Past Five

Leaders and Management

I interview a dozen or so people every week and meet with probably two dozen more contacts, many who tell me the problems with the leadership of the company they are with or recently have been with. Leadership doesn't realize the clients want this.  Leadership doesn't understand the employees know better what the customer wants.  Leadership is trying the wrong strategy. Yada. Yada. Yada.

I am not saying these people are wrong. I don't even know the leadership of most of these companies. What I do know is how often people who are not that successful in their own careers judge those who are. Many leaders of business units or companies are lacking in areas...there is no doubt about it. However, the majority are strong in one, if not many, other areas which have allowed them to achieve a certain level of success. To have an employee who is unhappy and leaving after less than a year or two speak about how they know better than their manager is really part of the problem with the American worker.

There is a lack of respect for accomplishment. As in society, where American's don't value their elders, unlike many other cultures, there is a lack of respect for the knowledge and accomplishments of management and leaders in the business world. People are quick to throw stones yet long to venture out and lead a group of people and risk their employment and financial security to do so.

I was reading a blog posting on Cheezehead, where he posts a letter from an ex-employee of CareerBuilder. By posting it, and not stating otherwise, it read as though he supported the writer’s feelings. That CareerBuilder is more of a sales company than actually caring about their customers. Yet, the customers get great results from running ads on CareerBuilder. They say that newspapers are CareerBuilder’s saving grace. It's just a foolish post from an illogical thinker. Newspapers are shrinking. CareerBuilder is a brand unto itself than generates the majority of its revenue via its Web presence, not through its newspaper affiliations. Bottom line is that it is easy to criticize a growing business that just happens to have employed someone who wasn't successful.  Failed sales people always seem to have problems with sales cultures. It's a shame: the ability to appreciate is a much better quality than envy.

Manager?

If you were an employee, what would you want from your manager? Would you want someone to ask you how your child is doing after they knew they had surgery?  Would you want them to ask how you are doing after you put you mother in an assisted living facility? You might say, “No, I don't want them getting into my personal business.” O.K.  However, when you're on a train or in the car on your way home, and your boss says, “Hey, why don't you come in a bit late on Monday, so you can have breakfast with your kid who just got out of the hospital,” smile will come to your face, and you'll appreciate it.

Would you want your boss to pull a chair up to your desk and ask what you're working on, so they can give you their perspective and possibly alter your course by five degrees, saving you time and energy? You might say, “I don't want to be micromanaged....let me do my project, and you can critique it when I'm done!” However, when they say to you that they will take a piece of the project and do it for you, so you can get out of the office at a reasonable time…do you feel the same way, or do you feel as though you are really a part of the team?

Think about these things and maybe you'll either appreciate your manager more, or as a manager you'll act a little differently in working with your staff.

Managing Millennials

As the new generation of workers known as the Millennials enter the workforce, managers are getting nervous about how to handle this so-called "Entitlement Generation." Yet, this generation is brimming with potential, they just need a little guidance and the right management style.

I recently wrote a piece for American Management Association about how to manage Millennials. It came out a few days ago, and you can find it here. Millennials can add a lot of value to a company, you just need to know how to help them add that value.

First Business - Managing Millenials

A clip from my interview with Tom Hudson on First Business Morning News talking about how to manage the next generation of employees - Millennials.

To Understand Is To Truly Learn

Last week an employee came into my office as we had a conversation about her performance.  She has been with our firm for a while and was really a good person.  She had a lot of friends...sweet hearted...really cared about other people and cared about what others thought of her.  In fact, she may care too much about what others think of her, to the point where she doesn't always do what is right in order to further her career because she is worried about other's perception of her.

This employee had been doing such a strong job....working with clients...recruiting candidates...building relationships...she was doing everything anyone could have asked of an employee.  Even before her "anniversary", we reached out and gave a salary increase because this employee didn't have experience in our industry, she was paid a bit under market.  On several, occasions, she had stated to me and her managers that she wanted to be in our industry and advance her career with our company.  What more can anyone want to hear with a relatively new employee?!!

We gave her an increase and boy was she excited....literally, she cried!  I felt great (an employee truly appreciated a raise)...she felt great (an employer actually would give me a raise before my anniversary?!).

As the meeting ended---I gave her a line I picked up many years before:

"Do you know the problem with getting paid more money?"

"There's a problem with getting paid more money?"

"Our expectations of you rise...you need to do better and do more."

This story is important because it truly differentiates the perspective between employer and employee.  In a perfect world, everyone is producing at a 150% all the time and they feel appreciated 150% of the time (if there is really a way to achieve 50% more time!).

We don't live in that world.  The key to a terrific employee/employer relationship is Empathy...notice the capital E.  As an employee you have to understand what your manager is looking for...both for you and for their career.  They are in a management position, for the most part, because they want to grow and impact a company in a way larger than an individual production stand point.  They need their people to grasp the concepts of their positions and execute their directives.  If an employee can understand the pressure their manager is under (both self-imposed and from management)---then they may begin to realize where their manager's frustration comes from. 

The manager has to also have empathy for the employee to realize what its like to feel pressure when they don't understand the end game.  Someone is new to a department or a company...maybe they don't even have experience in this field....yet they are simply being told what to do...and really they need to have it explained as "how to do it".  Somewhere along the line...many managers have forgotten what it was like when they stepped into a new role and forget to take the time to educate, teach and develop employees.

My goal for this blog is to create a robust dialogue about the labor market, the employee and employer relationship and what it takes to be successful in today's business climate from a human capital standpoint.  Sometimes if what is perceived as "understood" is actually discussed, problems dissipate and greatness is achieved.  The goal of every manager should be to get their staff promoted and the goal of every employee should be to make their manager happy.  It's that simple.

Once you understand you can truly learn.