By ALEX OGUNDADEGBE
Here is how to be the boss who people want to work with. Catch people doing things right and let them know that they are doing things right. Use feedback to stay informed about what other people are doing in your area of authority. Have regular focused meetings about work that needs to be done and how to do it best. Provide adequate instructions. Time is lost if things are not done properly. Make sure that people get trained to do the job you expect them to do. Expect others to succeed, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when you expect others to succeed and if they are loyal and dedicated and are doing their job, then it almost always leads to good.
Help others to see how they can benefit from doing their job, if they understand this, it will motivate them to do their job and they will do it properly. When you have poor performers in the group, never avoid talking to them. If you do, you are doing yourself, the organization and the person concerned bad. Do not over control others; it is frustrating for them and time consuming for you. Focus on results, not activities or personalities.
Reward people for the results that they produce. Manage by walking around, see what people are doing and listen to what they have to say. Make quality an obsession, especially on smaller items. The little details affect the big picture and the major outcomes. Send thank you notes and memos. These are cherished by members of our groups. Provide workers with open, direct and immediate feedback on their actual performance as compared to expected performance and they will tend to correct their own deficiencies.
Practice naïve listening. Don’t talk, just listen and allow people explain why they do what they do the way they do it. You will learn a lot in the process.
Practice naïve listening. Don’t talk, just listen and allow people explain why they do what they do the way they do it. You will learn a lot in the process. Manage by exception: When things are going right leave them alone when a problem occurs then help. Never seek to place blame, always focus on the problem. Never ignore a concern of one of your team members. While it may seem trivial to you, to the other person, it is a problem that will continue to destroy their train of thought.
Make it a personal rule and a challenge to respond to peoples’ requests within 24 hours. Keep memos and bulletins on boards down to the minimum so that people spend less time standing and staring at boards. Give employees opportunities to speak their opinions or suggestions without fear of ridicule or reprisal. When you are going to make a change that affects others, get them involved before you make the actual change. This increases commitment to make the change work after it has been implemented.
Put major ideas on small posters and hang them around the office, they will remind employees of their goals and purpose. Employees are the only organizational resource that can appreciate with training, all other resources require much more to be more useful to the organization. Most people want to be involved in something significant, give them a whole project or something significant to work on. Let reward of employees be tied to performance appraisal and accomplishment of objectives. We ought to consider sharing distasteful tasks to reduce resentment and hard feelings. Making polite requests, asking: “Could you please do this for me?” Instead of just ordering people to do it, makes a world of difference. Make sure employees have a basic handbook which will serve as a guide to goals, purpose, punishment and discipline when people step out of line. It will reduce the issues of discipline and grey areas you have to deal with.
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Pay attention to small details, the big ones are obvious and get taken care of. Stay open in your thinking, be open to all new ideas; this will reduce barriers that hinder work flow. Avoid asking others to do trivial personal items for you. An occasional “thank you” to those with whom you associate is great booster so is a warm smile and a strong handshake. Smile, it helps you feel better and it is highly contagious. The organization shudders when the boss is frowning. Don’t forget to keep things light and have fun. Being too serious can sometimes block productivity. In order to fly with the eagles you must think like them.
Work with each person in your team to create standard operating procedures for their specific jobs; it will eliminate unnecessary questions and save time on the long run. Let people know while they are doing something, it allows them to recognize their part in a greater vision and understand how they contribute to it.
A regular five minute meeting at the beginning of a day helps the team to stay focused on task and understand major objectives for the period. Practice the golden rule even in business: “Do unto others the way you would want them do unto you.” Fairness will then become a norm. Commit others to deadlines by asking them: “When will that be ready for me?” You can also nail down commitment by asking them, if they give their word that it would be ready on time. Set the stage for cooperation by others by: Introducing the idea, continual stimulation by talking about it, get others to make an investment by making them participate in planning activity.
The boss is the strongest model people have; people are watching to see how he behaves.
If you are unable to get agreement with another person in a meeting, agree to disagree but summarize your point of view and make them understand your position in the situation. Giving people recognition generates energy within them. They will direct that energy towards increased productivity. Tap the potential of those working for you by giving them opportunities to think things through for themselves instead of just telling them how to do something. Always give people the benefit of the doubt they may not be the cause of a problem. The cause may be beyond their control. When you do not know the answer to a question put up by a staff member, admit it. Then challenge the staff member to research and decide what the best answer is. It will help that person grow.
Be persistent at work and do regular follow ups. When you are away and some of your people do an exceptional job, call them in the evening at home and thank them for what they did instead of waiting for the next time you see them. When you appreciate what someone has done, let them know and put it in writing. Such short memos can be added to their personal file for reference. Have an opinion survey done to determine how people view the organization. That way you catch any problems while they are still small. When asking someone to meet a target or get something drastic done, let them know what is in it for the organization, them and everyone else. It is a sound way of motivating them. The boss is the strongest model people have; people are watching to see how he behaves. If you are the boss know that your behaviour is reflected in that of all the other people in the organisation. Lead by example.
*Ogundadegbe is a renowned management consultant. He trains managers and executives in the arts of Customer Service, Human Resources Management and Management strategy ([email protected]).
