Tag Archives: Management

Am I good enough?

AKA A Short Story About Feedback

I was talking with my manager the other day after not seeing her for a few days, and before I could stop myself the words just started tumbling out of my mouth:

I know you haven’t been in the office much lately, and when you have, you’ve been so busy that the door’s closed most of the time. But after losing contact on some of the projects we’re working on I start to wonder, “Is it me? Did I do something wrong?” I start to second guess myself even when there’s nothing going on. Are we good?

Her response? Continue reading →

Fitting the job to the person

I’ve been talking a lot about Pinnacle lately, but there are so many neat things we can do as a smaller company that I’ve never even considered in the past. A great example of that is the tendency to fit the job to the person on our Operations Team. Instead of rigidly defining what the position requires and recruiting for an exact fit, we define the minimum education/experience level, find a great culture fit, and find out how to customize the job to fit them.

It takes a great manager

The Operations Manager at Pinnacle holds a philosophy similar to Marcus Buckingham, which basically means giving people work they are really good at and letting others do the other tasks that they are uniquely suited for. The Ops Manager works hard to define what each team member likes and does well and strives to give them more of that kind of work. They’ll do it better than someone else, and it makes them happy. Tough to beat that kind of attitude when it comes to teamwork!

Our accounting team is a great example. We have two part time accountants working a job-share situation. They both do different pieces of the work, but they are a great fit for each other and for the type of work they do. Some companies would have turned them away because they wanted to work fluid, ever-changing part time schedules, but we found a synergy there that vastly outpaces what a single accountant could accomplish.

But you’re small!

I know, I know. We are a small company so we can bend the rules. However, if you have noticed, I used the example of one team/department, not the whole organization. And it’s certainly possible for one subset of employees to follow this model if their manager is willing to spend the time on it. I keep hammering culture fit and attitude. If you have two similarly qualified individuals, but one has enthusiasm and passion for the position, then harness that to make your team, department, and company better.

Have you ever managed a team and tried to fit the jobs to the people? Does your manager do it for you? 

Working for Women vs. Working for Men

working for women and men

Working for women or working for men? Seriously? Do people in this day and age really have a preference?

Apparently so. In the October 2011 issue of OfficePro magazine (hat tip to Lesa, our superstar admin at Pinnacle, for sharing with me!) there’s a short blurb about peoples’ preferences in working for a woman or man. The 2011 statistics are compared side-by-side with those of a similar 1953 survey. The results:

  • 1953-male 66, female 5%, none 29%
  • 2011-male 32, female 22%, none 46%

Interesting change over time. I’m intrigued that nearly half of the respondents really don’t care! Is it wrong to say you do have a preference?

I’ve worked for three female managers in my past three jobs. All were very, very different. The first one took a chance on me as a college student and was former military, but we got along very well (my first “real” job). The second one had a lot of industry experience, but I never really got much in the way of coaching or challenges, so I didn’t enjoy it very much. The third one was the youngest and taught me more in a week than the others did in several years. I’ve had male managers in some other positions, but I don’t know if I have ever had one that I really liked that much.

As a fun test, I checked Google’s keyword research tool to find out how many times people searched for “working for a woman” and “working for a man” in a one month span.

The results surprised me. 

  • 40,500 people wanted to know more about what it was like working for a man
  • 74000 people (~82% more!) wanted to find out about working with women

Let’s discuss!

This bring up two big questions I’d love to discuss. And no, this isn’t a science forum, it’s for your opinions, so bring it. :-)

  • Why do more people research working for a woman?
  • Do you have a preference?

Click here to comment on this post

Communicating with difficult team members

How do you communicate with team members with a chip on their shoulder? What do you do or say when they are stubborn, constantly interrupting, unapproachable, or unwilling to accept feedback? Well, for starters, you are not alone. Every workplace I’ve ever been has at least one of these people working there. Let’s look at a few ways to deal with the madness.

While there are multiple dynamics for this question (dealing with subordinates, peers, and managers), I’m going to stick solely with dealing with team members. 

A personal story

I had an, um, interesting experience at a previous employer with a coworker, and it was the closest I’ve ever come to quitting a job. Here’s my story:

The computers and network at this company were terrible. The internet connection, which I needed to complete my work, was unstable and usually worked about 25% of the time between the hours of 8:00am and 5:00pm. In order to get my work accomplished, I started showing up at work at 7:00am to get some stuff done before the network slowed to a crawl. Well, one morning I received an email about some training that I had been considering, so I opened up the links to the training website, leaving it running in the background so I could read it over my lunch hour.

During lunch, I was sitting there with my door closed when my coworker walked in and announced that she needed to use my computer because hers wasn’t working. I put my lunch down and asked if the internet connection was her issue, because mine wasn’t working either. She walked around behind my desk and pointed accusingly at me because the website was pulled up. Despite my attempt to explain that it was done hours earlier, she walked out and slammed the door.

I put it behind me. The woman had that reputation for being abrasive, and I didn’t need any further stress thanks to our shoddy technical resources.

The next day in our department meeting, our manager asked if anyone had anything to discuss. My coworker looked at her and said, “I think Ben’s not a team player. He was using his computer during lunch yesterday and wouldn’t let me get my work done.”

Of course I did my best, but I couldn’t keep from laughing. I explained the issue and how I had loaded the pages five hours before she came into my office demanding my computer, but I could tell it was a lost cause. The coworker had been working there for several years, and I knew my manager would believe her over me. I refused to give in, but when we left the meeting I felt humiliated by the accusations and betrayed by my manager. One thing was for sure, I was going to start looking for another job right away.

I wanted to tell my personal story as a warning. Everyone in the situation, the manager, coworker, and even me, could have handled the issue better. We all deserve some of the blame for it getting out of hand. Since that time I’ve done everything I can to be more aware of these situations and I try to follow the ideas I’ve listed below. It’s my own personal formula for communicating with difficult team members, so use at your own risk. :-)

How to deal with the issue

First, I would give them a chance to open up. Sit down and talk with them for a few minutes. The easiest advice to follow is that of the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. Here are a few high points (more listed here):

  • Don’t criticize, condemn or complain-Starting with any of those three statements will instantly close the person off to further discussion and could hamper future communication efforts.
  • Give honest and sincere appreciation-Tell them something they did well, and make it sincere. People can tell when you’re setting them up with false appreciation, so make it truthful and heartfelt.
  •  Smile-It might be hard, but it can make or break your discussion.
  • Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language-This is a sales technique, and it works. People enjoy hearing their own name and you can use it to keep them focused on the conversation and what you have to say.
  •  Talk in terms of the other person’s interests-This is one I’ve used to great success. Instead of asking them to make your work easier, show them how making a change will actually help them in the long run. Make it about them, not you.
  • The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it-If an argument begins, drop it. There will be another time and place to continue the discussion, but arguments have a way of getting us to say things that we can’t recover from.
  • Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.” Even if they have the dumbest idea and are completely incorrect, you need to be tactful in the handling of the issue. If not, they will (again) close off and become defensive instead of focusing on the problem and how it can be solved.
  • If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically-This can help teach others that it not only is okay to admit mistakes, it is preferred to the long, drawn-out battle of the wills over who is right and wrong.

So, once you’ve had the talk with the person and followed (as closely as you can) the suggestions above, you should hopefully be in a much better place to communicate with them in the future. Use these principles as a guide for future conversations and interactions and it’s hard to go wrong.

However, sometimes that just isn’t enough. There’s a continual clash between the two parties or even an irreconcilable difference that can’t be overlooked. What else can you do?

  • You can go to your manager for help. They might be able to offer insight or alternatives that aren’t immediately obvious to you.
  • You can do your best to continue your work without interacting with the person. This is less attractive because it can impact how decisions are made, and it’s not a 100% permanent solution.

And that’s about it, really. I’m a fan of handling the issue between you and the other team member if at all possible. However, sometimes there just isn’t a way to get the other person on board. That leaves you with the two options above as the end-of-the-line alternatives for resolution.

Thanks to Kathy Duffy for sending in this great question! Anyone else have an idea they’d like to share for communicating with difficult team members?

Uncovering manager development opportunities

manager trainingManagers need development like any other employee, but sometimes it is difficult to find out just what they want or need to learn. Click the link for part two in the series on how to develop managers.

Recently I've realized that one of the biggest needs we have as an organization is manager training. We have supervisors who have forgotten what it's like to be human, new managers with little or no experience in the role, and ones who keep screwing up even the most basic of leadership tenets.

In other words, we need it bad.

But when I brought up the idea of offering a survey to the managers to help figure out the development holes that need to be filled, I quickly realized the fallacy of that wide open approach.

  • Some managers would say they didn't need any training
  • Some managers would say they needed training in irrelevant/impractical areas
  • Some managers would immediately become defensive

So just saying “What do you want to do better?” isn't an option. But there's a better way to do ask the question and still get a solid response.

The question I usually ask when I am looking for stealth development opportunities is this: “What is your biggest frustration as a manager?”

That opens the door to all kinds of answers, and I've never met a single manager who didn't have a heartfelt response (or a dozen!) to that question. Those answers will help guide the process from there. For instance:

  • My biggest frustration is dealing with apathetic employees. This opens the door to providing some training on leadership skills and ways to motivate and inspire their people.
  • My biggest frustration is hiring poor performers. This is an opportunity to work with them on interviewing techniques to select the best people.
  • My biggest frustration is [insert problem here].

You get the picture. Instead of having to start from scratch, let them tell you what they need in terms of development and training. Then give it to them.

How do you identify manager training needs? More importantly, how do the managers respond?

Questions to Ask During an Investigation

Recently I attended a NASHRM workshop session on questions to ask during an investigation. One of the points the speaker hammered home was the importance of asking open-ended questions to get the most information out of the people you have to interview. She referenced this Saturday Night Live skit as a good reminder how not to look at questions to ask during an investigation.

I’ve seen people who are excellent at asking questions to steer the conversation where they want it to go. I’ve seen others tank and blow up an investigation with poorly constructed questions. It really is a skill you should cultivate as an HR pro!

Questions to ask during an investigation

Trying to find out who is telling the truth? Check out this free guide detailing signs that a person is lying.

Management, game changers and hire my friend

I am constantly amazed at the ability of people to write great content day in and day out. It might not always be the same person or the same blog where I find a gem, but it’s amazing that this stuff is out there free for us to enjoy. Okay, enough wonderment. Let’s dig into some great reading!

5 minutes, use it for more than just another task

The best way to use the last five minutes of every day? It’s a little reflection to make sure you are on the right track. Seriously, skip the last few minutes of “if I can just get one more thing accomplished” and slow down. Look at what you spent your day on and see if it was what you had planned. If it was, did you get as much done as you expected? If not, what threw you off track? Are you now behind on other projects? It’s all about taking some time to look at the big picture instead of being trapped in the day-to-day.

Busy=Happy?

Sometimes my manager stops and tells me she worries that I have too much on my plate. Well, the other day I was able to toss back the piece of research about busy employees being happier. It’s interesting that people with too little to do were the most unhappy. We sometimes think that people enjoy being lazy at work, but apparently there’s a balance in there somewhere between being slammed and having some time for other things (like the reflection activity mentioned above).

New managers? Check it

With a new set of managers growing into their responsibilities at work, I’m always looking for ideas on how to help them grow in their supervisory skills. This is a big picture overview of some of the common new manager pitfalls, and it’s well written.

Hire my friend?

I know a great HR pro who is in the Chicago area and is looking to get back to work. She has been blogging for a while and has some great insights into leading others. If you are looking for a talented professional with great experience, Sabrina might be the person for you. Find her on LinkedIn if you want to learn more about her skills.

Game changers

The last piece is a great one that I found on Fast Company. It’s all about questions game changers must ask. I have no idea if I can be considered someone of “game changer” status, but I love asking questions and challenging the status quo. The big ones for me:

  • Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas?
  • Have you figured out how your organization’s history can help to shape its future?
  • Do your people care more than the competition?
  • Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?

Check it out to see more and decide which ones you need to ask in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Anything special you’ve read recently? Share it in the comments.