Communication

Think about every time we’ve heard “poor communication” as being the reason something wasn’t accomplished, coordinated, or a misunderstanding occurred because it just didn’t exist? Almost every problem in the workplace can be attributed to poor communication. A lot of lip service goes into being a good communicator, but it takes actual ACTION to cure communication problems. So how do we fix it?

Good communication means building rapport with EVERYONE. This means those that outrank you and certainly those who work for you. This can best be accomplished through open, direct interaction. Nothing beats face to face communication. Building relationships through email and other electronic media is one thing, but truly effective and lasting impressions are maintained through personal contact.

Good communication with your employees means taking the few minutes to give them your undivided attention and by LISTENING to them for Pete’s sake! Our workload is so great that the temptation to use this as an excuse not to give your people the courtesy of your full attention is great; I know. BE BETTER THAN THAT! If one of your folks come to you this is what you’ll do: face them directly, stop stealing glances at your email, don’t answer your phone (you have voicemail), put your paperwork down. Just listen. The five to ten minutes you invest in listening to them will 1) send the message that you care about your people (they’ll tell each other and will lead to extra effort), 2) you might learn something about your section, 3) you might be able to help them through a problem or give them guidance on something you assigned to them, etc, etc, etc.

The relatively small amount of time that you invest in listening will directly result in their increased productivity because they were able to get something off their chest or received needed guidance from you.

If you don’t have time at that moment, tell them so and IMMEDIATELY set a time when they can have your full attention. This is huge, believe me!

I could go on with this topic, but seriously, would you read it? I’m not sure I would, too much other stuff to do! There are many more aspects and techniques of communication as we all know. I look forward to your comments!

Z

Kipling

“For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack” - Rudyard Kipling

Extra Effort

People are in it for themselves. You must clearly understand this and never assume that, given a choice, your subordinates will choose to make you look good when they don't have to. HOWEVER, if they know that you truly care about their well-being, respect you, AND like you personally, they will break your way through EXTRA EFFORT as opportunities arise. I can hear the collective groan already! "It's not about being liked, it's about getting the job done!" I completely agree, but if you could have both why wouldn't you try for it? (We'll get more indepth with that aspect of management in future posts.) What kind of extra effort am I talking about? If your people have the choice of taking a little extra effort to do what is in your best interest or not, they will more often choose the course that could make you look better. This is especially the case when no one will know that they could've made the extra effort and didn't. Subordinates will put forth this extra effort if they have a genuine respect for you and personally like you. This absolutely does not mean that you kiss their ass; this never garners the respect that you deserve and or are entitled to. Respect comes easiest if it’s mutual (another topic we'll dive into later). It takes little or no effort to be nice. If you’re nice to everyone it pays dividends that you could never predict or appreciate if you’re an ass. If you look good it honors your people. They will share in the glory of your acheivement. Don’t ever take the credit though or you’re done in their eyes; goes back to the mutual respect thing and leads to a future post that covers personal acheivement. I look forward to your comments! Z

Purpose

Middle managers are in positions of great responsibility. They are typically tasked with executing the strategic visions of their “higher-ups,” have few resources to get the job done, and are the first in line for “restructuring.” Not cryin’ about it, it’s just the reality. In the military we call these mid-level managers Action Officers. Middle managers, military and civilian, deal conceptually with the same management challenges and only differ by the environment they work in. We’ve learned a lot in our careers so far and truly realize that there is more to learn – not in the book sense – but from our peers and those few bosses that actually give a crap about developing future leaders. This blog is about leadership through effective management. We’ll clearly discuss how to manage people in ways that maximize excellence: Excellence in the organization; excellence in your people; and excellence in you. We’re talking Major Management. Are you up for it? Z

Welcome to Major Management!

Who else wants to be a better manager? Major Management is the result of sixteen years of military management training and experience. Stand by.....We'll start sharing stories on 11 January 2010. Z