By Guy Gage
Managing employees can be a full-time job in itself. It seems like there is always someone in crisis. Hardly a day goes by without someone having their nose out of joint about something. If you could somehow manage to do everything yourself, you wouldn’t have employees.
The inevitable truth is that you need employees, and you need them to be productive and add value in some way. Therefore, your responsibility is to keep them motivated, focused and energized while pushing them just enough so they perform without making them angry. That’s quite a balancing act, and if you get all that right, you too will be at the top of your game.
The problem is you can’t be the perfect manager all the time. You are focused on your own priorities and issues. You have your own stress and anxiety. To expect yourself or anyone else to do everything right is foolish. Besides, why can’t they just manage themselves better?
While that will never happen, you can create an environment where they are less reliant on you to do their jobs. Probably the most important thing you can do is convey to your people that you are their advocate. When they know you are on their side, you will see increased focus, loyalty and performance from them.
There are several truths to managing people that you should know. Simply recalibrating your own perspective on management will go a long way to engendering positive commitment from them.
First, people want to do a good job. They don’t come to work in the morning aspiring to be average, even though their performance sometimes makes you wonder. It is human nature to want to do well, even to be the best they are able to be. If they aren’t, there is either something (or someone) in the way or they’ve given up because they can’t get around the barriers.
Try this: the next time someone misses a deadline or submits work that is less than acceptable, pull them aside and say that you are surprised at what they did because it isn’t like them to do that. Tell them you expect more from them because they have done it before.
“Margaret, I looked over the work you gave me yesterday and frankly I was surprised at what I saw. You have been with the company for three years and over that time I’ve seen you produce some great work. What happened this time?”
This approach will actually inspire Margaret, as long as your tone is one of true concern. By the way, if you aren’t concerned about Margaret as a person, don’t fake it. You’ll be seen as a manipulator and that will only make matters worse. Get your perspective right.
Second, understand that you can’t motivate anyone. Motivation comes from within. The only thing you can do is create a motivating environment. Most underperformance can be attributed to the environment workers are in. While I’m not blaming the leaders of your organization for the current state, I am suggesting that they can have the most impact to change it.
High performance is first and foremost an organizational attitude. While individuals may have it internally, they will soon become discouraged and frustrated and will lower their expectations to be closer to what everyone else is producing. It’s the old adage that water finds its own level. People will perform near the norm-—not much above or below it. Leaders who allow underperformance to continue deserve what they (don’t) get.
I’ve facilitated numerous company meetings where owners, managers and leaders admit they have allowed performance to erode and want to get it back on track, beginning with themselves. Of course, in order to do this, they have to put themselves in a humble position, which only the confident and courageous are willing to do. This gets everyone’s attention and sets the tone for everyone to take heed of their own performance and what they can do to improve it. Great things happen when the environment is conducive to higher performance.
Third, while compensation is important, it isn’t sufficient enough to motivate most people over the long haul. If you give someone a raise, at first they are thrilled and commit to putting forth extra effort to demonstrate they are worthy of your generosity. After a few weeks of working hard, they begin to think of all they bring to the company and conclude that the raise that once thrilled them is what they should have received. After a couple of more weeks, they consider all of the things they do for you and begin to think they not only earned that raise but it should have been more. Soon they are complaining of being underpaid.
You have to go beyond money and tap into their individual motivations. People do things for their reasons, not yours. If their jobs aren’t linked in some way to their own personal goals and aspirations, they will give you just enough to keep you off their backs. Here’s the question: as their manager, do you know what motivates your people? Do you know their aspirations? Are you their advocate by helping them see that doing their jobs also achieves their goals? When you do that, you begin to function at the highest level of leadership: accomplishing great things through others because they want to.
Finally, people rise up (or fall down) to a level of performance equal to your belief in them. Most managers are surprised at how much weight their words, actions and opinions carry with those they manage. You are on stage all the time and your attitude and actions are amplified way beyond what you think or deserve, so be careful of how you conduct yourself and how you treat those around you. You may not want all the attention, but it’s not your choice. It’s there, so deal with it effectively.
If you spend time thinking about and acting within these four truths, you will see significant improvement in your people, their performance and your company or firm. More importantly, though, you will find that your managerial effectiveness will increase because you are functioning within the laws of human performance, not against them.
What kind of manager are you? Do you have the courage to face the fact that you need to change and improve? Do you have the determination to address underperformance in your people? Are you willing to become your people’s advocate for their good and yours? Now the ball’s in your court.
What will you do?
