March/April 2007
As a teenager, I worked as a clerk in a clothing store. I answered to the assistant managers, and they answered to the store manager, who was in charge of more than 20 employees. The managers worked long hours, most of the time on their feet, providing leadership and customer service to every person who entered the store. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t appreciate their efforts until, of course, I was a manager myself.
On a typical day, a manager might answer calls, meet with his or her employees, attend meetings, do paperwork, visit with customers, and put out fires of various degrees of intensity. For many, rarely is there a day without a fire or chaos of some sort. Good managers don’t let these crises color their interactions with their staff, though. They use praise, validation, and, most of all, consistency to bring out the best in their workers while insulating them from the highs and lows of the manager’s milieu.
The pluses of praise
Praise is like that old joke about voting: it works best if done early and often. Employees need frequent praise for their efforts. Everybody likes to receive praise, but many managers cannot find it in themselves to offer it. They deliver it so rarely that cobwebs are attached to the words as they leave their lips. But managers who use praise to develop their teams will tell you they get as much out of it as do the people they are praising. Positive responses to praise are inevitable.
Validation is another valuable strategy for empowering workers. How does a manager validate his or her employees? By acknowledging their ideas, efforts, and goals. Doing so is a sign
of respect, and there’s no downside to showing respect.
Validation goes hand in hand with listening. When an employee approaches a good manager with an idea, whether good or bad, that manager can create positive experience by just listening to it, validating it, and building on it.
Even-Steven
Perhaps the only thing worse than never praising or validating employees is to do so inconsistently. Managers expect the same or better performance from their workers day in and day out. Employees want the same kind of consistency in their managers, in particular when it comes to feedback on their work. Unfortunately, some managers are more like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, making workers experience their highs and lows. The result is employees who sometimes don’t know what hit them.
For example, one night a manager goes out to dinner with his sales team to celebrate a banner year. Everyone goes home happy and positive about the company. The next day, that same manager arrives to work in a bad mood. Perhaps his morning got off to a bad start: he left home late, hit a traffic jam, his cell phone was dead, and so on. When he enters the door, the heads begin to roll. He snaps at everyone who approaches him that morning. The inconsistency wipes out all good that was done at the celebration dinner.
Some workers report receiving a bonus one week, then having their productivity challenged the next. It’s possible that the company’s circumstances changed in the interim, but that’s not what gets communicated. Instead, the workers hear, “Last week you were doing great. The same performance this week is inadequate.” This is not only inconsistent, it’s confusing and cruel.
Unfortunately, I hear about experiences like this time and time again. I believe it is one of the hardest things to change at a company, and it cripples both the managers and the employees. Owning or operating a company has its highs and lows, but owners and managers need to insulate their workers from that roller-coaster ride when it’s not related to their work.
Achieving Consistency
Medication and therapy can help even out serious personality swings, but perhaps all you need to treat workers consistently is to put things in perspective. I’ve found certain management books and tapes valuable, such as Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson.
We’ve all seen examples of people overreacting to small setbacks. Recently, my son’s seventh-grade basketball team was getting creamed by a team from another middle school. A mother of another boy on the team couldn’t bear to watch the game, and she kept commenting on her despair. I politely told her that my uncle had just been diagnosed with lung cancer. There are life-altering experiences, and then there’s the everyday stuff. Sort it out, and react accordingly. (That woman no longer sits near me at the games.)
That perspective is equally valuable in the workplace. Misplace your cell phone? It’s an annoyance, sure, but don’t take it out on your employees. Even a bigger setback, like losing a big account, needs to remain in perspective. Your employees must know that you won’t overreact to every piece of bad news—or they might just stop telling you things that could upset you.
Unlearning Bad Habits
Unfortunately, many managers think erratic, inconsistent behavior is effective. They form their management styles by observation, but sometimes they observe the wrong person. This is a particular problem in a family business. There was a time when growing up in the business was good enough, but those days are gone. Today, the worst thing parents can do to their children is to pass a business on to them without getting them the education and training they need to survive in today’s business world.
As a teenager, I learned from the managers I had at the clothing store, and I have learned from every manager I have encountered since, both as an employee and as a consultant. But I also continue to educate myself, either by reading books or enrolling in courses, to become a better manager.
Step off the roller coaster of inconsistent management by finding a course or coach that can teach you to deal with the large and small crises you face daily without taking it out on your staff. You deserve less madness, and so do your employees.
Judy Ferraro is president of Judy Ferraro & Associates, a sales development and training firm based in Lemont, Ill. Reach her at 630/243-6860 or judy@judyferraro.com .
As a teenager, I worked as a clerk in a clothing store. I answered to the assistant managers, and they answered to the store manager, who was in charge of more than 20 employees. The managers worked long hours, most of the time on their feet, providing leadership and customer service to every person who entered the store. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t appreciate their efforts until, of course, I was a manager myself.