Do You Have What It Takes To Manage Your Employees?

Do You Have What It Takes to Manage Your Toughest, and Often Best, Employees?

If you think leading employees in your small business is hard, try being responsible for opera divas, television news reporters, egocentric physicians, mercurial musicians or high-strung brides. You know the types whose pictures could appear next to "high-maintenance" in the dictionary.

     It takes special skills to get such folks to perform at their best. After all, the most accomplished and talented people don’t think they need guidance.  A lot of them, one way or another, always had been able to get what they want, as they have never tasted failure.

     The challenge in leading such personalities—if your small business is lucky, you’ve got them—is that they are often extremely sensitive. Use the wrong approach and they may work against you.
     As it turns out, most of them have a lot in common, and those shared characteristics seem to be the very ones that explain their effectiveness as leaders.  For starters, all are willing and able to demonstrate genuine respect for their employees and clients—no matter the industry or area of interest.
     All are refreshingly unassuming about their abilities and effusive about the skills of the people they work with and for. If anything goes wrong, the true professional blames himself and not the team.  All of them also are able to establish credibility with those they lead. They do it by demonstrating excellence in their field, and by being transparent about their goals. The "what you see is what you get" approach engenders trust. And it takes many forms.
    These leadership skills are, no doubt, difficult to acquire. But they are crucial to running a business and retaining staff.  Talented people aren’t as motivated by money as they are by the opportunity to improve themselves and their work. They are always asking themselves, "Am I getting what I need?"
     If the answer is no, they won’t hesitate to leave, which could leave your small business in big trouble.  It takes special skills to get such folks to perform at their best. After all, the most accomplished and talented people don’t think they need guidance.  Handling them is a skill that is inherited or needs to be learned.
     So there they are—leaders to learn from. Let the class begin or in the alternative, contact me George Mancuso and I promise I can help.

Regards,

George F. Mancuso, CPC, CEO
Client Growth Consultants, Inc.

Is Your Business Climate Keeping Up With Change?

Several of my clients have started asking about how I can help them address climate change in their business or about their changing supplier or government policies on climate change. Is this likely to be a long term issue that I need to know about?

 If your clients are asking about it then, by definition, it should be of concern to you. Climate change issues are so pervasive that every business professional should be knowledgeable about the issue and its impact on business. Regardless of what discipline or industry you work in, climate change is already affecting how your clients run their businesses and plan for its future.

If you are in human resources, higher fuel prices and congestion are leading to a growing demand for tele-working, which will require operational policies and procedures, new management skills, and new collaboration technology. If you are in transportation, weather will affect operations. If you are in banking or risk management, increasing storm intensity and frequency will alter your exposure and possible liabilities. If you are in facilities management, consider how your clients will need to alter heating and cooling across their facilities. If you are in hospitality, food prices affected by rising temperatures will affect your overall cost structure.

If you specialize in corporate governance, a range of new state, federal and international regulations are coming, knowledge about which you need to be ahead of your clients. As a business professional, your failure to advise company management and clients of potential criminal liabilities they face relative to environmental regulatory compliance will not go over very well. Finally, employees want to work for, and other companies in the supply chain want to work with, green companies.

Climate change is a complex issue but don't get caught up in the political debate and forget that the impacts on business have been significant and increasing for more than a decade. Learn about the interrelated impacts on food supplies, water resources, energy costs, risk management, required retraining and corporate strategy and governance.

This issue pervades everything a company does and you need to be regularly reading up on its impact on business. For a good fast primer on the issues your clients face from climate change, see a recent Pew Trusts report.

Regards,

George F. Mancuso, CPC, CEO
Client Growth Consultants, Inc.

What Does It Mean To Be A Manager?

What Does It Mean To Be A Manager?

NOTE:  For sake of this discussion, “manager” is defined as any person who manages other people whether it be a team, a department, a division or a whole company.

What does it really mean to be a manager?

Power?  Authority?  Goal Setter?  Trend Setter?  Leader?  Boss or person in charge?  Desire to be King or Queen of the hill?

What personal self serving benefit do you receive as a manager?

When you think of YOUR manager, what benefit do you think he/she gets?  Why do you think your manager is a manager?

What is the absolute downside of being a manager?.

As a manager, would you like to make your life smoother and more cohesive?  If so, read about Management Acclimatization™.  

Regards,
George F. Mancuso, CPC, CEO
Client Growth Consultants, Inc.

How Can I Get My Team to BUY IN to My Recommendations?

ONE OF OUR READERS ASKED: From a management position, what should I do if my staff OR team attacks my recommendation(s)?

Try to avoid getting defensive. After all, your client's staff might actually be right in questioning your recommendations. One of my very first thought was, “did you include them in any of the planning, goals and/or decision making process?”

They also might have "other" motivations, may be operating under very different assumptions than you are, or even feel defensive themselves. Perhaps you were not clear enough in presenting your recommendations to the team. If any of the above are true, getting defensive will probably not help.

So what do you do? First, try to gain an understanding on where you and the staff or team differ. Clarify your assumptions, rationale, conclusions, and specific recommendations and be prepared to modify them if required. Let them know that you want to better understand their thinking by asking a few questions.

Here are three potential examples:

1. "Folks, I was assuming the following parameters are present (describe them). Are my assumptions in synch with yours?"
2. "Perhaps I was not clear in what I was recommending. May I ask you a few questions to help me understand your concerns with my recommendations a little better?"
3. "I am sensing that I might have 'stepped on some toes' here. That was absolutely not my intention. Help me to better understand your thinking and concerns, and let me see if I can clarify where I was coming from."

Listen carefully to how they respond and be open to changing your approach where appropriate. While dealing with the individuals or group, be sure you respect their thinking and acknowledge the validity of their approach. Move on to clarify your approach and explain why it has merit.

The next time you present your recommendations to staff, try labeling them "Preliminary Recommendations for Discussion Purposes". This might set a much better tone for the presentation, showing clearly that you are looking for staff input.

Regards,

George F. Mancuso, CPC, CEO
Client Growth Consultants, Inc.

Building A Strong and Capable Management Team

Building a Capable Management Team Is Paramount For Success of Any Organization

In the past, organizations have clung to the belief that as long as they had competitive products and services, they could enhance their performance by hiring strong leadership and top talent. While this focus has worked in some cases, in today’s highly competitive labor market—and yes, it is going to get much worse—organizations competing for top talent may be missing the essential managerial skills and processes needed to succeed over the long term.

Many research models have suggested that most organizations neglect the role of managers, undervalue the role and therefore suffer from a lack of strong management proficiency. An authoritative  survey I read a few years ago indicated that employees who plan to stay with their current companies are twice as likely as employees who say they might or might not stay to report when their managers recognize their intrinsic talents and encourage them to use those talents to the fullest extent.

I would say that the trend that has emerged is not pretty. Today’s managers are also individual contributors and they spend more of their time doing their "real" jobs—technical aspects of their positions—than they actually spend managing their employees. This behavior poses a problem because today’s employees want more from their managers and workplaces, not less. And they are willing to “take the walk” out of your workplace if they don’t get it.

There is a wealth of research indicating that management behavior is a key factor in retention. This is nothing new. Recent research has consistently shown that dissatisfaction with one’s manager is a top reason for leaving the organization and not the organization itself.

Employees Want:

·         Feedback and Coaching

·         To Feel Like They Are Appreciated

·         Reward and Recognition for Their Work

·         Learning and Development Opportunities

This isn’t rocket science but managing people will always be a highly complex task.  But once you learn HOW to proceed and buy into the fact that people need to be treated as valuable assets and not pawns in the game of life, your employee retention will improve without effort.  Your company will realize a stronger bottom line and become a workplace of choice.

Regards,

George F. Mancuso, CPC, CEO

Client Growth Consultants, Inc.