Much has been written about the secrets of good management and few will argue that the best managers are inspired, visionary, dedicated, industrious, energetic, energizing and display integrity, leadership, common sense and courage. So where is it that managers commonly fail or falter and lose their precious foothold on the corporation's top rungs? The following, from the career experts at bayt.com, are ten of the most basic management traps and tips to avoid them:
Weak managers set weak goals
As a manager your role is to get specific jobs completed by employees in the most optimal, efficient and innovative manner and in order to do that, you need to set clear objectives. Successful managers set SMART goals - goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. They are able to communicate these goals clearly, simply and concisely to their employees so that none are vague or uncertain about expectations. By all means reach for the stars in your objectives but to do so without supplying employees with the training, resources, flexibility and freedom they need to accomplish their goals and a schedule of regular supervision and feedback is to set them (and yourself) up for failure.
Weak managers micro-manage - effective leaders inspire
The days of command and control organizations are long over - today's managers recognize that in order to leverage their skills and maximize their team's output they need to adopt a flexible approach and 'lead' their teams to excellence rather than closely supervise, instruct and control them. The best leaders communicate to their employees a vision and ignite in them the fire, motivation and desire to work towards making this vision a reality. Good leaders unleash their employees to innovate and achieve optimal solutions by communicating top-level goals and objectives and a suggested blueprint for success then leaving the employees to determine how to get there most optimally while ensuring they have the aptitudes, training, resources and work environment necessary to achieve superior results. While a program of regular feedback and supervision is essential, managers should ensure that their management style is not repressive, meddling or overly overbearing. The golden rule is to communicate the 'what' and the 'why' of the work that needs to be done and leave the employees to determine the 'how' without burdening them with strict instruction manuals or prescribed rules and patterns that are largely redundant and inconducive to speed, creativity, progress and innovation.
Weak managers are afraid of hiring/cultivating strong leaders
Strong leaders/managers have the self-confidence to hire the best people, take them to new levels and cultivate in them all the qualities needed to make them in turn effective leaders of the future. Weak leaders replicate themselves in their hiring decisions and hire mediocre players, mistakenly believing that an employee with more skills, acumen or industry knowledge than themselves will ultimately undermine them or make them look bad. The best managers are characterized by an ability to stimulate their employees to superior performance and through coaching, training, feedback as well as by example, inspire in them all the qualities needed to make effective managers. A good manager helps employees achieve their full potential and constantly raises the bar so that employees never stop learning, innovating and growing. Coaching, training, career planning and programs for ongoing growth and development of key staff are high on the priority lists of the best managers.
Weak managers belittle their employees
Bosses who favour the archaic 'tough' management style where employees are singled out for public reprimand and negative feedback is plentiful while recognition and positive reinforcement are scarce will fail to win the loyalty, respect and commitment of their teams over the long run. Without an inspired, fired up, self-confident employee base these managers set themselves and their teams up for failure. Effective leaders by contrast, respect their employees and give them regular feedback with intelligent constructive criticism and loudly laud special accomplishments in both public and private, while communicating any negative feedback ONLY in private and focusing such criticism strictly on the job performance, not the person's character. Strong leaders recognize and reward a job well done. These leaders inspire their teams to perform at their best and are able to elicit from them a high degree of loyalty and a 'hunger' to raise the bar and continuously excel. In such organisations, employees are not afraid to challenge their boss's ideas or upset the status quo in the interest of innovation and excellence and are encouraged to take risks to elevate the business to a new level. The autocrats and bureaucrats on the other hand sap their employees' self-confidence, drive and energy with their overbearing management style and fail to induce in them any motivation to raise the bar or excel.
Weak managers have obsolete skills-strong leaders constantly reinvent themselves
In today's knowledge-driven economies and highly competitive environment, skills, training and education rapidly become obsolete and effective managers know that they must constantly re-educate themselves and update their skills to maintain an edge. While over-confident managers with an inertia to further education fall by the wayside, good managers regularly take an honest inventory of their skills and abilities and upgrade their technical knowledge and soft skills wherever appropriate. They encourage their teams to do likewise with sound career planning and performance appraisal programs and an emphasis on training and self-education.
Weak managers have poor communication skills
Good communication includes cultivating and maintaining open channels of communication with the team and others in the organisation, giving constructive, intelligent feedback, eliciting ideas through brainstorming sessions or otherwise, articulating the company vision and mission in no uncertain terms, setting clear objectives and listening attentively with an open-mind to employees grievances, suggestions and any other issues. Effective leaders have an open-door policy that welcomes input, suggestions and feedback from employees and recognize that good ideas and the next best idea/process/innovation can come from anywhere. Strong leaders listen; weak leaders talk. Strong leaders pay attention to their employees and encourage them to express professional opinions and ask for more responsibility; weak leaders think they are above such open-door policies. Employees who are not listened to and are not made to feel important or respected as professionals or individuals are unlikely to innovate or express any exciting new ideas that can move a company forward.
Weak managers blame
Everybody makes mistakes and strong leaders protect their good people from taking the fall when they err. Good bosses recognize that the occasional slip-ups are inevitable and can be learning opportunities and are ready to take personal responsibility when the team makes a misstep. A good boss realizes that his most promising employees want to succeed, will grow as a result of their mistakes and are unlikely to repeat the same mistakes. They do no set their people up as a negative example for the rest of the organization nor point fingers when the going gets tough. Good bosses are personably accountable for their actions as well as the actions of their subordinates and do not allow a culture of blame to permeate the organisation.
Weak managers take full credit for their team's accomplishments
While weak leaders usurp all the credit for a job well done by their teams, the strongest leaders will give the full credit to the team as a whole or the team member responsible for the project. Strong leaders motivate, energize and inspire by giving credit where credit is due and being generous with reward and recognition wherever appropriate. Strong leaders publicly thank their employees for a job well done and recognize that a motivated, successful, energized team will reflect directly on the boss.
Weak managers thrive on bureaucracy
Weak leaders are fond of, augment and live well with the layers and bureaucratic shackles that tie an organisation down; strong leaders remove them. Today's effective leaders recognize that in order to compete they must operate like a small company with a high level of speed, responsiveness and flexibility. They realize that to maintain their edge in today's marketplace their organization needs to be responsive to changing market conditions and remove the shackles, boundaries, layers, clutter and obsolete policies, procedures and routines that get in the way of the freedom and free flow of people, resources and ideas.
Weak managers are divorced from their teams
Effective managers genuinely care about their employees and take the time to get to know them and to understand their strengths, weaknesses, what makes them tick and their goals and ambitions. They also take the time to learn something about their personal life. While weak managers will maintain an outdated aloofness and a formal distance from their teams, exceptional managers are able to bring out the best in every employee and win their loyalty and respect by understanding their unique needs, motivations and abilities and showing the team that they are important and personally significant. Strong managers are team players and through their constant involvement with their teams communicate to them that they are there for them and supportive of them. Effective managers by building a supportive work environment, build a camaraderie and team spirit that enthuses and excites the team to new levels of performance.
2009년 2월 11일 수요일
2009년 1월 21일 수요일
The Planest Weirdest & Coolest Animals
The Weirdest and Coolest Deformed Animals 
This unusual six-legged Cambodian cow was found resting at the farm near to the Cambodia city, Phnom Penh on October 7, 2003. The monks from the local pagoda who scared of getting bad fortune that would bring by the cow, later named it as "Cham Leck." (Literally means "strange") 
This seven-legged lamb was photographed when it was found on July 31, 2007, at the farm at Methven near to Christ Church which is situated in the South Island of New Zealand. The veterinarian, Steve Williams believed that this deformity was caused by a misprint in embryo formation. Due to this scientific reason, the lamb was being born polydactyl (or with many legs). He further remarked that this is a common condition that may have occurred once in every several million sheep. 
This unusual six-legged Cambodian cow was found resting at the farm near to the Cambodia city, Phnom Penh on October 7, 2003. The monks from the local pagoda who scared of getting bad fortune that would bring by the cow, later named it as "Cham Leck." (Literally means "strange")
This six-legged octopus or "hexapus" was found by the British marine experts. They claimed that this was the first unusual sea creature discovered among the octopus families. It was observed to have two limbs lesser than its normal species. His keepers at the Blackpool Sea Life Centre which is situated in the northwest of England believed that its deformity was due to the birth defect instead of the casual accident.
This was Gemina, a giraffe which was found to have a dominant crooked neck joining to its body at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Unfortunately, it died on January 9, 2008.
This seven-legged lamb was photographed when it was found on July 31, 2007, at the farm at Methven near to Christ Church which is situated in the South Island of New Zealand. The veterinarian, Steve Williams believed that this deformity was caused by a misprint in embryo formation. Due to this scientific reason, the lamb was being born polydactyl (or with many legs). He further remarked that this is a common condition that may have occurred once in every several million sheep.
This tortoise was seen on June 24, 2007, in Huaibei which is located in the eastern part of Anhui Province of China. The local media reported that its gourd shaped resembling a large fruit with a hard skin and soft juicy flesh inside was the result of a gene mutation. That means the gene mutation has contributed to its aberration, a condition of a temporary change from what is normal or acceptable among its species.
As seen in the photo, this albino snake was born with two heads. The strange feature for such snake is that its two separate mouths were connected to the same stomach. Usually, the snake, which was born with this deformed characteristic, would not live longer. As a result, its life may be as short as two months. Nevertheless, the snake that you see in the picture had unexpectedly survived for a long life span of 8 years.
This two-faced kitten was born in Inverness, Fla. It has one esophagus, two noses and four eyes. This photo was pictured while its owner, Cobra Macini was feeing his beloved kitten.
N 1995, many seriously deformed leopard frogs were discovered around the lakes and rivers in the wetlands of the United States. According to reliable sources, several species with these deformities have been found across Minnesota, and into neighboring South Dakota, Quebec and Wisconsin over years
Obama vows new era of openness
Obama vows new era of openness, freezes pay of top staff
Freezing his staff's pay ... President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice-President Joe Biden speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed to forge a new era of government openness and froze the pay of top staff earning more than $US100,000 ($154,500) to show Americans their leaders could also tighten their belts amid economic crisis.
"For a long time now there's been too much secrecy in this city," said Obama who was elected partly on a platform of purging big-time politics of influence peddling and corruption.
"The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed," Obama said.
"That era is now over," Obama vowed at a swearing in ceremony for senior members of his White House staff in the Executive Office Building, across the road from the presidential mansion.
Obama, who takes office amid the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s also sought to show his administration shared the sacrifice of Americans outside the US government.
"During this period of economic emergency, families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," Obama said.
"That's why I am instituting a pay freeze on the salaries of my senior White House staff.
"Some of the people in this room will be affected by the pay freeze, and I want you to know that I appreciate your willingness to agree to it," Obama said.
Obama also pledged to hold himself accountable to "a new standard of openness" introducing new requirements from presidents to keep as much information as possible available to the Americans.
He said that if he, or a former president, wanted to keep information secret they would have to consult the US attorney general and the White House counsel to see whether the move was permitted by law.
"Information will not be withheld just because I say so - it will be withheld because a separate authority believes my request is well grounded in the constitution."
The previous US administration of president George W Bush was repeatedly criticised for covering up information that did not need to be withheld and for seeking to ensure some data relating to previous presidencies was covered up.
Obama also banned any gifts from lobbyists to his staff and sought to lay down in the law how they could operate.
"However long we are keepers of the public trust, we should never forget that we are here as public servants, and public service is a privilege," Obama said.
"It's not about advantaging yourself, it's not about advancing your friends or your corporate clients. It's not about advancing an ideological agenda or the special interests of any organisation," he added.
Therefore "as of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any other administration in history", the new president said.
"And there will be a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration as well."
2008년 11월 6일 목요일
9 Sure ways to get Fired
9 Sure-fire Ways to Get Fired
By Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer
Mistakes help us grow as individuals and make us better people, or so we're told. At work that's definitely true. Call the CEO by the wrong name once and you'll never do it again. For this reason, level-headed bosses aren't looking to fire anyone for the occasional gaffe.
Still, even the nicest of bosses will reach a limit. Oversleeping one morning probably won't get you fired; doing it three times a week probably will.
In the spirit of keeping you in your supervisor's good graces (and employed), here are nine moves that will get you fired.
1. Being sorta punctual
Each company has its own culture, which might mean stumbling into work 10 minutes late is no biggie to the boss. When it comes to deadlines, however, punctuality is non-negotiable. When other people -- and consequently their reputations -- depend on you to complete work in a timely manner, excuses don't work. Arriving late to a meeting or not at all is a high-profile way to show you don't respect other people's time, too.
2. Hang on, I'll tell you after I update my Facebook profile
Jobs that rely on the Internet provide ample distractions for employees who would rather play online Texas Hold 'Em than work. Many employers allow workers to spend some time checking personal e-mail accounts and catching up on celebrity gossip. A reasonable amount of time. When your duties take a back seat to updating your Facebook status, the boss won't have a problem giving you a pink slip for neglecting your duties.
3. Not knowing what your job is
When bosses hire people, they want them to fulfill their job duties so that the team can run smoothly. You're allowed a few growing pains when you're new, but if six months (or years) into the job, you're still asking people what you should be doing or how to perform an elemental task essential to your job, something isn't right. One of the quickest ways to lose your job is to be deemed unreliable.
4. Needing the spotlight
Children have the honor roll to recognize their outstanding work; adults have paychecks. The employee who demands praise for every bright idea or successful quarter he has will gain a reputation for being needy and distracting. Of course we all like to have a pat on the back now and then, but making sure every person in the meeting knows the boss just pitched your idea shows that you're more concerned with yourself than with the team.
5. Being too honest
Your parents and teachers probably taught you that the truth is always better than lying, and they were right. Nevertheless, remember to keep some thoughts to yourself, especially when those thoughts are that the boss has no clue what she's doing or that you could do her job better with your eyes closed. Having an honest exchange of ideas with a boss is one thing; insulting him or her, albeit with good intentions, is another.
6. Going on vacation when you're needed most
Although you have every right to use your vacation days, a quick way to damage your reputation is to be in the Bahamas during crunch time. If you have to take some personal days at your department's busiest time, plan ahead so you don't inconvenience your team. If you're gone every time a major deadline approaches, however, your reputation will suffer.
7. Proving you can't be trusted
When a co-worker or boss shares private information with you, the quickest way to risk your job is to tell everybody what you know. Not only do you betray that person's trust, but you also make that person look foolish for having confided in you in the first place. Employers have no trouble cutting ties with someone who blabs secrets.
8. Not respecting the boss in front of his or her boss
Remember: Your supervisor has to answer to someone, too. Although you should be respectful every day of the week, make sure to be on your best behavior when your boss's boss is around. If you're undermining authority or even just not doing your job well, your boss looks incompetent. The boss might not say anything when the head honcho is around, but you'll probably have to answer for your mistake soon enough.
9. Thinking you're the exception to the rule
Your parents always said you were special, but your boss doesn't have to agree with them. That's why you shouldn't expect to be exempt from the company policies, like vacation day guidelines, the dress code and other department rules. Asking for some flexibility when your children are sick is reasonable, but expecting to always leave early because you have to pick them up from school crosses a line. Your boss expects you to follow the same rules as everyone else.
2008년 9월 28일 일요일
Management Traps & How to Avoid them
Management Traps and How to Avoid Them
Much has been written about the secrets of good management and few will argue that the best managers are inspired, visionary, dedicated, industrious, energetic, energizing and display integrity, leadership, common sense and courage. So where is it that managers commonly fail or falter and lose their precious foothold on the corporation's top rungs? The following, from the career experts at bayt.com, are ten of the most basic management traps and tips to avoid them:
Weak managers set weak goals
As a manager your role is to get specific jobs completed by employees in the most optimal, efficient and innovative manner and in order to do that, you need to set clear objectives. Successful managers set SMART goals - goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. They are able to communicate these goals clearly, simply and concisely to their employees so that none are vague or uncertain about expectations. By all means reach for the stars in your objectives but to do so without supplying employees with the training, resources, flexibility and freedom they need to accomplish their goals and a schedule of regular supervision and feedback is to set them (and yourself) up for failure.
Weak managers micro-manage - effective leaders inspire
The days of command and control organizations are long over - today's managers recognize that in order to leverage their skills and maximize their team's output they need to adopt a flexible approach and 'lead' their teams to excellence rather than closely supervise, instruct and control them. The best leaders communicate to their employees a vision and ignite in them the fire, motivation and desire to work towards making this vision a reality. Good leaders unleash their employees to innovate and achieve optimal solutions by communicating top-level goals and objectives and a suggested blueprint for success then leaving the employees to determine how to get there most optimally while ensuring they have the aptitudes, training, resources and work environment necessary to achieve superior results. While a program of regular feedback and supervision is essential, managers should ensure that their management style is not repressive, meddling or overly overbearing. The golden rule is to communicate the 'what' and the 'why' of the work that needs to be done and leave the employees to determine the 'how' without burdening them with strict instruction manuals or prescribed rules and patterns that are largely redundant and inconducive to speed, creativity, progress and innovation.
Weak managers are afraid of hiring/cultivating strong leaders
Strong leaders/managers have the self-confidence to hire the best people, take them to new levels and cultivate in them all the qualities needed to make them in turn effective leaders of the future.
Weak leaders replicate themselves in their hiring decisions and hire mediocre players, mistakenly believing that an employee with more skills, acumen or industry knowledge than themselves will ultimately undermine them or make them look bad. The best managers are characterized by an ability to stimulate their employees to superior performance and through coaching, training, feedback as well as by example, inspire in them all the qualities needed to make effective managers. A good manager helps employees achieve their full potential and constantly raises the bar so that employees never stop learning, innovating and growing. Coaching, training, career planning and programs for ongoing growth and development of key staff are high on the priority lists of the best managers.
Weak managers belittle their employees
Bosses who favour the archaic 'tough' management style where employees are singled out for public reprimand and negative feedback is plentiful while recognition and positive reinforcement are scarce will fail to win the loyalty, respect and commitment of their teams over the long run. Without an inspired, fired up, self-confident employee base these managers set themselves and their teams up for failure. Effective leaders by contrast, respect their employees and give them regular feedback with intelligent constructive criticism and loudly laud special accomplishments in both public and private, while communicating any negative feedback ONLY in private and focusing such criticism strictly on the job performance, not the person's character. Strong leaders recognize and reward a job well done. These leaders inspire their teams to perform at their best and are able to elicit from them a high degree of loyalty and a 'hunger' to raise the bar and continuously excel. In such organisations, employees are not afraid to challenge their boss's ideas or upset the status quo in the interest of innovation and excellence and are encouraged to take risks to elevate the business to a new level. The autocrats and bureaucrats on the other hand sap their employees' self-confidence, drive and energy with their overbearing management style and fail to induce in them any motivation to raise the bar or excel.
Weak managers have obsolete skills-strong leaders constantly reinvent themselves
In today's knowledge-driven economies and highly competitive environment, skills, training and education rapidly become obsolete and effective managers know that they must constantly re-educate themselves and update their skills to maintain an edge. While over-confident managers with an inertia to further education fall by the wayside, good managers regularly take an honest inventory of their skills and abilities and upgrade their technical knowledge and soft skills wherever appropriate. They encourage their teams to do likewise with sound career planning and performance appraisal programs and an emphasis on training and self-education.
Weak managers have poor communication skills -
Good communication includes cultivating and maintaining open channels of communication with the team and others in the organisation, giving constructive, intelligent feedback, eliciting ideas through brainstorming sessions or otherwise, articulating the company vision and mission in no uncertain terms, setting clear objectives and listening attentively with an open-mind to employees grievances, suggestions and any other issues. Effective leaders have an open-door policy that welcomes input, suggestions and feedback from employees and recognize that good ideas and the next best idea/process/innovation can come from anywhere. Strong leaders listen; weak leaders talk. Strong leaders pay attention to their employees and encourage them to express professional opinions and ask for more responsibility; weak leaders think they are above such open-door policies. Employees who are not listened to and are not made to feel important or respected as professionals or individuals are unlikely to innovate or express any exciting new ideas that can move a company forward.
Weak managers blame
Everybody makes mistakes and strong leaders protect their good people from taking the fall when they err. Good bosses recognize that the occasional slip-ups are inevitable and can be learning opportunities and are ready to take personal responsibility when the team makes a misstep. A good boss realizes that his most promising employees want to succeed, will grow as a result of their mistakes and are unlikely to repeat the same mistakes. They do no set their people up as a negative example for the rest of the organization nor point fingers when the going gets tough. Good bosses are personably accountable for their actions as well as the actions of their subordinates and do not allow a culture of blame to permeate the organisation.
Weak managers take full credit for their team's accomplishments
While weak leaders usurp all the credit for a job well done by their teams, the strongest leaders will give the full credit to the team as a whole or the team member responsible for the project. Strong leaders motivate, energize and inspire by giving credit where credit is due and being generous with reward and recognition wherever appropriate. Strong leaders publicly thank their employees for a job well done and recognize that a motivated, successful, energized team will reflect directly on the boss.
Weak managers thrive on bureaucracy
Weak leaders are fond of, augment and live well with the layers and bureaucratic shackles that tie an organisation down; strong leaders remove them. Today's effective leaders recognize that in order to compete they must operate like a small company with a high level of speed, responsiveness and flexibility. They realize that to maintain their edge in today's marketplace their organization needs to be responsive to changing market conditions and remove the shackles, boundaries, layers, clutter and obsolete policies, procedures and routines that get in the way of the freedom and free flow of people, resources and ideas.
Weak managers are divorced from their teams
Effective managers genuinely care about their employees and take the time to get to know them and to understand their strengths, weaknesses, what makes them tick and their goals and ambitions. They also take the time to learn something about their personal life. While weak managers will maintain an outdated aloofness and a formal distance from their teams, exceptional managers are able to bring out the best in every employee and win their loyalty and respect by understanding their unique needs, motivations and abilities and showing the team that they are important and personally significant. Strong managers are team players and through their constant involvement with their teams communicate to them that they are there for them and supportive of them. Effective managers by building a supportive work environment, build a camaraderie and team spirit that enthuses and excites the team to new levels of performance.
Much has been written about the secrets of good management and few will argue that the best managers are inspired, visionary, dedicated, industrious, energetic, energizing and display integrity, leadership, common sense and courage. So where is it that managers commonly fail or falter and lose their precious foothold on the corporation's top rungs? The following, from the career experts at bayt.com, are ten of the most basic management traps and tips to avoid them:
Weak managers set weak goals
As a manager your role is to get specific jobs completed by employees in the most optimal, efficient and innovative manner and in order to do that, you need to set clear objectives. Successful managers set SMART goals - goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. They are able to communicate these goals clearly, simply and concisely to their employees so that none are vague or uncertain about expectations. By all means reach for the stars in your objectives but to do so without supplying employees with the training, resources, flexibility and freedom they need to accomplish their goals and a schedule of regular supervision and feedback is to set them (and yourself) up for failure.
Weak managers micro-manage - effective leaders inspire
The days of command and control organizations are long over - today's managers recognize that in order to leverage their skills and maximize their team's output they need to adopt a flexible approach and 'lead' their teams to excellence rather than closely supervise, instruct and control them. The best leaders communicate to their employees a vision and ignite in them the fire, motivation and desire to work towards making this vision a reality. Good leaders unleash their employees to innovate and achieve optimal solutions by communicating top-level goals and objectives and a suggested blueprint for success then leaving the employees to determine how to get there most optimally while ensuring they have the aptitudes, training, resources and work environment necessary to achieve superior results. While a program of regular feedback and supervision is essential, managers should ensure that their management style is not repressive, meddling or overly overbearing. The golden rule is to communicate the 'what' and the 'why' of the work that needs to be done and leave the employees to determine the 'how' without burdening them with strict instruction manuals or prescribed rules and patterns that are largely redundant and inconducive to speed, creativity, progress and innovation.
Weak managers are afraid of hiring/cultivating strong leaders
Strong leaders/managers have the self-confidence to hire the best people, take them to new levels and cultivate in them all the qualities needed to make them in turn effective leaders of the future.
Weak leaders replicate themselves in their hiring decisions and hire mediocre players, mistakenly believing that an employee with more skills, acumen or industry knowledge than themselves will ultimately undermine them or make them look bad. The best managers are characterized by an ability to stimulate their employees to superior performance and through coaching, training, feedback as well as by example, inspire in them all the qualities needed to make effective managers. A good manager helps employees achieve their full potential and constantly raises the bar so that employees never stop learning, innovating and growing. Coaching, training, career planning and programs for ongoing growth and development of key staff are high on the priority lists of the best managers.
Weak managers belittle their employees
Bosses who favour the archaic 'tough' management style where employees are singled out for public reprimand and negative feedback is plentiful while recognition and positive reinforcement are scarce will fail to win the loyalty, respect and commitment of their teams over the long run. Without an inspired, fired up, self-confident employee base these managers set themselves and their teams up for failure. Effective leaders by contrast, respect their employees and give them regular feedback with intelligent constructive criticism and loudly laud special accomplishments in both public and private, while communicating any negative feedback ONLY in private and focusing such criticism strictly on the job performance, not the person's character. Strong leaders recognize and reward a job well done. These leaders inspire their teams to perform at their best and are able to elicit from them a high degree of loyalty and a 'hunger' to raise the bar and continuously excel. In such organisations, employees are not afraid to challenge their boss's ideas or upset the status quo in the interest of innovation and excellence and are encouraged to take risks to elevate the business to a new level. The autocrats and bureaucrats on the other hand sap their employees' self-confidence, drive and energy with their overbearing management style and fail to induce in them any motivation to raise the bar or excel.
Weak managers have obsolete skills-strong leaders constantly reinvent themselves
In today's knowledge-driven economies and highly competitive environment, skills, training and education rapidly become obsolete and effective managers know that they must constantly re-educate themselves and update their skills to maintain an edge. While over-confident managers with an inertia to further education fall by the wayside, good managers regularly take an honest inventory of their skills and abilities and upgrade their technical knowledge and soft skills wherever appropriate. They encourage their teams to do likewise with sound career planning and performance appraisal programs and an emphasis on training and self-education.
Weak managers have poor communication skills -
Good communication includes cultivating and maintaining open channels of communication with the team and others in the organisation, giving constructive, intelligent feedback, eliciting ideas through brainstorming sessions or otherwise, articulating the company vision and mission in no uncertain terms, setting clear objectives and listening attentively with an open-mind to employees grievances, suggestions and any other issues. Effective leaders have an open-door policy that welcomes input, suggestions and feedback from employees and recognize that good ideas and the next best idea/process/innovation can come from anywhere. Strong leaders listen; weak leaders talk. Strong leaders pay attention to their employees and encourage them to express professional opinions and ask for more responsibility; weak leaders think they are above such open-door policies. Employees who are not listened to and are not made to feel important or respected as professionals or individuals are unlikely to innovate or express any exciting new ideas that can move a company forward.
Weak managers blame
Everybody makes mistakes and strong leaders protect their good people from taking the fall when they err. Good bosses recognize that the occasional slip-ups are inevitable and can be learning opportunities and are ready to take personal responsibility when the team makes a misstep. A good boss realizes that his most promising employees want to succeed, will grow as a result of their mistakes and are unlikely to repeat the same mistakes. They do no set their people up as a negative example for the rest of the organization nor point fingers when the going gets tough. Good bosses are personably accountable for their actions as well as the actions of their subordinates and do not allow a culture of blame to permeate the organisation.
Weak managers take full credit for their team's accomplishments
While weak leaders usurp all the credit for a job well done by their teams, the strongest leaders will give the full credit to the team as a whole or the team member responsible for the project. Strong leaders motivate, energize and inspire by giving credit where credit is due and being generous with reward and recognition wherever appropriate. Strong leaders publicly thank their employees for a job well done and recognize that a motivated, successful, energized team will reflect directly on the boss.
Weak managers thrive on bureaucracy
Weak leaders are fond of, augment and live well with the layers and bureaucratic shackles that tie an organisation down; strong leaders remove them. Today's effective leaders recognize that in order to compete they must operate like a small company with a high level of speed, responsiveness and flexibility. They realize that to maintain their edge in today's marketplace their organization needs to be responsive to changing market conditions and remove the shackles, boundaries, layers, clutter and obsolete policies, procedures and routines that get in the way of the freedom and free flow of people, resources and ideas.
Weak managers are divorced from their teams
Effective managers genuinely care about their employees and take the time to get to know them and to understand their strengths, weaknesses, what makes them tick and their goals and ambitions. They also take the time to learn something about their personal life. While weak managers will maintain an outdated aloofness and a formal distance from their teams, exceptional managers are able to bring out the best in every employee and win their loyalty and respect by understanding their unique needs, motivations and abilities and showing the team that they are important and personally significant. Strong managers are team players and through their constant involvement with their teams communicate to them that they are there for them and supportive of them. Effective managers by building a supportive work environment, build a camaraderie and team spirit that enthuses and excites the team to new levels of performance.
2008년 7월 10일 목요일
What 8 Things Do Employees want
Tangible rewards play a role in job satisfaction, says today's expert, but for many workers, the "happiness factor" depends heavily on intangibles, such as respect, trust, and fairness.
Is money the key to retention and productivity? It helps, says the Christian Science Monitor's Marilyn Gardner, but it's not enough. Beyond pay and benefits lie eight key factors that influence "happiness" at work-factors that motivate workers and keep them at your organization.
1. Appreciation
Praise heads the list for many workers, and it doesn't cost the employer anything to provide it, says Gardner . A sincere thank you or a short note can mean a great deal.
2. Respect
Again there is no cost and a big payback. Respect plays out in letting people know that their work is appreciated, in treating them like adults, and in being fair in your dealings with them.
3. Trust
Trust is the action side of respect. People need guidance, but they need to know that their boss trusts them to be able to get a job done on their own.
4. Individual Growth
Today's workers-especially the Gen Y group-want training, want to take on new challenges, and want to advance based on their new abilities. Giving a raise without increasing responsibilities could actually backfire, notes Gardner .. As one expert says, if you give more money to an unhappy employee, you end up with a wealthier unhappy employee.
5. Good Boss
It's the old saw: People don't leave companies, they leave bosses. In a recent Robert Half survey, Gardner notes that 1,000 Gen Y workers ranked "working with a manager I can respect and learn from" as the most important aspect of their work environment.
6. Compatible Co-workers
Working with people you enjoy is also very important, says Gardner . Spending the day-every day-with people you don't like does not make for a productive workplace.
7. Compatible Culture
Employees want a work environment that fits their needs. That could mean hard-driving, high paying, or it could mean high flexibility and significant attention to work/life balance.
8. A Sense of Purpose
People want to know that they are contributing to something worthwhile. They need to know what the organization' s core purpose is and what it is trying to achieve. And then they need to know how their particular job fits into the whole.
One of the interesting things that Gardner discovered about employee "happiness" is that there is a disconnect between what managers think and what employees think about happiness at work.
Managers tend to think that salary and benefits are the main motivators, while workers consistently respond that factors such as those mentioned above are what's important. Successful organizations will find a good balance to retain their best people.
Is money the key to retention and productivity? It helps, says the Christian Science Monitor's Marilyn Gardner, but it's not enough. Beyond pay and benefits lie eight key factors that influence "happiness" at work-factors that motivate workers and keep them at your organization.
1. Appreciation
Praise heads the list for many workers, and it doesn't cost the employer anything to provide it, says Gardner . A sincere thank you or a short note can mean a great deal.
2. Respect
Again there is no cost and a big payback. Respect plays out in letting people know that their work is appreciated, in treating them like adults, and in being fair in your dealings with them.
3. Trust
Trust is the action side of respect. People need guidance, but they need to know that their boss trusts them to be able to get a job done on their own.
4. Individual Growth
Today's workers-especially the Gen Y group-want training, want to take on new challenges, and want to advance based on their new abilities. Giving a raise without increasing responsibilities could actually backfire, notes Gardner .. As one expert says, if you give more money to an unhappy employee, you end up with a wealthier unhappy employee.
5. Good Boss
It's the old saw: People don't leave companies, they leave bosses. In a recent Robert Half survey, Gardner notes that 1,000 Gen Y workers ranked "working with a manager I can respect and learn from" as the most important aspect of their work environment.
6. Compatible Co-workers
Working with people you enjoy is also very important, says Gardner . Spending the day-every day-with people you don't like does not make for a productive workplace.
7. Compatible Culture
Employees want a work environment that fits their needs. That could mean hard-driving, high paying, or it could mean high flexibility and significant attention to work/life balance.
8. A Sense of Purpose
People want to know that they are contributing to something worthwhile. They need to know what the organization' s core purpose is and what it is trying to achieve. And then they need to know how their particular job fits into the whole.
One of the interesting things that Gardner discovered about employee "happiness" is that there is a disconnect between what managers think and what employees think about happiness at work.
Managers tend to think that salary and benefits are the main motivators, while workers consistently respond that factors such as those mentioned above are what's important. Successful organizations will find a good balance to retain their best people.
2008년 6월 26일 목요일
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