and business.  Where do they fit into the overall picture?

 

If they achieve their targets they should know without doubt that you’re happy with them.  This leads me on nicely to the next point.

 

Recognize their contributions.  Staff wish to be recognized in different ways so get to know them.  How you recognize your staff is very important and you should consider the following factors:

 

Frequency of recognition.  Don’t overdo it or you will come across as insincere, but do make sure that you regularly thank your staff when it is merited by their performance. 

 

Formalness of recognition.  Recognition varies from a ‘pat on the back’ to a verbal thank you, to a formal email, perhaps copying of forwarding the communication to your boss as well.  Whichever route you take, and it’s good to mix these up, keep it honest, regular and clear.

 

Profile sessions.  One other thing that I have found very useful is to run what I call ‘profile sessions’ with staff on a one to one basis.   I have the weekly meetings where I run through all the tasks that should be complete, the project stage gates that should be passed, and so on, but I also run monthly (sometimes every other month) meetings where we talk about nothing other than their brand within the company.  What do I mean by this (also see ‘Your brand’)?

 

How are they perceived by others within the company and how can we improve that perception?  Perhaps better writing or presentation skills.

 

How strong is their network within the company (see ‘Networking’)?  Let’s come up with actual names of people within the company that they should pro-actively contact and build relationships with.

 

What projects or tasks are they working on that have gone well and could be recognized publicly?  This is a double-whammy.  If I email the senior management team about how well one of my members of staff have performed on (say) a project, they will not only email that member of staff to congratulate them, which means that the member of staff is happy with me, but they will also email me to say what a great job I am doing in managing that member of staff.  A win-win situation, and it is so easy.

 

Agree what communications they could send out to raise their profile.  Rather than you sending around a communication about the office re-fit, perhaps your number two could do this (come on, don’t be a control freak).

 

Review and agree whether their current profile within the company is enhancing their career.  Correct that course if needed.  In other words, if the things they are doing are not helping develop a good persona at work, stop and think of some new ones.  Now that you have the general idea, feel free to add to my bullet point list!

 

The hard conversation.  As a manager it is part and parcel of your job to speak to staff to not only reward and recognize them for good work but to speak to them when they are not performing to the levels expected of them.  Sometimes we can be tempted to shirk our responsibilities (particularly if we are time pressured) avoiding that hard conversation which often starts with the phrase “Can I see you for a minute?”  However, top performance (or at least the most significantly improved performance) often materializes subsequent to such discussions.  Their respect for you as a manager should actually go up rather than down as long as you have been constructive, realistic, fair, transparent and tactful.  Let’s take these in turn:

 

Constructive – provide them with a clear picture of what needs to improve along with a workable plan on how to do so.

 

Realistic – make sure that they can achieve the goals set for improved performance.

 

Be fair, taking into account any mitigating factors.  It is not surprising that (say) a bereavement can dramatically affect short term performance.

 

Be transparent – have a two-way dialogue in which you should be clear that you are disappointed.  Remind them of their strengths and why you believe in them.  Ask them if there is more you should be doing to help them.

 

Above all, be tactful.  Stay patient with them but make it clear that you expect to see some significant improvement now that you have put a framework in place to assist them.

 

Speak to your Human Resources department to make sure that you follow company protocol (don’t slip up on any disciplinary processes if they are relevant).

 

My first two weeks as a manager.  This is one of the best things I have ever done at work.  I became the new manager of an office of 180 staff.  Now, to be fair, I had 6 reportees who all had about 30 staff each, so I only really had to manage 6 staff. 

 

I had been told that this was a well run office where staff were satisfactorily motivated.  There was an attrition issue (staff leaving the company) but apparently that was due to the fact that their jobs were inherently mundane.  There was nothing that could be done about that, or so I was told.

 

So, on my first day I decided to do something a bit different.  I decided to stop, look and listen.  I looked around the office and saw a drab, unmotivated work environment and staff that had drawn and tired faces.  I realized that it was time for some investment so I had a schedule drawn up to allow me to meet 10% of the staff each day for the next 10 working days.  I asked them to meet me on a one to one basis (at agreed times that worked for them) and to bring along with them a list of their current frustrations plus their proposals on how to eliminate those frustrations.  The former without the latter would have made my life far too difficult and they wouldn’t have felt an integral part of the process.

 

Anyway, after collating their comments, eliminating duplication and separating out purely negative comments from those that added real value, I came up with a 10 point plan.  Each of those ‘points’ was followed by the suggestions and recommendations that had been forthcoming.  I had also added my own for good order.  To be fair, they had come up with 95% of the content and I made it clear to them that this was the case.   I’m half tempted to list out the 127 suggestions they came up with, but they were largely specific to those teams in that office, so it would only really be a filler.   

 

However, their comments ranged from “we need a new drinks machine on the 1st floor as the current one is broken” to “we should introduce a new role of deputy supervisor for each team so that when the supervisor is away there is a second in command”.  That also helped solve part of the career progression issue as 6 staff (you do the maths) could be promoted almost instantaneously, subject to budget approval of course.

 

I communicated this plan (with deliverables and deadlines) to the senior management team and received approval for what was not such a significant financial investment (many things were quick fixes).  The action points were delivered on time and within budget.  The sun shone on all of us that day (both on my staff and on me).  It’s amazing what a little bit of listening can do.  This was without doubt the single best investment of my time across my working career.  In fact, it was the start of a great career with that company.

 

I ran that department for about 3 years before being promoted to another larger more significant role (based on the fact that I now had a reputation for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the departments within the company).  Those talented guys made me look good and I can never thank them enough for it.  Lots of them did well out of our relationship too with a series of promotions, pay reviews and internal moves to, arguably, more exciting parts of the business.  It’s a 2-way process remember!

 

The annual offsite (“Awayday”).  These can be very effective in bringing the team together, building bonds, training and educating them, and allowing them to hone their presentation skills, writing skills, negotiation skills and the like.  As long as you take the day seriously, ask the team in advance what they would like to achieve and ensure that the day is varied, fun and interactive, it should be a roaring success.  Sound easy?  Well it is!  In fact, half the work can be completed by outside speakers (ask the CEO if they can spend 15 minutes with your team or the global head of your function or the head of finance, sales or marketing for your business unit). 

 

If your team is small, think about combining it with some other teams.  At one work place we combined Finance, Facilities Management and IT.  It astonishes me how many shared issues different functions want to discuss and resolve.  My favorite exercise for this combined group was to ask them to break into teams (each team had a few staff from each function) and put together a plan for our company to move premises (something we were thinking of doing).  They had to put 3 sections in their plan.  One for Finance, one for IT and one for (wait for it) Facilities Management.  I gave them