Good people love to work for good managers, and their work
shows it. Not-so-good people may or may not go for good management, but it is
their best hope of support for improvement.
Management in the workplace is not an abstract. Its presence
in any situation is completely visible, because it is a pattern of actions.
There are things managers do, and as they do those things you see what’s going
on – and you can evaluate it.
When managerial behavior is positive for the motivation of
those in the manager’s group, it is good management. It’s not the whole skill
set, because those managers also typically have organizational issues to deal
with, as well as their own blizzard of job-related problems, distractions and
demands.
Prime Challenge, Prime Opportunity
In fact, the complexity of the management position makes
competent time management that much more important for managers. They can’t
afford to let any part of the work slip away from them, so they have to be
organized. They must be able to respond smoothly and effectively to multiple
colliding priorities.
It’s not an easy way of life – and when people management is
part of it, that is the prime challenge and opportunity. People management is
time-intensive. You can’t do it well on the fly. It has a number of constantly moving
parts and can be maddeningly unpredictable. It often demands concentrated
attention and tender loving care at just the wrong times.
Yet, the manager can undo years of careful
relationship-building by careless slips. No matter what, you must carefully
control any surface hint of irritation, impatience or contempt – however richly
appropriate it might be. This goes far beyond the ancient admonition, “Never
let them see you sweat.”
You can’t expect a member of your group to be understanding
of your perfectly natural reaction to unfair or unprofessional conduct. They
don’t take responsibility for the cause – they just judge you. The game is
rigged, and you lose. Welcome to life in the decision-maker/role-model world.
How Do They?
Because of all that, the really good people manager must
supplement top-drawer time management with very strong personal discipline.
You train yourself to avoid negative emotion, or never to show it.
How do the good ones do that time-management/mood-management
stuff?
Well, there’s no substitute for experience, especially in
something as nuanced and demanding as leadership. Books, videos, courses and
mentoring advice all are valuable, but you can’t do this well without devoting
yourself to it, in the real situation, for some time.
A cautionary note about experience: You can have 30 years of
experience and still be terrible at what you do. You must have good
experience. Just doing it, in a personal vacuum, doesn’t do it. There must be a
conscious ongoing effort, not a particularly easy one.
It calls for engaging discomfort, taking chances, trying to do it right, hitting
the potholes, acknowledging shortfalls and tuning up the next attempt. Studying
up in advance, and having a mentor during and after, are important. You need to
know what to learn, and devote yourself to learning it.
Management Priority One: The Process
The fundamental requirement for the manager is to establish
and maintain the process in which the work is done. Good managers devise processes
that work. They make sure they understand the desired outcome, the
requirements, the constraints, the environment, the resources and the needs of
the staff members. The workers must be consulted, and the process must reflect
their practical wisdom as well as the expectations of the organization’s decision-makers.
A process never remains current without tending, and it is up
to the manager to stay in touch with how it’s working, and adjust it to meet
changing needs. Ineffective processes and poor work environments are huge
disincentives to working people. The good manager detects and immediately deals
with process problems, especially the human ones, but also any others.
This manager makes decisions, the right ones, and makes them
right away. No avoidance, and no passing of the buck.
This manager assertively takes responsibility, makes process
management and problem solving top priorities, becoming a hero in his/her
workplace. Makes this the kind of place where people want to work. Satisfaction
of that desire is the most basic motivator of all.
Good workers appreciate the effort they see their manager
making to remove impediments as they carry out their assignments. Besides
facilitating better results in ways they cannot, it demonstrates to them that
the boss cares. They interpret that, correctly, as showing respect.
Respect
Respect. That is the prime currency of workplace excellence,
the most highly prized form of payment. It tells the recipient what he or she
most wants to hear – that you are recognized as a person of high value here. In
the end, absolutely nothing engenders deeper and stronger appreciation – and
motivation -- than the showing of respect.
Good managers know that, and they know it so intimately that
they have perfected the vehicle of respect, a fine-tuned judgment
as to how to show respect, and when and in the proper measure.
You know when you’re sincerely respected. You are listened to with
attention. There is response and demonstration of acceptance. Subsequent actions by senior listeners
display your earmarks. They tell people about you.
Management of relationships with respect is closely linked
to leadership, the ability to see further ahead and higher up – and to persuade
others to raise their own eyes, then strive to meet greater expectations.
It all must be capped, and held together, by consistency and
follow-through. Nothing is worse than the disappointment of hopes created, then
crushed. The motivational manager is totally dependable, absolutely
trustworthy. This person makes no promises that aren’t kept.
Who Motivates?
Time management.
Personal discipline. Self-honesty. Persistence. Process Management.
Problem Solving. Decision making. Responsibility. Respect. Listening.
Follow-through.
That’s the catalogue of managerial behaviors that “motivate”
people in the workplace. Oh, and last of all, what really happens in good management: defining for good people the rewards of motivated performance.
Good people motivate themselves. Good managers do all the
things that give that motivation somewhere worthwhile to go.
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