Sunday, June 24, 2007

The One Minute Repirmand

OK, so you can see that I'm on a One Minute Manager kick, but this will be a brief article about the "One Minute Reprimand".

So far I have never gotten a "One Minute Reprimand". I actually have never gotten a reprimand that hasn't turned into a "One hour or two hour reprimand"... though parents have the habit of lecturing their kids a little bit too much.

In the work environment though, I have felt that negative feedback often is vague... and almost always not very constructive. I think the problem is with people using "feedback" as a code word for "tearing someone a new one in a politically correct manner". Shouldn't feedback be about correcting or reinforcing particular behavior?

Maybe that is why so many people are afraid of getting feedback and why so many new managers are very uncomfortable with giving good and useful feedback. Maybe they have forgotten that feedback should be about catching people doing good more so than catching people doing wrong.

At least in the places that I have worked, I see that most "managers" are too "busy" to actually do much managing. It's kind of ironic. Managers are too busy doing their subordinates work (micromanaging) and don't give good feedback for fear of being "micro-managers".

The One Minute Reprimand (in a nutshell)
  • Immediate - Give the reprimand immediately. Don't you hate those, "Remember two weeks when you were doing that thing... yeah that wasn't really good." Why couldn't the manager tell me this two weeks ago so that I could have fixed it immediately and not have wasted my time and effort on something she didn't like?
  • Specific - Be specific about what the offending behavior is so that the person receiving the reprimand will know what to fix.
  • Share your feelings - Let them know how you feel about the offending behavior. Let them know the reason why it is wrong... not just that what they did was "bad" in some vague way.
  • Reaffirm - Even after using the first three rules, people still won't be happy with any reprimand, so take a second to reaffirm to them that you value their contribution to the team and that they are better than the offending behavior.
You don't have to leave these rules at the work place. Try them at home... your friends and family will thank me for it.

Until next time,
-Jason

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Making Your Team Happy

I just read this great post at The Happiness Project. It's titled "How employers can boost the happiness of their employees". She gives a number of common sense (but not commonly practiced) tips of how employers can help make their employees happy. Here are some highlights, see the entire post here.

  • People need control over their lives to feel happy - It's always much better to have a say in what YOU are doing than to have to do something just because your boss says you "have to"
  • Reduce time commuting - I commute over an hour each way everyday. In the past year I have put almost 25,000 miles onto my car. As much as I like driving... I know this is definitely a stressor for me.
  • Don't waste people's time - You know when you got that thing that you "have to" do by the end of the day, but then you pulled into hours of pointless meetings. Yeah... more stress. (Potential solution - see post on Running Meetings Like Google)
  • Allow people to participate in social interaction - ummm... you know that guy whose office was moved into the supply closet.... yeah that's why he looks pissed all of the time
  • Take Care of People's Health - healthy team members are happy team members
  • Everyone Loves Surprises - OK, not all surprises, but little things to break the monotony of the workday can work wonders to improve morale. Maybe thats why college was so much fun. There was always something wild and crazy going on just down the hall / on campus / downtown.
So I'm thinking at least someone out there is thinking, "But all I need out of my people is for them to get the work done. If I'm efficient and effective, everything will be fine."

Not exactly... Human beings are incredibly emotional creatures. We are dramatically swayed by our moods and feelings. Think about it. Can you remember a time when you were extremely motivated. Can you feel the emotion and energy that pulsed through your body? You were going a mile a minute and loving it!

Now think about another time when you were stressed, maybe a little bit upset, or angry. Did you really feel like doing anything that you "had" to do? Most likely not.

In the end this is something like the carrot and the stick. All too often people just reach for the stick to "make" people do what they want. Sometimes this is necessary, but I think we'd all be better if we could reach for more carrots.

Please let me know what you think. As always comments are requested and appreciated.

Until next time,
-Jason

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Seagull Managers

So I've been reading Ken Blanchard's new book Leading at a Higher Level. I've actually finished it, but am a little behind on writing posts on what I have learned. But anyway...

"Seagull Management" is a term that Blanchard uses in the book to describe a type of management behavior. Whenever there is a problem, seagull managers, swoop in, make lots of noise, dump on everyone, and then fly away. As you can tell this isn't the the best way to take care of your team. It doesn't do anything to help the team members to succeed, it just succeeds in destroying morale.

We've all seen people do this. A mistake is made. And it makes an impact that is immediately "felt by the leadership". (We already know there will be problems if upper 'leadership' insulates themselves with endless layers of middle management). Then all of a sudden your boss's boss calls your team into his office. He's mad as hell and he wants the head of the person responsible. The poor schmuck raises his hand and he gets railed at. The rest of the team then gets chewed out for allowing him to make such a costly mistake. Meanwhile, no one has learned anything from this. Then, everyone marches out of the office and lays low for the rest of the day. On the bright side this whole incident will make great water cooler conversation for weeks.

"Teach me how to get an A, don't just mark my paper with a B." Maybe if management had thought about putting in stricter controls and checks, the problem could have been avoided. Maybe if the team wasn't over-worked and over-stressed the mistake wouldn't have happened. Maybe, someone should have gotten the proper training before being expected to do the job perfectly.

This all falls back to Blanchard's theory of situational leadership. Leaders need to figure out where their team members are at in terms of development, and take the appropriate action. If the team member who made the mistake was a brand new hire with no experience, he would have needed exact instructions in how to figure out his task. However, if he was already trained in the field, but not in this particular application, it may be helpful for the manager to remind him of the proper procedures and coach him to perform successfully. Though, if he had already been successful a few times, the manager could have taken a more supporting role, in reinforcing this success.

Only when the team member is already a "self reliant achiever" can the manager completely delegate the responsibility. However, the seagull manager just delegates, and apparently hopes for the best. You just can't do that and expect to be competitive anymore.

Anyway, as always comments are welcome and appreciated.

Until next time,
-Jason