To be a good or great manager, a large part of the knowledge you need to know will not come from a school or conference. A professional recruiter from Vietnam Manpower has listed a few small advice with big impact to your management method.
1. The information is easy come, easy go, but self-esteem will last forever.
Facts and figures, charts, tables or results, ... are very useful in the interpretation of logic and reasons, but they will quickly be forgotten. In the other hand, if you make an employee feel stupid or lost the face in front of people, he will never let himself forget it.
One of my staff opined in a meeting, and I, by instinct, countered sarcastically (because I think that’s funny). Everybody laughed, except him.
From that day, our relationship has completely changed. I apologized right after that and one time later, but it happened already.
=> Using as twice as your time you use for numbers and logic to think about your employees’ feeling. It is easy to fix a mistake in information or data, but to get over the injuries you make for their self-esteem, even by accident or on purpose, is almost impossible.
2. A simple presentation will not create a wonderful idea.
The presentation is an amazing method to share the detail and complicated information, but not for a creative idea.
After listening to a long presentation about Sig Sigma, I interrupted and said, “Let’s share your idea”. Some people would say “Well, uhm, we will discuss the data, their technical analysis and conclusion…” In addition, most of other did not really mind about and I cannot blame them.
=> The creative idea could only lie in some small sentences, and if your subordinate has anything, let them speak up. All you need to do is listening carefully and absorbing it.
3. Only listening to the number instead of human will lead to a negative result.
Once, I changed the workshift between 2 groups (about 30 employees) because I know it will help to improve productivity by 10%. I also know that most of them hate that (they told me). But I am an employer and I understand the great leaders are willing to make the tough decisions and do whatever it takes to achieve the goal.
However, it turned out I was totally wrong. Of course, the rotating shift works. But it has ruined the family life of some staff members. Finally, I had to change this stupid thinking and moving people to previous spot. We have found another way to improve productivity.
=> Do not ignore the negative issues, instead, be frankly and openly about the dark side, especially when it has a big efficiency to employees. Showing your empathy that you understand that the best and worst things could happen and how it change your teamwork. Sometimes, the decision will not be based in the analysis or reasoning because it was made by human being. If your employee opposes you, ask them, but not only to protect your idea. Ask to learn. You know things that they don’t and in reverse – only when you listen to their thought.
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