The Undermanagement Epidemic
By Bruce Tulgna

There has been so much talk about the engagement of workers: Are your employees "engaged" or not? But the key factor affecting employee engagement is the relationship employees have with their immediate supervisors. The question you should be asking is this: Are your MANAGERS "engaged" or not? (read more...)

Avoid Pitfalls When Developing 'Competencies' & Feedback System
By Joan Lloyd

Sales Manager to his employee: "You need to learn how to do relationship selling."
Employee's response: "What exactly does that mean?"
Executive to one of her managers: "You need to be more of a leader and less of a traditional manager."
Manager's response: "What exactly does that mean?" (read more...)

101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work: Tip #3
By John Putzier

WYSIWYG
Computer geeks and freaks know that this is an acronym for "What you see is what you get," meaning that what you see on the computer screen is what you will get when you print it out. In recruitment, I use this term to encourage you to look at the people working in or for your organization who are not directly employed by you, i.e., outside contractors, temps, building service workers, delivery people, couriers, and so on. (read more...)

The Undermanagement Epidemic (^ top)
By Bruce Tulgan

There has been so much talk about the engagement of workers: Are your employees "engaged" or not? But the key factor affecting employee engagement is the relationship employees have with their immediate supervisors. The question you should be asking is this: Are your MANAGERS "engaged" or not? From our ongoing research, we have become convinced that an "under-management epidemic" is afflicting the workplace. Too many of those in leadership positions ----at all levels---- are DISENGAGED from their direct reports on a day to day basis.

Why? Even while managers juggle their own tasks and responsibilities, supervisory spans of control have been steadily increasing. And that's on top of a growing list of administrative duties. Meanwhile, managers struggle to deal with the complex personal dynamics of an ever-changing workforce. And then there's all that red tape to cut through. These are some of the very real reasons why managers claim they don't have enough time or resources to provide direct reports with the regular support, direction, and coaching required in today's high-pressure workplace. But I think an even bigger reason is that a lot of managers lack the guts and the skill to be hands-on leaders. And they hide behind myriad excuses, as well as a fundamental misinterpretation of empowerment theory - conflating hands-on management with so-called "micromanagement."

What are the consequences? Hands-off managers....
(a) are under-informed about the details of their direct-reports' work; (b) cannot help direct-reports anticipate and solve problems before they occur; (c) don't help direct-reports identify and meet resource needs in advance; (d) fail to create clear expectations and standards; (e) are not in a position to set ambitious, but achievable, goals and deadlines; (f) miss routine opportunities to provide on-the-job training; (g) do not fairly and accurately monitor and measure performance; (h) are not in a position (and don't keep sufficient documentation) to tie rewards and detriments to measurable instances of employee performance; (i) soft-pedal authority until they let loose with outbursts of anger; (j) spend more time on low level tasks because they fail to delegate well; (k) attract and hire more mediocre and low performers; and (l) push away high performers.

Ultimately, the undermanagement epidemic is costing organizations greatly in productivity and quality. Lots of money is being left on the table every day because too many managers are not marshalling the time, the guts, and the skill to take charge and provide the day to day leadership necessary to drive performance and meet employees' needs. So... what are you going to do about it?

Avoid Pitfalls When Developing 'Competencies' & Feedback System (^ top)
By Joan Lloyd/span>

Sales Manager to his employee: "You need to learn how to do relationship selling."
Employee's response: "What exactly does that mean?"

Executive to one of her managers: "You need to be more of a leader and less of a traditional manager."
Manager's response: "What exactly does that mean?"

The world of work is changing so fast, it's difficult to communicate changing expectations quickly and clearly. This is especially true in areas such as sales skills, project management skills and leadership skills. The changes expected in these areas aren't easy to observe and measure and, up to now, most companies didn't attempt it. But with competition heating up and hierarchies melting down, the focus on performance and career development has become more intense. For this reason, "competencies" have become a new tool in the workplace.

Competencies are clearly spelled out expectations for a certain role (a leader) or a job (sales associate). They go far beyond a job description to create a template for "ideal" performance. This tool can then be used for things such as hiring, day-to-day coaching, training and development and performance reviews.

Once individuals know what the expected competencies are, the next question is, "How am I doing on them now?" Many organizations put the competencies into a format that can be used as a feedback instrument. Then they use it to gather "360 degree feedback". This refers to getting feedback from people all around you; your boss, your peers and your employees.

Gathering feedback from other colleagues has many advantages. In addition to his or her manager's feedback, it also reveals what peers and employees think. It is more comprehensive and less prone to individual bias, since there are multiple perspectives. For example, a manager, who may have thought that his boss was just being picky about his communication skills, will begin to take it seriously when everyone around him is also suggesting that he needs improvement in that area.

But there are pitfalls to avoid when setting up competencies and a feedback system like this. If it isn't done well, the damage control will overshadow any good that may have come from it. Here are some things to consider:

• Create a participatory process, where representatives help to establish the competencies and how they will be used. If this process is done "to them," rather than by giving them some control, there will be more resistance during implementation.
• Make the competencies as specific to the job as possible. The more generic they are the less effective they will be. In addition, it is key to word the competencies in behavioral language, so everyone knows what the competency means. For example, instead of "Effective sales skills," include some behaviors, such as, "Builds trust through accountability, honesty and follow-though," or "Looks for additional ways to help clients solve their business problem before, during and after the sale," or "Makes realistic commitments for themselves and the team, and does what it takes to keep those commitments."
• Use the feedback for coaching and development rather than a for a performance review or to weed out ineffective managers. Although it can eventually be folded into the performance review process, it creates less defensiveness if people have a chance to work on their skill gaps before they are evaluated on them. It isn't fair to surprise employees with a performance review on expectations they haven't seen before.
• No matter how open the culture is, people are reluctant to be honest unless they can give feedback anonymously. Later, if managers are genuinely willing to discuss their feedback openly, individuals will come forward with their personal feedback and advice. Initially, each manager should collect data from a minimum of three or more peers and three or more employees so that confidentiality is preserved.
• Time and trouble can be avoided by using an experienced third party to guide the group and to independently gather and tabulate the feedback for each manager. When we help organizations with this process, we find that people are more willing to be honest when they know that a neutral party is doing the tabulation and individual feedback reports.
• Give the data and any summary report back to the manager, not to their boss. Hold managers accountable for creating an action plan that they will co-develop with their manager. The plan should include how they plan to leverage their top strengths and how they plan to improve their weaker areas. The plan should also include how the boss can help with that development.
• An overall report on the organization's strengths and development needs can be used to determine what the training priorities are, what should be included in a core curriculum and where training dollars should be spent.
• An independent third party can provide help to a manager who is struggling with his/her feedback and what to do about it. If they are unfavorably surprised by what their peers or employees think, they will probably appreciate guidance in how to approach their colleagues for more clarity.
• Managers should meet with their manager at least once a year to go over their action plan and discuss progress. The best career development happens on the job, so it's important that manager play an active role by coaching their employee, giving them new and challenging assignments that will play to their strengths and develop weaker areas.

101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work: Tip #3 (^ top)
By John Putzier

WYSIWYG
Computer geeks and freaks know that this is an acronym for "What you see is what you get," meaning that what you see on the computer screen is what you will get when you print it out.

In recruitment, I use this term to encourage you to look at the people working in or for your organization who are not directly employed by you, i.e., outside contractors, temps, building service workers, delivery people, couriers, and so on. Which ones are always there, always on time, always working hard, have a pleasant personality, etc? What you see is what you get! Offer them a job working for you.

Similar in concept to last week's Idea #2 (All the Wrong Places), this idea allows you to actually see the person in action. Try before you buy! Although temporary service firms frown upon having their best people stolen, unless you have a contract that strictly prohibits it (usually it is allowed in exchange for a fee), the days of indentured servitude are over. No one owns these workers, so go get 'em!

They could be contract consultants working on a special project. They could be maintenance workers who are hired by your building or landlord. They could be window washers. They could be repairmen (or women) from one of the utility companies. They could be delivery people (everything from express packages to pizza). They could work for cleaning services.

The bottom line is, to look at every single person in or around your building and watch him or her work. If you like what you see, then you'll also like what you get. WYSIWYG!

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