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What Good Managers Must Do
 
Gregory P. Smith

One morning at the airport, I overheard an employee talking about her new boss. “He’s a nice guy,” she said. “He makes me feel good about working here.”

Like many employees, this young woman is more influenced by her boss’s “soft” skills than his technical skills. His interpersonal skills were what mattered most: including his ability to communicate, motivate and showing genuine concern. These interpersonal traits influence people to decide to quit or stay.  When a manager lacks these skills, or actively cultivates their hard-edged opposite, workers who have choices will jump ship or lower their productivity.

I experienced this myself when I went into the military service right after college.  My boss was a special person—a great boss. An experienced veteran and a former Special Forces medic, he was the type of person who always put the needs of others before his own.

One night I pulled duty that required me to stay up all night on New Year’s Eve. It was a night that seemed it would never end. I was tired and miserable.  Saturday morning, when I still had several more hours to go, the phone rang.  It was Joe, my boss. He asked if I had plans for lunch and that his wife had made something and wanted to bring it over to me. While I don’t remember what food they brought over, it was a meal I never forgot.

That one small act of kindness showed me he cared.  It taught me more about leadership than all the degrees and diplomas hanging on my wall.  It confirmed the truth of the old military saying, “If you take care of your troops, your troops will take care of you.” It’s still true today, no matter what kind of business you are in. 

The older I get and the more I see reinforces that leadership techniques and fads change with the times, but caring about individuals holds constant. Caring for people can’t be faked or replaced.

On the other hand, no manager should be a pushover. A caring manager must also be respected. He or she must be able to generate results.

Soon after my boss treated me to that special meal, he gave me the worst chewing out I’d ever had. I deserved it and did something to deserve it. It hurt more—and made a deeper impression on me—because of the respect I had for him. When you respect someone, you always value what he or she has to say.

Businesses that do a good job selecting, training, and developing their managers will enjoy higher productivity and lower turnover.  While it’s hard to measure the impact soft skills have on productivity, I strongly believe an employee who feels good about working for a company or a boss will want to contribute much more than the minimum acceptable level.

In the years I led people, I never met an “average” worker—only people I saw the potential to become much better.  I think it was General Omar Bradley who said, “There are no such thing as bad soldiers, only bad leaders.”  Sure--the workplace has its share of problematic and difficult to manage individuals.  There are many bad managers.  But what I notice is good managers are able to transform difficult people into better people.  Exceptional workers have exceptional managers as their leaders. The only difference between the two groups is the quality of the leader.

I imagine my first boss saw me as an “average” individual with a short attention span, high maintenance, inexperienced, and scattered brained.  Fortunately for me, he took the time to train and develop me, even though it often frustrated him. He was a true leader. He understood leadership of people is a transformation process, and with the right tools and a willing attitude, he could make the transformation happen.

Greg Smith helps organizations accelerate workplace performance. He is a nationally recognized speaker and author. He has written five books including his latest, Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Transforming Your Workforce from High Turnover to High Retention. Greg has been featured on Bloomberg News, PBS television, and in publications including Business Week, USA Today, Kiplinger's, President and CEO, and the Christian Science Monitor. He is the President of a management-consulting firm, Chart Your Course International, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Phone him at 770-860-9464. More articles available: http://www.chartcourse.com

==========================
Gregory P. Smith
President
Chart Your Course International
Examiner, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

"We show managers how to create high performance
organizations that attract, keep, and motivate their workforce"

Author of:
Here Today Here Tomorrow: How to Transform Your
Organization from High Turnover to High Retention

Phone: (770) 860-9464
http://www.ChartCourse.com
http://www.HighRetention.com
http://www.BehaviorProfile.com

Employee of the Month Programs Don't Work

Employee of the Month Programs Don't Work

Here is a question sent to me:

I attended your session in Philadelphia called, "The Care and Feeding of
Staff: Energize, Engage, and Motivate Your Work Force." It The timing
was just right. Our firm is beginning an 'Employee of the Month Award'.
We hope this will be a morale booster.

I wanted to know if you could give me any pointers. Can you suggest
some criteria for such an award? Also, should the employees decide what
criteria will be used?

Our law firm is relatively small. We have five attorneys with a support
staff of ten. Several employees have over fifteen years service with the
company. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You, Richard

My reply:

I applaud your efforts in wanting to create a reward and recognition
system, but being a small firm makes an EOM program that much more
challenging.

Most of the Employee of the Month programs I have seen rarely work as
intended. The results fall short, and in some cases the program can do
more harm than good. Why?

Fairness is the main problem. Any program that selects only one winner
is bound and determined to make others feel like losers. Also, employees
must be nominated to be considered. But what happens to people who
deserve recognition, but work for managers who do not take the time to
nominate anyone? What happens to people who maintain nontraditional work
schedules such as those who telecommute or work remotely? Honoring one
person a month also defeats teamwork. Instead of only recognizing one
employee, many of my clients recognize the "Team of the Month."

The goal of any reward and recognition program is to encourage,
recognize, and show appreciation to those who work in your office.
However, the most important reason is to align behaviors with the goals
making your organization successful. Most organizations miss this
important point.

Since you are a small firm, your candidate pool is very limited. You will
fall in to the trap of giving the EOM only to a few people--your top
performers. Or on the other hand, you may be forced to rotate the EOM
award from person to person, whether they deserve it or not, just to meet
the requirement each month. Is this your intention?

One organization we worked with was unhappy with the results of their EOM
program. Every month managers nominated one person for selection. Part
of the difficulty was that person had to compete against people working
in eight different locations. A committee of eight senior managers, one
from each building, selected only one winner. The winner was awarded a
savings bond.

There are several weaknesses with this program. First, the winners felt
uncomfortable winning the award. They realized there were coworkers just
as deserving as they. Second, there were others in the organization who
were never considered or nominated. They felt "ignored" and not
appreciated. Then there were those who felt the managers were playing
favorites--you had to "brown nose" your boss in order to win. The
program generated more negative feelings than good. Something had to
change.

The organization followed our recommendation to allow the employees
themselves the opportunity to redesign a better system. We convened a
problem-solving team consisting of one volunteer from each location. At
the first meeting, we outlined the options they could consider. Then we
let them go to work.

An hour or two later they came up with a brand new program. They decided
to create a peer selection process. They did not want management to make
the selection. Each building would run a separate Employee of the Month
program. Then they decided to collect money to buy a plaque for each
building to display winners' names. Finally, the staff would take the
winner out for breakfast each month and provide them a reserved parking
space near the front door of their office.

Greg Smith helps create high performance organizations that attract,
keep, and motivate their workforce. As President of Chart Your Course
International he has designed and implemented professional development
programs for hundreds of organizations globally. As a business growth
consultant, he has helped business owners reduce turnover, increase
sales, deliver better customer service, and reach long-term prosperity.
Greg is published in hundreds of trade publications. He is also the
author of Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Transforming Your Workforce from
High Turnover to High Retention, the New Leader, and several other books.
For more information, visit http://www.chartcourse.com or call (800)
821-2487 or (770) 860-9464.

Welcome to the Employee Retention Blog

Chart Your Course International is a management development and consulting firm located in the Atlanta area. We focus on employee retention and talent management. We show executives and business owners how to attract and keep customers and build organizations that retain and motivate their workforce.

Our company has been featured in Business Week, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, USA Today, President and CEO, and other publications. He has appeared on television programs including Bloomberg Business News and PBS television.

Greg's background in organizational behavior has guided dozens of businesses with measurable improvements in reduced turnover, increased sales, better customer service, improved communication, and the morale of all concerned.

For more information please call us or visit http://www.highretention.com or call 770-860-9464