Human resource is the precious-most resource of an organization. Interestingly, most of the organizations do not give the due importance to this significant part. The resource which makes strategies, enhances sales, reduces cost, generates revenue and develops a word-of-mouth’ for the organizations, always remains unhappy.
It is said that people do not quit their jobs because they are unhappy with the organization, but they resign because they are unable to give the input towards their work which satisfies them.
What satisfies them is their performance; when they enjoy doing their tasks, they perform exceptionally well. They do not even think what they are being paid for their services. Instead, they focus on their performance without competing with others. They try to excel themselves to the level that they can beat their own records. This surpass brings them a profound satisfaction.
What satisfies them is their performance; when they enjoy doing their tasks, they perform exceptionally well. They do not even think what they are being paid for their services. Instead, they focus on their performance without competing with others. They try to excel themselves to the level that they can beat their own records. This surpass brings them a profound satisfaction.
This self-satisfaction mechanism can be devised through the effective management of the human resource. Here lies the role of the people manager who needs to know the power of his written and spoken words, his anger and smile, his attitude and behavior, and his attention and indifference to his people.
The organizations generally do not fall because of the bad strategies, but they fall because they encounter bad managers during the decline. It is important to note that bad managers are not those who are rude or negative in their selection of words, instead bad managers are those who do not know the importance of their post and their role.
Most of the people managers do not know the significance of their words which causes depression and stress for their subordinates. This stress directly affects the employees’ performance that eventually causes an impasse in way of achieving the organization’s and objectives, and eventually goals; thus leaving the mission statement unfulfilled.
To enjoy the fruits of effective management and consequently to be a role-model for the subordinates, a manager has to bear the below mentioned points in mind;
- PATIENCE:
When it comes to errors committed by an employee, “No reaction is the best reaction” they say. A manager has to remain cool and patient come whatever may. If a manager reacts to any situation or if he is short-tempered and so stern that his subordinates have to think twice before talking to him then there is no doubt left in the fact that he is a bad manager.
If a manager cannot manage his own emotions, one wonders how can he manage others’. Knowing the right job for yourself is quite fundamental to your management skills. For example, if you think that you are a task manager, then you should not accept any other responsibility and right away refuse to get a job of people management or any other for that matter. Managing people and managing tasks are two different skills. A good manager knows his strengths well. A good task manager will never accept the role of a people manager, and vice versa.
- YOUR WORDS PLAY A MIRACULOUS ROLE IN OTHERS’ LIVES:
The people manager must understand the importance of his words. He should know what could be the impact of what he says and how important his casual and formal talk could be. His words can boost the morale of his people and can demoralize them as well. He remains effective as long as his angers and smiles are well-managed. When he says, “You look really good in green” that means he is not only boosting his subordinate’s morale but also he is adding same color in the subordinate’s wardrobe. He has to be very careful in passing any comments especially the ones which highlight the areas of improvements because such comments are normally taken as negative feedback.
- DO NOT EVALUATE PEOPLE, OBSERVE THEM:
We have a habit of passing comments on almost everyone in our daily life. We evaluate people on the basis of our previous experiences. We do it even when we meet people for the first time. It may work in day to day life but it is deemed as a fatal error for a manager. A people manager needs to deal with every individual differently. Before dealing with an individual, he has to keep the background, the protocol and the aptitude of an individual in view. The Creator has not repeated any individual. A manager has to bear this law of nature in mind and deal with a new individual anew. As a manager, you need to observe the one whom you are dealing with before developing any opinion.
The difference between evaluation and observation could be stated as; evaluation is normally biased and observation is always unbiased.
The edge of observing people over evaluating them is that you can come to their strengths and shortcomings with an undeniable documentary proof. This proof is produced as a result of taking the readings (log or a series of events) of the subordinate’s performance.
- FOLLOW THE PATTERN:
Before giving any feedback to your subordinate, you need to follow a pattern. A pattern means, maintaining a sheet which carries all the events of the entire department, such as, if you find someone coming late to the office and leaving early without informing you, do not throw a comment or ridicule him on the day when he first time commits this error. You need to tell him clearly and politely that “Official timings begin at 9am and you reached at 9:20am today. Please try to reach office by 9am”. And mark it in the sheet against his name. If he improves, mention the same in sheet and encourage him and if he does not improve, repeat the same.
Always give him time to improve and make it a practice. For obtaining better results, you need to give feedback on a monthly or quarterly basis.
A good sign of a bad people manager is that he will always wait for the last month of a working year i.e. December to highlight his subordinate’s shortcomings. In this way he intends to hurt the subordinate’s ACR (appraisal).
A good sign of a good people manager is that he keeps a log of events to improve the employee’s performance, and not to punish or ridicule him. Encouragements breed what punishments and ridicules do not.
- BE CLEAR ON CONSTRUCTIVE AND POOR FEEDBACK:
You must know the difference in constructive feedback and poor feedback. There is no such thing like good or bad feedback. Good feedback is misunderstood as the one where you praise your subordinate and bad means where you tell him that he was wrong while performing a task. In a new era of management suite, no such feedback exists.
Good feedback has been replaced by constructive feedback and bad feedback has been replaced by poor feedback.
Constructive feedback always contains a log of a series of events (documentary proof) and which gives a clear guideline to the subordinates what is expected by him, what errors he has been making and how can he improve in a given time frame. It is always tightly structured and helps groom the subordinates.
Constructive feedback is a report, not a story.
On the contrary, poor feedback is always emotional and unstructured which does not contain guidelines for the subordinates and never highlights the areas of improvement especially the how-to-improve part is always missing.
- NEUTRALIZING ILLUSIONS:
Neutralizing illusions is one of the biggest tasks of a people manager. There is a misconception that stick has a stronger impact in “carrot & stick” method. People managers think that their subordinates perform well when they are pressurized and they come up with the demands when they are appreciated. It becomes very difficult to handle them when they claim for promotion or increment on the basis of few appreciation letters or words which are used to boost their morale.
A manager has to give a clear picture of the organizations’ goals, the market situation, overall profit ratio, the competition within and outside the organization and the targets they achieved as an organization.
He needs to discuss all the elements which play vital role in promotions and increments. He should not break the chain of communication until the subordinate is satisfied.
- LOYALTY WITH MANAGERS:
One more important fact which every manager has to understand is; people are not loyal to organizations, they are loyal to their managers. If your personality is acceptable and respectable to your subordinates then they will work for you and it will be beneficial for the whole organization, including the employee himself & the manager.
- HAVE A HEART:
A manager has to have an empathetic heart. A heart that can feel the pain of learning new things, facing new challenges, having an unpleasant day and above all, the ups and downs of family affairs. However he should not try to behave like a father although employees expect the same at times, but a manager should be clear on the fact that he is a colleague of his subordinates who lives with them but has different job description.
He needs to develop repute with his subordinate that they should look up to him when they are in trouble. Yes, he can enjoy the status of a fatherly-figure but for that purpose he needs to help his people grow as strong individuals who can handle things on their own without giving up their personal and professional responsibilities.
- DEVELOP A REPLACEMENT:
It is a life-threatening suggestion. Isn’t it?
No, certainly it is not!
Let’s see how this suggestion remains life-infusing instead of life-threatening.
When you feel that the circumstances have touched the point that you are comfortable with the job you have been assigned with and the people around you have started relying on you, and there are some tasks which cannot be accomplished without your help; stop and contemplate. It is not the matter of accomplishing something godly. It is always bad. Do NOT be happy, for it is an alarming moment for you.
Put it this way, if you cannot be replaced, you cannot be promoted. Therefore, always pass on your skills to your subordinates.
If your hands are filled with the routine tasks, you are not ready for the new challenges. Follow the law of nature. That is, do not stick to one position only. If you don’t stick, it will guarantee your ascension on one hand, and on the other hand, it will help your subordinates perform well.
This aptitude will increase your potential and you may eventually become the manager of the managers.
- MIRACLES?
Instill! Only satisfied employees can do miracles. Never forget this reality. The failure of employees in performing their jobs well is the failure of a manager in disguise, for it is the evidence that he remained comprehensively unsuccessful in managing their potential well. Help them in doing miracles for you.
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