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September-October 2008 |
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Make the Right Moves
Do you want to be a better boss? Better supervisor? Then start by accepting your role as a leader and not trying to be everyone’s friend. That’s part of the message from leadership trainer Bruce Tuligan, author of It’s Okay To Be the Boss.
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“I don’t know the key to success, but the
key to failure is trying to please everybody.” — Bill Cosby,
entertainer |
To do the right things and score valuable points that count, here are
some tips from Tuligan and this writer:
Seek to be different. Be unique.
Be your own person. There are many organizational cultures that support
a hands-off leadership style. Tuligan said, “Strong management often
feel like ducks out of water.”
I differ with Tuligan’s assessment in one way. To me, management is the
overall organizational structure; leadership is what each individual in
the organization should do every day as part of their strategic mission
(purpose) and goals. Remember: managers manage things (processes.)
Leaders lead people.
So…what to do? Go ahead and take a risk. Swim against the corporate tide. You may be seen as a maverick or, to use the quality improvement term, a “queer duck.” “Queer ducks” always fly in formation but sometimes at a 45-degree angle. Changing their formation is the same as a person asking, “Why are we doing this?” “Is there a better way?” Challenging the status quo to get a team or individuals to stop and think if there are better ways to accomplish their mission and goals is a vital role “queer ducks” can play.
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“Far better is to dare mighty things, to
win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to
take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much or
suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows
not victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S.
President |
You may also be seen as a trendsetter. Stepping outside your comfort
zones and breaking a few paradigms, you might discover the
organization’s culture supports and encourages good leadership after
all. One’s things for certain: you’ll find out if the top leaders
“talk the talk or walk the talk.”
Benchmark. Look Back. Think about your best
schoolteachers, coaches and mentors. They weren’t your friends.
They were probably your toughest critics who always challenged you to do
your best. As a result, you probably accomplished a lot more if you were
left to your own devices. Our country’s history is replete with people
who’ve accomplished great things because they were inspired by people in
their lives who challenged them to be the best they could be. I was!
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“Most people never run far enough on
their first wind to find out they have a second.” — William
James, philosopher |
Go one-on-one. Meet
employees individually, Tuligan says. Ask them about their personal
goals. If they don’t have personal goals because no one ever asked them,
this is a good time for you to begin to educate and mentor them on the
value and validity of personal goals and how to write and frame them.
This will also give you the opportunity to blend your goals and
objectives with theirs.
“Begin intensely hands-on, and you’ll figure out how closely each person
needs to be led,” Tuligan said. You’re not pushing (managing)
them; you’re leading (pulling) them.
As each expectation (objective) is met, you can then
gradually back off and change the focus to more goals and objectives,
always raising the bar.
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“The most important thing about
motivation is goal setting. You should always have a goal.” —
Francie-Larrieu Smith, Olympic runner |
Personalize. There are always
people who require more follow-through and follow-up.
According to Tuligan, all employees work with different levels of
ability, motivation and skill. “One employee needs the details spelled
out, while another has the details memorized.”
The key? As required, “review the priorities and
continue to clarify your expectations.” Then monitor, measure and
document each person’s performance. Then give them positive, timely and
constructive feedback.
Don’t be a cop. Your
inspections can’t be intrusive or interruptive,” said Jeffrey Fox,
author of How To Become a Great Boss. It
is not an interrogation. Simply ask, “How are you doing on a specific
goal or objective?” Keep it simple, open and upbeat. Make it more of a
take than give. This will help your employees understand your priorities
and gives you a “heads-up on developing challenges.”
When you’re resolving issues, always raise the bar. Always make sure
that high performance is the only viable option and that details do
matter.
Help them to learn. This goal is
one vital key to employee retention and productivity.
“Find out what employees want to learn and how they want grow and improve,” said Sharon Jordan-Evans, co-author of Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay.
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“Aspire to inspire before you expire.” —
George Burk, speaker & author |
Be a Coach and Mentor. Focus the
dialogue on specific employee performance and determine how you can
enhance their skill levels. Always emphasize the positives,
minimize and limit any negatives. Then encourage them to set even higher
goals and self-expectations.
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“You only get back what you expect and if
you start low, you’ll end low.” — General Colin Powell, former
secretary of state |
Be Consistent and Fair. When you
reward both stars and slackers, it’s not fair or consistent and is one
of the fastest way to lose your most productive and valuable
employees. Forget about a level playing field. Life isn’t always fair!
Get over it. Base your rewards on performance and don’t keep it a
secret. Let the employees know why they’re performance and meeting or
exceeding expectations is being rewarded.
If you have a team of 10 and eight of them are productive and two are
not, don’t spend time and energy trying to motivate and win over the two
slackers. If you do, you’ll probably lose most, if not all, of the
eight-team members who are productive. Raising the bar, success and peer
pressure will force the slackers to change their attitudes and behaviors
or they’ll decide to leave.
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“Finding good players is easy. Getting
them to play as a team is another story.” — Casey Stengel, Hall
of Fame baseball manager |
Jordan-Evans suggests asking the best workers what it will take to keep
them on board. With the low performers, emphasize your priorities and
make them the benchmark for success.
Reward Them Creatively.
Award surprise bonuses to the highest performers — those who have worked
hard to meet deadlines, Fox said. No award or recognition should be
overlooked from movie tickets, shopping sprees and gift certificates to
health clubs and spas to a free night at a local resort or hotel.
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“The time to repair the roof is when the
sun is shining.” — John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. president |
Rewarding your best performers comes with a hidden
bonus — low performers and slackers will take note. They’ll decide to
change or leave. Either way, it’s a win-win.
Deal and communicate with people effectively:
No person is an island. Learn to understand and motivate others.
Captain George Burk, USAF
(Ret), plane crash and burn survivor, motivational speaker, author
and writer. Web site:
www.georgeburk.com
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