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I read another stupid post from one of my least favorite influencers on LinkedIn, who for some reason, idiots read to get advice on I guess how to be a clueless boss. I can't avoid reading his posts because they show up in Pulse all the time. The majority of his posts point to flaws with employees and never with management. Which for me, means this person has no idea what the word "introspection" means. If you're always blaming your employees or even potential employees, than to put it bluntly, you're an a#$hole. However a#$holes can change and become just buttheads, and I'd rather work for a butthead than an a#$hole. Wouldn't you?
If you are a CEO, VP, Senior VP, middle manager, or new manager and it seems like your team is not pulling together or they just don't seem motivated to work hard, you might actually be the problem. I know that's hard, especially for new managers because you've just been promoted to the position and you think you're awesome. Guess what? You're not. You're as green as green eggs and ham, and you are definitely not a Sam I Am.
So what's the first thing you can do to improve your team? Start listening to your employees. I understand this is difficult for a great number of people who have egos, because it insinuates that you don't know what you're doing in the role as a manager. But here is the reality, you don't know what you're doing...yet. A quick way to ramp up into the position is to LISTEN to feedback from your employees. Here are 5 simple steps to improve your listening skills, garner respect from your employees, and apply what you hear to help improve yourself and your team.
Pay Attention: When I first became a manager, I was always "multi-tasking" when my employees were trying to talk to me, and naturally I missed a lot of good information. They would have to repeat themselves or they would get frustrated and just walk out of my office. All of them thought I was a nice guy and I was trying hard, but they didn't have respect for me, because it didn't seem like I had any respect for them. Why? Because I never stopped what I was doing long enough to pay attention. Until finally, one of them shouted while I was on the computer, "Can you stop being an asshole and listen to what I'm saying to you?" That got my attention! After that incident, I made sure to stop what I was doing whenever people came into my office to discuss an issue or concern.
Value Employee Feedback - Some of the best advice I ever received as a manager was from my own employees. Nobody knows better about what is going on in a group, division, region, or corporation than its own employees. A year ago during a seminar, one of our team leaders told me that she was losing part of the audience during a certain portion of her presentation. I had written that particular part of the presentation and so I was offended with her criticism. Initially, I was tempted to tell her that I was the boss and I knew better than her how to run a seminar. However, after reading through the presentation again, I realized she was right. A few minor changes and the audience was sitting up in their seats and not lying down.
Apply What You Learn- The worst thing you can do is get a bunch of great ideas from your employees and do nothing. What type of message does that send to them? "Yeah we value your opinions but not enough to do anything about it." Speaking from experience, I can emphatically state that when I applied what I learnt from my employees, things improved exponentially. It wasn't a slow process either. Changes came quickly and the results were astounding.
Invest Personally - Many bosses have a tendency to care more about what their employees produce, than the employee themselves. The problem with that way of thinking, is that you won't get the most out of each other. When your employee comes to you with an issue or concern drop everything and be attentive. I can remember an old friend was going through a horrible bout with cancer, she had shared the concerns with her boss, and when her boss asked why she was taking so much time off, my friend had to remind the boss that she had cancer! Her bosses response, "Oh I guess I just forgot." WTF? She left the company shortly thereafter, and went to work for the competitor.
Life Is Not About You - Despite what you think and what you've been taught since childhood, the world does not revolve around you. We share the world, the office, and even the bathroom. You may be in charge, but that does not make you all powerful. There are so many start ups with newly crowned CEO's who have little to no social skills and who are running and ruining people's lives. Don't be that type of boss. If you want to be successful, make the journey about everyone and bring them along. It will be that much more rewarding for all involved.
Listen and learn.
SFTD
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