Anyone can complain. And for the most part, they do.
But anyone can innovate, too.
Good managers strive to create the environment – and the opportunities – so that any employee in most any position can play the role of a problem-solving innovator. It’s far more doable than you might think.
Here are some thoughts on how to make that happen.
One of the best things that can happen to a manager is having the opportunity to hire someone smarter, more talented and more accomplished than you.
Now, why does managing talented people seem so terrifying?
Successful leaders know – or should know – that hiring talented people is like winning the lottery. You gain an employee whose abilities could be that proverbial high tide, raising all boats, including yours.
What could possibly be wrong with that?
The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do. – Keith Richards
Ha! So how is it, with all that dissent, that the Rolling Stones became one of the most popular and longest-surviving acts in rock music?
Disagreements are at the heart of destruction. But good people, and apparently even Keith Richards, know the value of handling disagreements favorably.
It’s true that people can disagree without being disagreeable.
With the intense turmoil on the national political landscape, this is a great time to review some of the most effective soft skills when it comes to handling real-life workplace disagreements.
But first, just a reminder that soft skills aren’t always about being soft.
Danes aren’t just happy at home. They love their jobs, too!
It a mostly different story in the U.S.
A Gallup poll found that 1 in 5 Americans feel emotionally disconnected from work and 70% said they were not reaching their full potential.
Home life? We won’t even get into that.
So, why do Danish workers love their jobs so much more than their American counterparts?
A study by software company BambooHR found that one in three people have quit a job within the first six months.
The firm surveyed 1,005 U.S. employees over the age of 24 to learn if they’d quit a job, why they quit, and what which onboarding efforts might have kept them around longer.
Here are the top five reasons U.S. workers gave for leaving new jobs:
You are probably familiar with the expression that people are only as good as the company they keep. Well, the reverse is also true. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.
And while the workplace has changed dramatically in the past 50 years, this hasn’t: Good employees don’t leave companies. Good employees leave bad managers.
And they probably leave them more than we care to admit, if results of one study are accurate. Here are some telling numbers on the gaps between employee expectations and reality:
Good managers are vigilant about what employees need – because it really is about making them better.
Now, consider this headline from a very good web site: Ten things employees want more than a raise …
Hmmm, I thought. Ten?
It’s hard to believe there are 10 things employees want more than a raise. I think most employees would put getting a raise right at or near the top of any list of wants. All employees want more money!
Why has the current, clunky version of the dreaded annual performance review stuck around so long?
You know the style: Facilitates team communication: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 (Circle one).
Manager to self: Um, how about 3? You can’t go wrong with average. It’s safer, right? Then, 3 it is.
The lack of meaningful performance reviews is so pervasive because companies are too lazy to change, or it’s expedient to have a paper trail when people need to be disciplined.
It’s said that advice is a lot like Castor oil – easy to give, harder to take.
And since that is so true, it means managers have their work cut out for them when it comes to giving good advice.
We all admire the wisdom of those who come to us for advice (ha ha). But that just doesn’t happen often enough. And therein lies the problem.
Good managers must give sound advice on a daily basis, and they can’t always wait until someone comes seeking it out.
Instead, it’s often dished out cold, sort of ready-or-not-here-it-comes.
There is a lot of advice available on how to give good advice. But you can take my advice that a lot of it just doesn’t apply in the real world of work.
