Five tips for reducing drama on your team

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In my previous post, I described what I call the “ineffective-you-doing-OK-swing-by.”  It is ineffective in that it indicates that the manager is hoping to take a short cut in solving a problem, and it doesn’t solve the problem.  Additionally, it trains your employees to set up dramas to get your attention.  It’s a leading indicator that you are managing from a deficit.

In today’s post, I’ll discuss five ways to reduce and avoid having to rely on such swing-bys.

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What it really means when a manager swings by and asks, “You doing OK?”

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In my previous post, I introduced the concept of “managing from a deficit.”  In today’s post, I discuss a common scenario of when a manager  “manages from a deficit”, and tries a short cut to get out of it.  This I call the “ineffective-you-doing-OK-swing-by.”

If you are a manager, you want to be able to take the temperature of how the members of your team are doing.   Knowing who is doing well and who needs support is an important skill.  The basic premise that many managers operate under is that they don’t pay attention to the ones who are doing well, and the ones who are struggling need some “moral support.”

To address those times when someone is need of support or it is suspected that something is wrong, it is frequently observed that managers perform what I call the “ineffective-you-doing-OK-swing-by.”

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The manager who yells is managing from a deficit

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Many managers yell at their employees.  Some managers feel the need to shout at the employees to get them to start working work or work harderPerhaps you’ve heard managers repeat, “Just get it done!” Here are some similar behaviors:  Managers getting angry, barking, being impatient, and announcing their worry or panic over a situation. 

This means that the manager is losing (or has lost) effectiveness at being a manager.  It is a reflection that the team isn’t behind the manager, and that the manager keeps returning to the same, ineffective methods for getting the team to perform (yelling, admonition). 

If you are a manager doing this, you are “managing from a deficit.”  You are behind the game, and you are losing.  What you are doing isn’t working, and you are not getting the results or performance you need from your team.  You need to turn this around, but there are no shortcuts.  In fact, that’s what got you into this hole in the first place.  Read more

Why asking for loyalty discourages high performers

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Many managers value loyalty in their employees, and even state it up-front as something that they expect.  In my previous post, I discussed some of the dangers that asking for loyalty can create.  In today’s post, I’d like to focus on what asking for loyalty does to high performers.  In this scenario, the new manager declares, “I value loyalty” to their team.

If the manager announces this to the team, here is what the high performers (those who align themselves to the org strategy, create quality work output, and add value to the organization) are likely to interpret this:

Oh brother, this has nothing to do with work quality.

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Loyalty is a lagging indicator, so don’t ask for loyalty and expect it

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If you are a manager, you may value loyalty in your employees.  You may even express this in your presentation to your employees as part of your values.  However, if you ask for loyalty, then you are attempting a short cut.  Loyalty is a lagging indicator that you can obtain only several years down the road.  If you treat it like a leading indicator by asking for it initially, then you probably have lost some loyalty in your employees, defeating the purpose.  Here’s how it works: Read more

Tenets of Management Design: Managing is a functional skill

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In this post, I begin to explore the tenets of the new field I advocate called Management Design.  Management Design is a response to the bad, or lazy, existing design (cataloged here) that currently describes how managers are developed or found.  These existing designs demonstrate how people managers are often created by accident, rather than by design.  To improve this, I’m proposing design tenets and here’s the first tenet of management design: Treat people and team management as a functional skill.  Read more