I had an interesting email from a reader recently, asking if there was something wrong with her!

She said she worked in a positive environment, where she was often getting positive reinforcement for what she was doing. Her boss was continuously praising her for being on time with her attendance or project inputs or meeting minutes. Yet, this lady didn’t feel as great as she thought she should. Something she said in her email hit home to me: “I feel that I am being manipulated, as if my manager had been on a course that told him to keep on praising people and this would motivate everyone. But I don’t feel good when he does it all the time. Am I wrong to feel this way, Sean?”

Interesting, eh? This lady was in a positive environment, but not feeling positive. Why?

Well, it may have something to do with our third myth of management; the fact that positive reinforcement practices often fail because they are dealing with behaviours, not performance optimisation.

Behaviour modification was popularised by psychologist B.F. Skinner in the 1930′s. His basic ideas revolved around the facts that when employees received positive reinforcement, they are more likely to repeat the behaviour that gained the praise in the first place. And negative reinforcement would force the employee to engage in that particular behaviour less often.

However, this often feels fake and manipulative. The lady quoted above could subconsciously see that the praise wasn’t really genuine. If it was, she would have accepted it for what it was. Positive reinforcement often affects the employee’s extrinsic motivation, but rarely their intrinsic motivation.

Coming to work on time because you know that if you don’t you will be reprimanded is an example of extrinsic motivation – you are motivated to do something because of what will result at the end of it.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within and is based on a personally-held belief.

Extrinsic motivation is compliance-based; intrinsic motivation is interest-based. Positive reinforcement systems encourage and improve extrinsic motivation, but not intrinsic.

As a manager, you need to find ways to create environments that improve people’s intrinsic motivation, things that will drive them from the inside, so their passion, drive, ingenuity, creativity and energy are tapped into. Manipulating by continuous praise won’t accomplish this.

Remember to mix the two, and you should get better results.

Thanks again

Sean

How many books do you think have been published on management skills? A quick search on any bookseller’s site will tell you it would take a long time to get through the ones published this year, let alone all the tomes that have built the foundations for management today.

Why so many? Surely there must be a limit to how many books someone needs to carry out their job, mustn’t there?

Well, the truth is, people will always see things from different perspectives, and even though much that is written has been written before, there will always be something that can be said differently. But how much of what is written is actually true, accurate, correct? How much of it is myth?

In this series, I’m looking at some of the myths of management and why they exist. Remember, there are just a few managerial habits that will have the biggest impact on individual performance. So let’s kick off with a myth that has perpetuated throughout time and needs to be addressed:

• People don’t like to be managed

Well, I suppose to a certain degree this could be a justified statement, but only because they see management as a control mechanism. Micromanagement can cause frustration and pressure on their teams. But most employees want and expect their managers to display leadership, good planning skills, ensure their team is working on the right tasks in the right way, and is driving change in the right direction.

Employees would like to know if they are performing well, whether their work is satisfactory. They want to know when they go wrong, and they want managers to deal with people who are not pulling their weight.

Actually, most employees tell us they lack respect for those managers who don’t manage.

So, you need to manage in a way that people want. They don’t want to be managed in a controlled, directive or autocratic way, but in a way that creates the atmosphere and environment for them to thrive and grow. Manage in the way they see is necessary for that growth.

Next, we’ll take a look at another myth, this time surrounding Performance Management.

Thanks again

Sean

If your boss has different ideas to you, it can be difficult to get on their wavelength and identify how to add value to their management. How can you work with the boss and ensure you both are singing from the same songsheet?

Try these tips and see if they work for you:

* Agree on mutual expectations, responsibilities, standards of performance and success measurements. By doing this, you lay the foundation for all future dealings with them.

* Ask them to share their own goals and objectives. This way, you can offer help in them achieving what they want within the organisation, hence making you someone of necessity to them.

* Determine how you can help the most. Which areas that you have skills in would make their jobs easier?

* Deliver results in the way your manager wants them. Keep them informed at all times on how progress is going.

* Be dependable. If you make a promise, please keep it. Your boss doesn’t want to be made to look a fool if they’ve promised and you don’t deliver.

* Be open and receptive to feedback and advice. Don’t always look at defending yourself; it may be that they are right and you are wrong on this occasion.

* Anticipate and be proactive with problems on a timely basis. You don’t want it turning into a crisis before you let you manager know.

* Don’t waste your manager’s time. If it’s trivial, leave it till an appropriate time. If it’s important, let them know. But don’t become known for being a time-waster.

* Identify how your manager wants information given to them. Are they big-picture thinkers or do they sweat the small stuff? Identify this and give them information in the way they need it.

By understanding how your manager acts and reacts, you develop your relationship with them and identify the pressures they face. You need to become the kind of person your manager respects and can trust.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

This is an interesting dilemma because, on the face of it, you have been promoted to a new management position and you are delighted with all the excitement and nervousness that a new position like this brings you.

On the other hand, you are concerned with how your ex-peers with whom you worked so well in the past will view you. Will there be jealousies because of the new position? How should you interact and communicate with them, now that you have further responsibilities? Your ex-peers may expect you to be the same as you were before, only now you have the power to fix things that you all were complaining about as a team. So when are you going to start to fix them?

Before, you were saying ‘Why don’t they…? or ‘If only they would…’. Now, of course, you are one of the general crowd they called ‘they’!

Although it might be tempting to jump in and fix everything, hold back a bit until you can see what it all looks like from the viewpoint that ‘they’ have got.

Can you still be a friend with your old team-mates? I believe you can, only there are now a few more boundaries around you because of your increased responsibilities. Firstly, have a start-up team meeting with your ‘new’ team. Work on what values you as a team are now going to work to. Resist the temptation to try to prove you’re the ‘boss’. They won’t value your contribution if you start ‘lording it over them’, as it were.

Openly discuss your new role with them. Agree how you will communicate with them. Let them know that you are responsible for their performance and discipline, so agree how you will work together to get the results the team needs in order to still maintain an impact within the business. Discuss what changes you anticipate bringing in, including how you will interact with them.If you feel you can still be friends, discuss the boundaries that will obviously have to be set. You don’t want a situation where your discipline and performance management is affected by your close friendship.

Make sure all your ex-peers understand the difference between your friend-role and your manager-role. Ensure they understand the reasons why you will have to talk about performance issues, especially if discipline is involved. You must be seen as being fair and unbiased. Your manager will not look upon it kindly if your results start to suffer because you have favoured some of your friends and their performance is not good enough.

It is obviously a challenge that you want to deal with professionally. And there’s no reason why you can’t succeed in your new role if you have the backing of your old team-mates.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

I’m fascinated by different styles that managers choose to adopt for various situations. Sometimes they will choose to be directive and take their mood out on team members; other times they will be jovial, have fun, delegate well and create a good atmosphere.

People often say that, if there was one skill they would like their manager to show more of, it would be consistency.

I read an interesting quote by Manfred Kets de Vries, of INSEAD, who stated:

“The best managers have the ability to go beyond narrow definitions of what management should be. They don’t fall into a pigeon-hole. Instead, they have the ability to excite people to achieve goals. They lead by example and are extremely resistant to stress. Leaders like Branson are very aware fo their failings and they find good people who can fill these areas”

So what style would you like to consistently choose? Remember that style IS a choice…you are not born that way, and your conditioning can be over-ridden by your conscious awareness.

Most managers do not know what their weaknesses really are. Because their staff rarely share their REAL feelings with their boss, they think everything is ok and never hear the back-biting and sniding comments when they are out of earshot.

Consistency is the main skill that many managers fail to adopt. One person said on one of our courses that he never knows what mood his boss is going to be in when he comes in. Everyone in his departments holds their breath when they hear his footsteps in the morning. If he says hello to everyone, they breathe a sigh and know it’s not going to be a too-bad day. If he storms in and goes straight into his office without saying a word, they all know they will be walking on eggshells all day. He stated that the morale is through the floor and everyone spends most of their day when not working surfing the job websites.

What a dreadfully disheartening situation to be in. This person stated that if the boss would only be consistent, they could deal with it. But his style is so haphazard that they don’t know what to do.

As a manager, you need to identify the best way to get the best out of your team. Just because no-one says anything to you about their mood or how they feel about your style, doesn’t mean everything is ok. Silence often speaks louder than shouted words.

Remember, your role as a manager is to “adapt, modify, adjust and rearrange the complex task and function interfaces that often slip out of alignment” (Leonard Sayles).

If you don’t know what these slippages are, you are in trouble. Keep close to your team, open the lines of communication and, above all, be consistent in your approach to everything you do. That way, you have a fighting chance of getting everyone to communicate back.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”