What Everyone Ought To Know About Being Overqualified
June 17, 2008
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David W Richards
You might be overqualified if either
1.you feel that you are being in the right path of career yet you are still positioned in a very low level of job. In this case, you still have to work harder to get promoted. It depends on your commitment to the path.
or
2.you can’t make enough money out of your current job and it is not something you have leant back at school yet you love every bit of all your responsibilities.
Which one are you?
Whichever you are, here are some tips that you can try to be successful:
If you like the job you are doing, you must put all your effort. Be the best in the business. That way, even if now you are making small money, next, this will change for people are looking for you to get some jobs done.
If you see your job now as one of the many steps you have to climb to get on the top of your career, you’d better start to like it. If you like it, you must be doing a great job, and who knows, the steps might cut down to half and your road to success is getting shorter.
Let’s say you are doing great at the job out of being overqualified. Never ever show it off. Don’t let colleagues leave you out of your snobbishness. They can be part of your way to success.
Take others’ critics as something to make you better in completing your tasks, yet don’t make them a burden.
Keep learning and improve yourself.
Remember that success is not measured from the job you are doing, yet from the process that you have to go through and how well you manage to bear it. And, just be thankful that you at least have a job, now.
About the Author
David W Richards is a happy father of two kids. He is interested in self-emprovement and in other fields such as Australia and inkjet, and ink.
Teach, Coach And Lead With Integrity
June 16, 2008
By: Louis Jordan
There is no one-thing that makes a sales leader great. But, there is definitely one thing that can make them poor - an inability to coach and develop their employees.
Tell a salesperson to go sell and he will struggle for a day, teach him how to sell and he will sell for life. Ok, so that is not exactly how the quote goes, but you get my point.
At one time sales management started and finished with "this is your desk, this is your phone, this is the yellow pages, go get 'em". This may have worked many years ago, but today customers are more sophisticated, markets are more competitive and expectations for ramping-up are shorter.
Simply telling your employees what to do is as redundant a form of leadership as "always be closing - and -
The essence of great coaching, in my opinion, is being able to get each member of your team to understand what does and does not work and most importantly, the reasons why something does and does not work. With a team of ten sales people you may have to find ten different illustrations, descriptions or analogies to see all ten light-bulbs go off.
To illustrate this point take a moment to think about the most successful coaches/managers in professional or College sports. How many of them were great athletes themselves? Conversely, how many average, but smart, or less than average players became great coaches/managers?
From Wooden to Lombardi, to Auerbach, to Bryant, to Shula, to Walsh….. And the list goes on. Those who are regarded as some of the greatest coaches/managers of all time had one thing in common - They were able to get every member of the team to understand what had to be done, why it had to be done and how to do it. - they were all great communicators.
Athletes and sales people who have been blessed with a natural ability to perform their tasks will often lead their peers in performance, and just as often struggle when given a chance to coach others. It is difficult to put into words what comes naturally. I have had dozens of conversations with managers who were great "natural" sales people. Often, the more natural talent they posses the more frustrated they become when their reps just "did not get it". Conversely, the sales people get frustrated that their manager can not explain how to get it done.
Your goal is to unlock understanding in each member of the team. Find a way to get your employees to understand why something works the way it does and why something else does not work. It is only after you have taught them how to perform a task that they can have any chance of repeating it on a regular basis.
Go to any driving range and you will see hackers whacking away at golf balls with their over-sized drivers. Nine out of ten drives will slice right or hook left, one out of ten will
go straight and look like a great shot. The secret is getting them to understand why the ball went long and straight, because without that knowledge there is not way they can repeat it.
Your job as a sales coach is to get your team to understand why that "perfect" telemarketing call, foot canvass, appointment, presentation, proposal or sale was perfect so they can give themselves a chance of repeating it, every time.
Good luck, and enjoy the process.
Our goal is to provide honest recommendations on all aspects of sales and leadership, including: interviewing, coaching, cold calling, telemarketing, attending appointments, vertical sales, recruiting, territory management and anything else our readers or contributors suggest. We would be honored to have you visit our site. http://www.integrity-sales-leadership.com
The Here & Now - Managing work more effectively
June 16, 2008
By: Andrew Brown
In today’s world, we all move at nearly supersonic speed. Between meetings, proposals, sales, budgets, and an ever growing list of tasks and responsibilities, business owners must also plan for the future, devise growth strategies, and create forecasts. The effects of present and future stresses can engender strong overwhelm.
Thinking about the future and creating objectives is important, no question. But it can be easy to get too future-oriented and neglect the here and now. By learning how to get the today’s tasks under better control, you can define the risks and achievements of tomorrow more effectively.
There are only so many hours in the day, and you need to make best use of those hours. Improving your time management skills will improve efficiencies for today’s issues as well as create time for organizing and planning for the future.
What activities currently consume most of your time? If you don’t know the answer, keep a real-time task journal. Write down each activity in your day, what time you do them, and how much time each took. After doing this for a few days or a week, analyze how you used your hours. What took most of your time? What had you intended to do but didn’t get around to?
When you know where the majority your time is spent and what’s not getting done, you can analyze your effectiveness and refocus as needed to realign your workflow and habits. Identify time-wasting tasks and work on eliminating them. Note other tasks that can be leveraged by delegating or hiring help. Strive to make your days full of tasks that you yourself must do and that directly impact productivity and business growth.
Part of every day should include tasks that impact the future. Do you have items on your daily to-do list that are part of future plans? If not, fix this by:
Making an inventory of all your commitments, to yourself and to others, near term and long term.
Determining what the best outcome looks like for each commitment.
Working backwards, figuring out the steps from each outcome to where you are today.
Making a list of actions that need to be taken now to move things forward.
Putting that list in time by assigning each action and its associated tasks deadlines and "to do" days.
Putting these into your personal schedule.
Extend time efficiencies by considering your employees. Surrounding yourself with the right team members is crucial to the success of your business. These individuals also need to have mastery of time management so that current items can be tackled along with future planning. You may need to train your staff, or, in some cases, you may need to replace people in key positions. The goal is to have the entire company working as one, everyone focusing on achievements for the here and now but still understanding the long-term objectives of the organization.
Andrew Brown and Small Business Guru provide Coaching, Inspiration and Practical Advice for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs. Subscribe to the free, weekly newsletter at www.small-business-guru.com
How To Improve Call Center Effectiveness
June 13, 2008
One thing that customer service call centers dread is customer backlash and this is something that is becoming all too common for call centers all over the world. Disgruntled customers choose to do business with a rival instead of you because you could not offer them the after-sales service that you promised. When customers consider their trust to be breached their reactions include a poor perception of your company, reduced likelihood of doing business with your company, and almost no chance of recommending your company to a friend.
Customer call centers invite trouble when they deviate from the maxim that an existing customer who has paid good money deserves respect; ironically most businesses are aware that it's easier to retain a customer than go for a new one.
Poor customer perception of business call centers is not industry-specific. Its spread across industries covering businesses of all sizes. Too often, businesses lose sight of customer requirements and in an effort to improve operational efficiencies they cut corners and try to reduce costs. This affects call center performance.
If you are running a call center, you should know where the trouble lies; here are some of the issues that are pet customer peeves
Having to make more than one call and then talking to more than one customer representative
Having to stay on hold, deal with IVRs and a menu that is anything but easy to use.
The absence of dedicated executives, so that each call is a new beginning where the problem has to be explained afresh.
Poorly trained executives who more often than not escalate the issue to their seniors while you are put on hold.
If you wish to improve your customer's experience when interacting with your call center, here are a few things that you need to understand -
Time and effort devoted to offering customer service should not be viewed as an avoidable cost, also your call center is not a cost center it is a profit center which if run properly will get you a very quick ROI on what you put into it. It also means that you have to select your call center
A successfully closed issue helps a great deal in retaining a customer.
Only trained staff can deliver consistent results so focus on training the staff, quality control. Attrition can prove to be a drain on your resources so work on retaining the experienced and talented staff.
Remember there are a lot of intangibles and trifles that lead to improved customer call center performance which in turn enables you to achieve sales conversions. Empathize with your customer and you will be handsomely rewarded for it. Do not forget that it also means that you have to carefully select your call center
Piyush Bakshi is a full-time content provider working with Gate58 which owns http://www.vendordemo.com
How to Prioritize: Helping You Stay on Task
June 12, 2008
By: Ronnie Nijmeh
If you have a lot of tasks at hand, you may find it very hard to stay focused on just one thing. Just when you get going on one item, something else comes up and you find your energy waning and your attention split into a dozen different directions.
When you function like this it can be awfully difficult to complete tasks the way you want it done and when it should be done. Learning to prioritize will help you stay on task, tending to one item before moving onto another. When you are busy and continually multi-tasking this can be a hard skill to learn, but it can be made easier through the use of prioritization affirmations.
How to Prioritize Your Tasks
In any given day you may have ten things that you want to get done. You may start out the day by indiscriminately choosing one task, but then you find that another task needs to get done first. This is a hectic way to live your life! What you need to do is prioritize and organize your tasks. You will find that positive affirmations will help with this because they will remind you that everything will be done effectively and efficiently.
How can you prioritize when you have a lot of things to do? Each day, before you leave work (or before bed) list all of the things that you'd like to get done the next day. Be realistic! Don't bother scheduling things in that you know you won't have time to get to and don't waste your energy on things that aren't all that important to complete immediately.
You need to look at the most emergent things first and work back from there. You may find that some things absolutely have to get done today while others are not quite as important and could wait until later in the week. Number the list, with your #1 task being the task that you will start with. This is a much more methodical way to approach your life and you will find that you can get more done when you prioritize.
Of course, you are going to have times when you want to skip something or get off task and this is where your positive affirmations will come in handy. There are a lot of great positive affirmations for you to choose from or you can create your own. Prioritization affirmations can be as simple as, "Everything gets done when I follow through with my plans." This will remind you that you created the plan based on your daily goals and if you just stick to the list then you'd accomplish great things that day!
Prioritizing is something that comes easy to some and not so easy to others. Prioritization affirmations can help everyone! Sometimes these affirmations can simply remind you that you can get everything done without compromising your quality of work, and other times they can simply keep you on track when you're itching to get distracted with something less important. You will have more time to enjoy life when you use positive affirmations because you will find that you are able to make the most out of each moment!
Ronnie Nijmeh is an accomplished author, speaker and coach. He has been a featured expert on national television, radio, and print. Ronnie is the president and founder of ACQYR.com, an inspirational resource with free wallpaper downloads, affirmations, inspirational articles and much more. Learn more about AC
Ringtone Etiquette
June 11, 2008
By: Grigoriy Anoshenko
Ever noticed how at a busy, dull, board meeting a particular gentleman keeps coughing at regular intervals and his hand covers his mouth only a few seconds after he has ‘coughed’. And you couldn’t help wondering how sick he really was to be doing something so unhygienic? Well, the next time you witness such ill – timed ‘action to sound’ occurrences, you might want to re – think the entire situation. A closer look and you will know when he looks towards his phone, that the ‘cough’ was actually his mobile phone ring tone! Talk about ingenuity!
Mobile phone ring tones have come a long way from the standard beeps, ringing tones, the famous Nokia ring tone, to slightly pleasant sounding monotones; which were easily forgotten with the invasion of polyphonic ringtones. And now with the way this industry is burgeoning, ring tones have become a force to reckon with: videotones, ring back tones, sing tones, the list is endless.
With so much already having been written and said about the way this industry is growing, it’s not surprising to hear talks of taming it down. It’s true. Ring tone etiquette is been taken seriously and people are being expected to brush up on their social behaviour in public places. Extremely loud and annoying ring tones often invite scowls from co – passengers on board trains and/or buses. More often than not, a couple of the annoyed co – passengers would think, “He blew up money over that?”.
The modern day definition of a ring tone, is something that clearly sets one apart from the masses ;and spares him/her the embarrassment of jumping every time a phone with a similar ring tone rings in close vicinity. Yet, the fact that individuals, in their attempt to stand out in the crowd, opt for ring tones that are extremely unpleasant and distasteful for a public environment, cannot be disregarded simply on the grounds of freedom of expression. Researchers have identified such behaviour as being incongruent with social norms.
There have been reports of a particular behavior in public places which has managed to successfully infuriate the majority of those subjected to it. It has been observed that no sooner has an individual purchased a new phone, or probably even due to lack of any constructive activity, than the individual attempts to go through each and every ring tone available on his/her mobile phone.
And quite understandably this urge happens in public places and/ or long journeys that must be endured listening to what may seem like at that time, the world’s most irritating variety of mobile phone ring tones. One of the foremost rules of ring tone etiquette, according to experts, undoubtedly is that fact that ring tones must be played out and tried only in the privacy of one’s home.
Recent reports have also highlighted trends within this industry that attempt to evade the etiquette rule book. ‘Coughing’ and ‘sneezing’ ring tones at meetings allow one to slip away easily without being too conspicuous. Some of the other popular ones have been borrowed from the environment. Natural sounds such as those of birds twittering, leaves swaying, and bees buzzing, only make it that much easier to alert the user of an incoming call or message, without actually attracting any unwanted attention.
Although it’s being persistently argued by ardent mobile phone ring tone fans, that ring tones are a personal choice that allow an individual to make a style statement; one cannot disregard the fact that style statement’s cannot be made at the cost of another individual’s comfort.
About the Author
To find out more and download free ringtones please visit free ringtones website. Also find lyrics for ringtones at music lyrics.
Matrix Management
June 9, 2008
By: John Mehrmann
Matrix Management is a compelling buzzword with a tempting nirvana of shared resources and unlimited access to expertise that lies in other functional areas. But are the resources really ready to be monopolized by multiple managers in a redesign of the organizational structure? Think twice before you plug yourself into the matrix.
What is Matrix Management?
Matrix management is a style of organization in which people are pooled for work assignments or to concentrate on specific tasks. In a standard structured environment, employees in a department report directly to a Functional Manager or supervisor responsible for the performance of a department or business unit. However, in a matrix environment, some of these employees may be assigned with select employees from other departments to simultaneously report to a Project Manager appointed for a specific project. In the matrix organization, employees are treated as shared resources between managers and may have to work under multiple managers simultaneously. Managers may have responsibilities for employees shared on isolated projects as well as sharing manpower for several departmental functions.
There Four Primary Styles of Matrix Management Organization
Balanced Power Matrix
In a Balanced Power Matrix organization the resources are assigned from multiple departments and power is shared equally between the Project Manager and the Functional Managers. Philosophically, this type of equality in authority empowers Project Managers to facilitate rapid results by bestowing equal power for making decisions and dictating schedules. However, more often than not, this perception of balanced authority creates conflict. A servant can not serve two masters. The employees are typically caught in a conflict between the ongoing performance requirements of existing job responsibilities with a Functional Manager and the disparate assignments dictated by a Project Manager. Over extended periods of time either the functional job or the project performance suffer. This is frequently underscored by personality conflicts that arise from inability to monopolize the time of shared resources.
Strong Project Matrix
In a Strong Project Matrix organization the Project Manager is primarily responsible for the project and may recruit resources from multiple business units to achieve a specific task. Functional Managers assign resources as needed to support the project. Frequently the same resources are recruited for multiple projects, creating a strain for the Functional Managers and associated business unit performance.
While the Project Manager may have responsibility for the attainment of a defined task, the Functional Manager is ultimately responsible for the performance and assessment of the individual contributor as an employee. In this environment the Project Manager is bestowed with authority, but lacks the balance of accountability and responsibility for the individual contributor. This creates the allure of an "accountability free zone" for Project Managers and recruited resources which eventually degrades into projects with insignificant results, lack of focus and a detriment to functional performance.
Functional Matrix
In a Functional Matrix organization the Project Manager maintains limited authority to oversee the cross-functional aspects of a project. Functional Managers maintain control over the manpower and assign resources according to project requirements. The Project Manager is primarily responsible for documenting the milestones and the progress of the project, communicating regularly with the Functional Managers. In this style of matrix management, the Functional Managers share in the responsibility to achieve project results and the project manager acts as a facilitator, rather than a controlling management capacity.
Soft Boundaries Matrix
In a Soft Boundaries Matrix organization the functional team members provides individual expertise and assign resources on an as needed basis. In this environment it is not necessary for a Project Manager or Functional Manager to oversee the assignment of resources.
Individuals may contribute as necessary based on a balance of functional responsibilities and the needs of a particular project, assessing the relative importance and urgency of the day to day job responsibilities and the project tasks. This can be an effective matrix solution in a mature environment that has motivated and capable resources available to contribute as needed for projects.
The Truth behind the Myth of the Matrix
Proponents of the matrix organization are allured by the concept that highly capable resources can be shared between business units to expedite important strategic projects. Typically the most vocal proponents of adopting matrix management as an organizational structure are those managers that desire to draft the expertise and resources from surrounding functional areas in an effort to compensate for shortcomings in their own functional areas. Such shortcomings are defined as strategic projects and resources are drafted from surrounding functional areas to work under the control of a Project Manager. While this style of organization trumpets the occasional notable project result, it is a mere distraction to the underlying impact of strain and diminished performance of the functional organization.
Conceptually the matrix organization is designed to share expertise, knowledge and talent of each individual as needed in multiple functional areas and multiple projects. If all employees shared the same amount of expertise and responsibility in different contexts, then this would be an effective balance. In reality, turn-over of employees creates an unequal balance of experience. Expertise, intellectual capital and experience are rarely equal, so the demands for project related tasks are rarely equal. This can easily create a strain on the most valuable resources within the organization and the associated functional management structure.
Matrix management organizations are designed to mandate a formal structure in order to compensate for a lack of coordination and cooperation between functional areas. This can be an indication of a lack of vision, unclear or undefined strategy, conflicts or compartmentalized functional business units. If it is necessary to an independent organized management structure that is distinctly separate and equal in authority to the existing management structure, then there is probably something else broken within your business.
Real Importance of Project Management
Project Management is a very important and valued aspect of many organizations. Effective Project Management is typically characterized by the definitions associated with the Soft Boundary Matrix or the Functional Matrix. When associated with well defined projects that have clearly defined objectives and timelines, the role of Project Manager can be an essential element to the success of an organization.
Frequently these projects are associated with implementation projects, integration or installation projects that have easily defined purpose and ends. This is distinctly different from a matrix management organization in which Project Managers exist with a goal to justify their existence by creating new projects. On the contrary, an effective Project Manager should be indistinguishable from a functional team member, sharing the responsibilities, documenting and coordinating progress toward finite goals with well defined purpose.
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Words of Wisdom
"So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work."
- Peter Drucker
"Management is too often dictated by the migration toward a good idea, rather than the practice of one."
- John Mehrmann, Executive Blueprints
"You can't really know how something works until you know why it doesn't work."
- Art Sakaguchi
John Mehrmann is an author, speaker and industry expert with Executive Blueprints Inc. http://www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com
The Top Ten Business Etiquette Faux Pas
June 9, 2008
By: Robert Ing
In the world of business, it's not what you do but how you do it. With one small gesture you can impress, insult, appear cultured and educated, or simply become a social outcast. In a competitive business environment whether you're looking for a job, a raise, negotiating a major deal, interacting with peers, or knocking on doors for customers you will be ultimately judged on how you conduct yourself.
Here's the top ten business etiquette faux pas that will keep you out of the executive suite and will land you on the "bush league" list. See how you stack up.
10. Wearing a digital or oversized watch with business attire.
9. Shaking hands without removing gloves.
8. If sitting, not getting up when introduced to, or shaking hands with a business associate.
7. Sending a FAX without a cover sheet.
6. Accepting someone's business card but not offering yours in exchange.
5. Offering a client an inexpensive plastic pen (under $20) to sign a deal worth thousands. If you're worried about losing, or someone accidentally pocketing your favorite pen, have your initials or name engraved on it. Engraved pens seem to stay with their owner longer!
4. Not responding to e-mail messages within 24 - 36 hours.
3. Calling people whose telephone numbers you obtained from your "Caller ID" service that didn't leave a voice mail message.
2. Having your mobile telephone ring during a meeting and making matters worse by taking the call.
1. Not leaving your telephone number on a voice mail message because you "know" the person has it.
Another sixteen fatal mistakes worthy of note are:
Men wearing lapel pins that have no significance; if asked about them, how do you explain these things without appearing a bit green around the edges?
Wearing excessive jewelry (more than three rings, more than one lapel pin, a large chain and medallion, etc.) with business attire.
Wearing extra strong cologne or perfume with business attire.
Leaving long voice mail messages (lasting over 180 seconds).
Ladies wearing skirts or dresses that go well above the knee in a business environment.
When asking for the name of a person on the telephone or in person, using the phrase "What was the name?" This is a definite cultural faux pas and an indirect insult to the person you're speaking with.
Calling a business or sales meeting without providing each attendee with a meeting agenda at least 24 hours in advance.
When charging a business lunch or dinner, not leaving a cash tip but putting the tip on the credit card charge.
Sending FAXes of more than six pages without informing the recipient beforehand.
Putting the person you called on hold. If you initiate a telephone call, you are obligated to complete it without interruption.
Sending a three page or less text document as an attached file to an e-mail message instead of pasting it in the body of the message. Maximize productivity & efficiency by minimizing effort! It will get read and handled faster in less time, and the recipient won't have to worry about whether they can open it.
Putting people on your e-mail distribution list without asking them first. You may e-mail them a request to be put on your list with a first edition of the material you're distributing, but they must respond to be placed on the list to receive further mass e-mail.
Leaving more than two consecutive voice mail messages. If you didn't get a call back on your first message, or have to update it, leave a second message. However, if you haven't received a call back from your second message, put at least 24 hours distance between your second and third message.
Leaving a voicemail message that tells the recipient to call you but not giving any hint of the purpose or general subject of the call. By doing this you can be assured that your call will not be handled as a priority and when you finally do get a call back, your caller will not have the necessary files or information on hand to make the call productive.
If you are a man, not letting women enter or exit the elevator first.
If you are a chauffeur, going around the back of the car to open the door. Professional chauffeurs to diplomats and royalty always walk around the front of the vehicle; it's a traditional sign of respect indicating you are not hiding something.
What Are You Thinking!
So by now you probably think that I’m some stuffed shirt old guy that is completely out of tune with the times. But before you dismiss the “old school” tried and true logic, consider how many people you have to compete with every day to get that job, that client, that raise, that level of respect and yes, even that special someone you dream about. You have to stand out. You have to make them remember you. You have to be different in a sane way.
The people you see in videos and films are bad examples on how to dress and act, if unlike them, you have to get up each morning and earn a living or negotiate with those who do. Use these etiquette tips as a tool to improve your chances of getting where you want to be and improve your life.
Dr. Robert Ing is a forensic specialist with appearances on North American news networks. He has provided security for celebrities and dignitaries. For more articles by Dr. Robert Ing please visit http://www.drroberting.com Copyright © 2005-2006 Dr. Robert Ing
Leaders vs Managers: Adaptive Leaders Pursue Change; Old Style Managers Cling To The Past
June 9, 2008
Stan Truskie, Ph.D.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates recently criticized the
But in a world of chaos and ever changing conditions, Mr. Gates realizes that the ability to change and adapt is key to military success: What worked well in the past may now be an outmoded and ineffective approach.
Mr. Gates is pointing out a truism that US business organizations of all types and sizes have witnessed and/or experienced during the past 75 plus years: Unadaptive organizations underperform and/or fail in the long run. Companies like Sears & Roebuck, K-Mart, Pam Am, Howard Johnsons, Armour & Company, Westinghouse Electric are examples of businesses which were once at the top of their industrial sectors only to be toppled by competitors who looked into the future, adapted and out performed them. And the way their competitors did it was with adaptive leaders, not top-down managers.
So what’s the difference between the two?
Consider top-down managers first. These managers, for the most part, are predominantly linear thinkers. Linear thinkers are rational, logical and analytical. They are mainly concerned with the present, not the future. They tend to stick with things that have worked well in the past as opposed to experimenting with the unfamiliar.
They are very organized individuals who value orderliness and predictability. They favor rules and procedures to ensure that orders from the top are followed through to the lowest level. Their mentality is that managers think, workers do (as they are told)….an idea generated by the father of management science, Frederick W. Taylor during the early 20th century. This approach worked fine back then, during the early
If you have ever worked for one of these authoritative managers, you know first hand how autocratic and controlling they can be. Gather a group of these linear thinkers and place them at the top, running the organization, and guess what you get? A very rigid top-down organization that does everything by the rules, creating a bureaucracy that stifles innovation and creativity making it short-sighted, inflexible and unadaptive.
Enlightened, adaptive leaders are much different from top-down managers. They tend to be more non-linear in their thinking. These leaders are more intuitive, have greater insight, and are more creative. Being more conceptual, the see the “big picture”, are futuristic oriented, possess holistic insight and emotional intelligence.
They have greater spontaneity and flexibility—a balanced integration of rational analytical and unconventional imaginative processes. They have the ability to take a new perspective to an old complex problem and reassemble interrelated parts of the problem in novel and unusual ways leading to a viable solution. They are much better at coping with the non linear complex nature of the competitive context of our global business environment.
One would think that most of these adaptive leaders head up the newer hi-tech companies like Apple, Google, Nintendo, Microsoft and Amazon.com. But if you look at the recent list of the top 25 innovative companies recently compiled by BusinessWeek (
The good news is that managers can change and become more adaptive leaders just as traditional companies can become more innovative. As a corporate executive leadership coach, I have worked with hundreds of managers and executives for the past 20 years and I have witnessed a transformation of many individuals who have changed from top-down managers to adaptive leaders. All thinking and behavior can be changed…it is called learning. Through assessment, self awareness, action learning, and coaching, managers can become more effective and adaptive leaders.
In essence, my experience, research and observations have led me to conclude that the assertion, “Leaders are born, not made,” is a myth.
Stan Truskie,Ph.D. is President of MSD Leadership Consultants Inc. a
Five Ways To Alienate Your Employees: A Manager’s Guide to Investigating Errors
June 8, 2008
Norm Howe
Are you a manager with too much time on your hands? Do you go home at the end of an eight hour day with boring regularity, leaving a clean desk and a clear conscience?
When rare errors occur in your organization do your employees openly discuss what went wrong so that you can find the root causes. Do they then compound the problem by volunteering to implement solutions?
If you work in the drug, medical device, or any other FDA regulated industry, then you must be particularly troubled. When the FDA inspectors show up and ask for your Corrective And Preventive Action files, are your's too thin? Do the inspectors leave your company too quickly in search of someone else to inspect?
If all this sounds familiar, then you are not alienating your employees enough. Your employees have too much trust in you. They are too willing to share their experiences because they have no fear of retribution from you when you decide on corrective actions for errors.
Wouldn't you rather have NO discretionary time in your life? Here are five sure-fire tips to create more fear in your employees and keep them from ever sharing facts openly during problem solving discussions.
1) Blamestorm, don't brainstorm. When you investigate errors, focus on the people, not the business process. Frame your questions around the assumption that the employees are at fault. When you write up your corrective actions, use such terms as "Employee needs to be more alert" or "Employee assigned to be retrained". Your employees will never realize that these terms are business-speak for "This employee is a negligent moron."
Your corrective actions should never include engineering or procedural changes. These changes are a waste of time because they address basic business processes. After all, management designed the business process, and so couldn’t possibly be wrong.
2) Don't use a Standard Operation Procedure for investigating errors. Use a different method for investigating errors every time. This makes so many good things happen. First of all you will never have to worry about getting better at root cause investigations. How could you, if you use a different technique every time?
Another advantage is that your employees will never know what's going to happen. Predictability allays fear. You don't want that to happen. You want to show them who's boss.
3) Assume that none of your employees want to do a good job. You'll be surprised how people will live down to your expectations. Sure, you might get disappointed. Every once in a while someone will overcome your expectations and actually contribute a thoughtful suggestion during problem solving sessions. But those occasions will be rare. They will feel your attitude and will cover up problems just like you assumed they would.
4) Don't be concerned about fear in the workplace. W. Edwards Deming, the famous quality guru, insisted that managers must drive out fear. But why should employees fear you? After all you're a nice person and besides, you are just doing your job.
Forget that Deming said that fear arises from the structure of the employee – manager relationship. Forget that in the mind of the employee the manager has all the power in the relationship. Forget that the manager determines the employee's raise, that the manager can hire, that the manager can fire.
You don't have to drive out fear from your relationship. You don't have to build trust on a daily basis. You don't have to meet simple commitments that you make to employees. If you say that you will meet an employee at a particular time to discuss something of concern to him, don't worry about it. You're the boss. He'll understand it if you just blow him off.
5) Management By Walking Around. Stay parked in your office all day and don't get out where your employees work until the next crisis comes up. Make sure your employees only see you when you storm out of your office with a problem and an attitude.
Don't try to build relationships when you have time for a calm discussion about something the employee thinks is important. You want to give the impression that you're overloaded with important manager stuff. You can't waste time with their problems.
Follow these five simple principles and you'll never have to worry about having any free time on your hands. Your root cause solutions will never start to build on each other to form a solid operational foundation that prevents future errors.
Your desk will be stacked to Biblical proportions with uncompleted projects. Your email in-box will explode out of your computer monitor almost daily with complaints about the latest error in your department. Eight hour days? Forget it. You're going to be living at work.
About the Author
Norm Howe, Senior Partner at Validation and Compliance Institute, consultants for FDA regulated industries. He got his BS at UC, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in chemistry at UCLA. He has held many management positions, most at BASF. vcillc.com
