I am new to the blog world, but have decided to take the plunge. This will be a good forum for me to post the ideas that come to me from reading other articles and news items that might help you with your leadership and to hear from others about what is happpening in their world around these topics. I think it all boils down to leadership when it comes to being a good manager. Anyone can be a controller or enforcer, but the people who choose to lead by inviting people to follow will more often get workers who are engaged and committed, thus creating a great work environment for not only the employee, but the manager as well.
Patrick Lencioni is an author I admire and I noticed he has a new book called, Three Signs of a Miserable Job. The three signs are 1) Anonymity, where the manager has little interest in you as a human being, 2) Irrelevance, where you can’t see how your job makes a difference, and 3) Immeasurement, the inability to measure your contributionto the organization’s success. He has in a nutshell put the content of many of my speeches and leadershp training. I have not read the book yet, but plan to do so and will comment further once I have done so.
It is true that there are workers who do not step up to the plate and perform well, but we as leaders must look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we have done everything we can to provide a good environment for performance excellence.
April 21, 2008 at 1:49 pm
http://maselle.net/video/cb/selfimage.wmv
The above link is a video of Cliffor baird’s I think you will find it very life changing.
April 21, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Regarding the 3 signs of a miserable job there is one more thing I would like to add. Perhaps it falls ito the category of number 1 – anonoymity, but it is lack of appreciation. When someone meets or exceeds the expectations a simple thank you will do wonders. It is amazing how few people actually say thank you when you do something for someone. In the past few months alone I have had people ask me to take a look at a sales letter they wrote and offer some suggestions. I spent at least an hour on each one, emailed it back to them and never heard a peep. I recently got a call from someone I met at church and he asked me to design a logo for his business. I spent two hours working on it – mailied it too him – and never heard a word. I did hear from another party that he was delighted with it – but he never called and said thank you.
I have learned not to expect gratitute for the free services I give. But the big lesson it has taught me is that when you do tell someone you REALLY APPRECIATE what they are doing I find they will work extra hard for you. Even my tenants. When they pay the rent I tell them THANK YOU – I REALLY APPRECIATE IT – they are more motivated to pay on time.
So… THANK YOU Vicki, for all your informative newsletters that I read from start to finish, and now your blog, where I can comment.
Them’s my two cents… Bob Oros
April 21, 2008 at 10:44 pm
The video John Hausam has shared is a powerful motivation speech that ought to be required listening for every person. It speaks to the importance of building self-esteem. I was just saying in a class the other day that it is in every manager’s best interest to build the self-esteem of your workers because people who are self-confident tend to do better work and make fewer excuses for their mistakes. They learn from them rather than be defeated by them. Just as Bob Oros mentions above, a little appreciation can go a long way to building a person’s motivation, as well as their self-esteem. You may not think you have enough time to give good recognition and appreciation, but you can’t afford not to do it.
April 25, 2008 at 9:03 am
Vicki, I couldn’t agree more with your comments about employees needing to ensure they are bringing value to their environment. The employees who bring value to their organization ask themselves:
What value do you bring to your job that directly contributes to the financial stability, success, and growth of our company?
What is your “employability” factor? Do you think employability is based on more than just doing your job?
Have you given any thought to the importance of managing other’s perceptions of you?
Each employee should be managing his or her own “brand” in the workplace. When the hard times come, as they usually do, your brand may be the only thing that saves you from the unemployment line.
April 28, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I totally agree, Holly. I have read that you need to be in charge of You, Inc. I especially think young people starting out need to think about their employability to start good habits. They need good mentors and coaches from parents, supervisors, pastors, teachers, etc. to teach them about the world of work and how to get what they want by making their brand valuable. There are people at all ages who need to stop and consider this, but I fear that we are not teaching our youngsters how to be good employees or even good business people to bring value to the marketplace. We can’t fault them if we aren’t teaching them.