Glimmerick

I have heard a similar idea from many sources, and it goes something like this:

When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, “We did it ourselves!”~One Minute Manager

While it seems so basic, it is vitally important when leading a group of people for various reasons:

1. People work harder on projects when it is their “own idea.” Just imagine if you are at work and were working on a project that you thought of– you are going to work harder than regularly to make it work.
2. Now imagine if an idea was shoved upon you, you are likely to work less on the project, and pay less attention to detail.
3. If part way through a project, they end up not liking the ideas, they have nobody else to blame but themselves. This will encourage them to perform better the next time around, since it was their idea

People take pride in their work. They will go the extra mile to make sure the project is completed to the max.

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This isn’t going to be a long tip. In fact, I had meant for tips from this book to more of a , “Bang, bang, bang” type.  Sometimes I just get writing and away we go…

The more someone knows about a subject, the more they realize how little they actually know! Just think about it in terms of learning how to use a computer for the first time. My mom, for instance, did not know that copy and paste existed as of 2007. As she is learning more and more about computers, she is finding out how much information there is to be learned. Subjects from programming and coding, to spyware and viruses. Every step you take, you can see ten more steps.

In relation to managing employees, people can become overwhelmed in projects and in common work tasks. They realize how much work and education it takes to complete a specific project. They may have the skills to learn new techniques, but lack motivation. The key is to give positive praise for concrete results. Each time they learn a new skill or complete a phase of a project, you should let them know if they did a good job. HRN Management provides some great examples of how to implement this technique. One of my favorites is on how to complement an employee. Instead of saying the obligatory, “Great work Bob”, trying saying something specific, “You’ve increased production by 15% while maintaining your error-free record for over 3 weeks. Great job!” This way, Bob knows you are actually noticing his hard work.

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When I am reading through “Self-help” books, it is often easy to “understand” a topic, yet not realize the significance of the objectives in the chapter. For example, in this book, I may be able to understand the different types of leadership, yet not realize the impact they have if used incorrectly. Here are a couple examples pulled from the text that I think are very helpful in understanding the topic.

Let’s say there is a guy, Scott, who runs a small business. Times are a little tough right now, and he is feeling stressed out about finishing a project before the deadline. If he doesn’t get this project successfully completed on time, then his business could take a large hit. Here are two different scenarios which could happen if he uses the wrong leadership style on the wrong people.

1. Scott has a 4-5 “experts” in his business. It is obvious that without these few individuals, his business would go belly up. He is feeling so stressed out about this deadline that he keeps bossing around the most committed employees, because without them on board, he won’t have a business. These employees become angered because they are being treated like newbies, yet they are the most experienced. They already know what to do!
2. Scott has 2-3 newer employees that are not yet trained for this project. Instead of directing them, he simply leaves them alone, he doesn’t want to “waste” time on them. Because Scott practically ignores these employees, they have no productivity and are just messing up labor costs. They don’t know what to do, and no one is telling them what to do.

Considering these two points, Scott’s office is not near peak productivity. He should have just delegated projects to those that were competent, and trained those that were not competent, yet were committed to the business. Now the experienced employees are not feeling very committed, yet are very competent. His newer employees may be committed, but that doesn’t matter since they don’t know how to do the projects yet.

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At first, I didn’t really understand what this book was trying to get at. I read, “There is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.” After taking some time out to reflect on this particular quote, I began to digest its true meaning. For example, in a specific office, there are most likely people at different “levels.” What I mean by this is there are many factors and situations which may or may not “separate” people:

• Level of enthusiasm
• Experience
• Self-starter or not
• Potential skills
• Self-Esteem

This list could go on and on, but I think I have made my point. Everyone knows that guy who can be given a project, and the next time you hear from him it will be done. Then there are those people that will only work if provoked by a cattle prod. Others are enthusiastic, but have little experience so they will ask a lot of questions. Additionally, there are many types of different situations as well. Meetings, group projects, individual reports, etc.  Trying to throw a “leadership” blanket over all of these people and situations is not going to be very effective. Being able to identify which people in which situations will respond best to a certain leadership style distinguishes a ordinary manager from a great manager.

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After reading the next section, the text stresses using different leadership styles that fit different people. There are four highlighted styles that may fit different subordinates…

Different Strokes for Different Folks:

1. Directing- This is exactly as it sounds. The manager or leader gives subordinates specific directions to carry out a certain task. There is close supervision. “It’s really one-way communication. You tell the person what,when,where,and how to do something.” Structure, Control, Supervise.
   
2. Coaching- There is still close supervision, but their is more communication between the two. The manager may ask the subordinate for suggestions, the manager may tell the subordinate why or how something is to be done. Support for progress is also more prominent. It is one step past directing.
3. Supporting- This method is low on directive actions, high on supportive actions. A manager will “listen to their suggestions and facilitate their interaction with others.” The key that separates this method from others is that managers will ask questions that “expand their thinking and encourage risk-taking.” Praise, Listen, Facilitate.
4. Delegating- This method is the most basic. “The leader turns over responsibility for decision making and problem solving to subordinates.” While this method may be easiest for managers in terms of workload, there must be a high level of trust between a worker and his manager. Top 10 Tips on How to Delegate over at Get Everything Done.

Identifying which method is best matched with each employee can be difficult, but the rewards for doing so will be far greater than the time it takes to just figure it out. For a cool vizual aid, check out these figures here.

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It seems like it has been a couple decades since I have wrote anything… you may be right. However, I am getting back on the horse and starting a new book. Its entitled Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership. It stresses the importance of recognizing your most important asset, people. Building a winning team can take some work, but once correctly done, the results can be invaluable.

The first tip I would like to go over is simply this:

Work Smarter, not harder.

An illustration the book uses is related to orginization within a company. Most people assume a pyramid, with the CEO on top with hourly workers on the bottom, often leaving the top managers and CEO to do a large portion of the work. This is especially true for smaller companies. When someone generally thinks of a CEO, one of two things pops into your head. There is the “never does anything” CEO that sits back and waits for someone to slip up, or often times in smaller businesses, there are the CEO’s that think that it is their job to do all the work. A good CEO or boss should be neither. The One Minute Manager (OMM) encourages CEO’s and bosses to instead “roll up their sleeves” and provide their employees with the proper tools and training they need to succeed. They win, you win.

If you have ever worked somewhere, it becomes obvious that there are employees that don’t really need much help to be productive, while others seem to need a cattle prod. Identifying and helping  those that need your help, and not interfering with those that don’t, can be beneficial in many scenarios.

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Please check out my guest post over at OrganizeIT, entitled 9 Tips for Becoming a Better Listener.

“Organize IT aims to help everyone, whether they be stressed workers, executives or just the average person getting on with their lives. Organize IT covers productivity, personal development and more, helping you to work smarter, create extra time for yourself and feel more relaxed in both your home and work life.”

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