I ran across this site recently and had to laugh. It is a common theme that I’ll get a call because I’m the “computer guy” in the family. With Teach Parents Tech you have the option of sending video links directly to those who need assistance. That allows you to indirectly teach your parents/grandparents/in laws/whoever how to do computer tasks from simple (changing your computer’s clock) to advanced (changing your email address).
Why can’t we do that?
Then I started thinking about other applications. What if you could do the same for your supervisors? What if there was a neat way like this to teach them the basic principles of good management? Would you use the tool?
For instance, a new supervisor runs into a situation (giving feedback on poor performance, motivating employees in a slump, giving a presentation to senior management, etc.). They don’t have someone available to ask for help, so they pop onto the web and find the video that corresponds with that particular situation.
No, it’s not a perfect substitute for an in-person chat with someone who already knows how to do the task, but it’s better than going into the situation blind-folded. Just a little bit of preparation could go a long way in most instances.
A few situations I think would be neat to cover:
- How to give accurate, honest feedback
- Why documentation is essential
- The wide world of terminations
- Harassment, discrimination, and lawsuits, o my!
- Safety and security in the workplace
- How to train someone
- Coaching and mentoring your staff
- Building and managing teams
- Developing and pursuing a vision
- And tons more!
What do you think? Are there other scenarios that you think supervisors run into on a daily basis that they could use some training on?
This is a great idea! One thing I’ve developed is a Personal Board of Directors. If I need to understand something, I have an “expert” I can call. I had a computer problem before Christmas and my IT “expert” fixed it for me. I paid his costs and revised his resume in return since I’m his HR “expert.”
Is this your next project – a DVD Management Course? Awesome!
I love the concept, but the idea that management can be gleaned from information that lacks context is unfortunately incorrect. For instance– one employee might need encouragement to correct poor performance, another might need a very specific set of objectives with time and outcome, and a third might need a proverbial kick in the butt. This is why management is both an art and a science. I DO think that there could be a good Artificial Intelligence application to assist in the management people, whereby individuals could enter personality type, tenure, level of performance, quality of relationship, whether the desired outcome is improvement or seperation, etc. Whoever puts that together will surely be the next tech billionaire!