Managers have different ways of dealing with people, and most employees understand that. The problem is when the manager doesn’t convey a sense of responsibility for them and their jobs. Successful managers care about their staff and their achievements. Employees who don’t feel that the manager cares will almost always fail to perform at their highest levels. Responsibility takes many forms. This is about how the manager comes across, not what the manager really does. Not showing that you care will cost you and your business.

    I know of one senior manager who earned a reputation among his peers and employees as the company’s most caring manager. What did he do? He let employees know that their families came first. If an employee had to take time off to stay home with a sick child, the manager didn’t make that person feel guilty or less committed to the company. Instead, he would work with individuals to help them accommodate their family needs with their responsibilities on the job. The result was that the employees were more motivated because they felt an increased responsibility to the manager.

Are you forgetting that you are the boss?

Can team members come to their manager with their problems?

Do they? And if they don’t—why not?

Do you take responsibility?

Tags: absence boss different ways henry kissinger impotence job jobs manager nobody takes responsibility peers reputation responsibility sense of responsibility sick child successful managers team
 

Trusting the team doesn’t mean giving up control. The issue for most managers isn’t whether to exert control, but how to do it.
To begin with, the team needs to demonstrate that it’s worthy of trust. That comes not only from the team’s actions, but the interactions between the team and the manager. If you don’t know what your employees are doing—and if they don’t know what you want them to do—how can you develop trust and understanding?

    A team that has no one in control will likely fare worse than one that’s badly controlled. Managers need to have the courage to take charge. If they do it in a spirit of shared goals with the team members, it will build mutual respect and understanding. The concept isn’t really complicated. Yet think of all the managers you know who struggle to build trust and respect with the team.

Are you building trust? Respect?

Is it easy?

    Inc. Magazine talks about workers stating that routine maintenance had been performed as part of their daily duties. During a failure of the machine it became obvious that this maintenance was never done.

When did you control the last time? If not you—who is controlling?

Are you controlling the goals you have set with the team?

What do you control?

How often do you control? Too often? Not often enough?

Do you have standard operating procedures in place for frequently reoccurring situations?

Tags: benjamin franklin building trust control courage failure inc magazine last time mutual respect routine maintenance spirit standard operating procedures team members uncontrolled
 

Burned out employees tend to be depressed—and they’re usually make those around them depressed, too. They can easily change the mood of everyone around them. A dangerous chain-reaction starts that can destroy even the best team.

    The typical burn-out runs through six different phases:

1. increased engagement in work, tendency to make themselves irreplaceable
2. decreased engagement in work, negative attitude toward work and co-workers
3. playing the blame game, depression, aggression
4. loss of creativity, motivation, and efficiency
5. becoming mentally, socially, and emotionally withdrawn
6. insomnia, deep depression, stomach problems

Do you live to work or work to live?

Tags: aggression blame game chain reaction co workers creativity depression efficiency insomnia motivation negative attitude stomach problems tendency
 

Unfortunately, too many seem to think that fun at work is a must-do, an obligation. This of course defeats the whole purpose of fun. In fact, when fun is seen as a requirement, any motivational value is lost—because employees can actually come to dislike fun.

    Teams need to understand that having fun should never be a requirement but rather a desired side effect. Often, employers simply add “having fun” to the list of things employees need to do during the day. It becomes nothing more than just another thing to get done. Result: there’s less genuine fun, but plenty more frustration.

    Let’s not forget that historically, fun and work haven’t exactly been best buddies. We should always try to make employees feel more fulfilled in doing and enjoying their work. If you’re going to implement “fun,” it needs to be done with the same care as any other strategic management tool.

    Remember also that for many people, “fun” isn’t clowning around and telling jokes. Sometimes just the work itself can be fun. There’s a story about a young Japanese man who opened an auto repair shop. He really got enjoyment out of working on cars—to him, it was fun. The business grew and he hired mechanics, but he drew the line at opening more shops. “Think of all the extra money you’ll make,” his friends and family said. But he modestly declined, explaining, “Once I do that, I won’t be having any fun anymore.”

    A study of IT workers (yes, IT workers) revealed that 70 percent of them see fun at work as the number one priority. And 98 percent of 700 interviewed CEOs said they prefer to hire an employee with a sense of humor. In some workplaces it seems as though the opposite is true. Someone ought to tell all those grouches that it takes fewer muscles to smile.

    Many studies have shown that as many as one third of all employees consider fun to be an important part of the corporate culture. Humor is important to help people to loosen up; to become more creative. It has nothing to do with avoiding work or even working less efficiently. Can you imagine a ball game without the winning players celebrating and joking around? And there’s a reason so many movie DVDs include outtakes that include all the bloopers that had to be cut from the film. Fun is—well, fun!

Think the actors had fun while working?

    Basically there are two teaching strategies that get people to retain what they learn:    When was the last time you sat through a training session and got either of those? Doesn’t happen too often, now does it?

When was the last time the team had fun?

Laughed together?

Created something outstanding while having fun?

Worked out a stuck situation with a smile?

Continued to be mad with someone who smiled at them?

    How can we add fun?

1. Start with yourself
2. Never force it
3. Inspire others
4. Allow fun
5. Make fun part of the job
6. Find the positive in every situation
7. Smile, smile, smile

    Some years ago I hold a session for a team of engineers on the rather dry topic of assembly. My session was one in many over the course of three days. I guarantee you that every one of those engineers remembers my session. Why? Because I managed to make it funny. You can teach anyone anything—as long as you can generate interest. People who have fun at work actually work more productively. Which store do you prefer to go shopping at—the one with the grumpy employees or the one where people genuinely smile at you and make you feel good?

    Think about hobbies. Did one of your hobbies ever burn you out? Did you ever consider getting out of your hobby? Many dot-com bombs succeeded early on because they were able to motivate employees by creating a fun work environment. Now, to be fair, some of those companies might have taken fun a bit too far (or profits not far enough!)—but you rarely hear former dot-com employees complain that they didn’t enjoy their jobs.

    So why aren’t there more companies requiring the work environment to be more of a joy? Look around you—are those managers just too inflexible or are they not willing to go the extra mile to try something new and fail at times?

Tags: actors auto repair shop ball game best buddies bloopers bombs cars ceos corporate culture extra mile extra money friends and family frustration german proverb having fun hobbies japanese man job jobs jokes management tool mechanics muscles obligation outtakes priority profits sense of humor smile smile smile strategic management teaching strategies training session when was the last time work environment workplaces