Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager and now The One MInute Entrepreneur says the most important way that the workplace has changed over the years is this,”Your people want you to be their partner. They don’t want necessarily to be boss. They want you to think they bring something to the party, that you are on their side and you want them to succeed”. 

 Blanchard was interviewed by WayneTurmel at the Cranky Middle Manager site. You can hear it here http://cmm.thepodcastnetwork.com/. This is a great site and Wayne is a funny man.  

 

Blanchard pointed out that the old terminology for managers and employees is offensive to many employees. Titles like the head of the department and hired hands, superior and subordinate are demeaning. In fact my trusty dictionary defines subordinate as “of lower class or rank, inferior, submissive to authority”. A superior, on the other hand is defined as “one higher in quality or merit”.  Ouch!

 

So how can we give our employees those three things Blanchard mentioned? 

That you think they bring something to the party

In other words that you think they are valuable.  Don’t we all want to be valued? One way to reinforce their value is to thank them often; to tell them how much they contribute to the success of the team. Of course saying thank you is not only the number one motivator of employees, but the most often requested reward.  Check out the 21 No or Low Cost Rewards for Employees on the right side of the blog.  It’s fre*e.  

 

They want to know you are on their side

How often have you inquired into your employees satisfaction with the work, or asked about their family, or asked what one thing they need to be more effective or less overwhelmed? 

 

That you want them to succeed

We can demonstrate this by offering additional training and development, providing them the opportunity to do more interesting or more diverse work.  We might even suggest they apply for a promotion!  

 

Please give us your suggestions for ways to fulfill these three things.  Or tell us if you think it’s all bunk!  Is it different for different generations on your staff?  

 

If you would like to receive 21 Great Free or Low Cost  Ideas For Rewarding Your Employees just fill in your first name and email in the box on the right of this blog page.  I will email them to you at absolutely no charge to you.  Watch your inbox for an email.  To subscribe to this blog go to the right hand side of the blog under “Get New Post Updates” and enter your email address. 

 

 

Tags: Management Skills by Norma Smith Davis
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Many managers think they cannot measure attitude problems in their employees and therefore there is nothing that can be done. Wrong!  Once you have renamed those problems as professional behaviors, you can define them, measure them ,include them in job descriptions and even fire people with them!

 

You know the employees I mean. They may be technically capable and performing the specific skills that are measured on the job. They do the required amount of work; they make the required number of sales; they take the required number of calls. They may even be good with customers. But around the office or workplace they have attitude plus!  

 

They are the office nay-sayers, cynics and negativists. Or they complain about everything. They criticize every management initiative; they go to the union with every little issue. They are right out of Dilbert and they are driving you crazy. You are getting complaints from other employees who are affected and infected by their lousy attitude. 

 

Here are the steps to take to get a better handle on this issue and give yourself some solid   definitions to work with. 

 

Step One: 

 

Redefine the words attitude problem to professional behavior.  It’s perfectly reasonable 

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Tags: Communication, Management Skills, Performance Expectations by Norma Smith Davis
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