Archive for April, 2010

While an individual’s behavior is always their personal responsibility, influences do happen. In a business environment, any number of elements, including system breakdowns, interruptions, or unpleasant interactions can take place and completely shutdown an employee’s concentration and shift the focus from their task. Some of these situations are beyond the control of employees. Yet, not only is their performance affected but these elements can damage their attitude, willingness, and desire to cooperate. One significant key to employees’ focus is their manager.  The manager has both a responsibility and an obligation to their staff to create a productive workplace atmosphere. While managers can’t control their employees’ focus, attitudes, or their behavior, they certainly have influence.  Ultimately, the manager’s contribution to reducing or preventing employees from going bad may be of greater value than the skills needed for turning around a bad employee.

There are five things managers fail to do that can damage employee productivity and cause staff to go bad. Don’t fall prey to them.

     Fail to have a clear vision of excellence

The old saying states, when the blind leads the blind, they both fall in the ditch. In the absence of leadership with a clear vision of what excellence in performance truly is, employees will make up their own personal standards, follow the next most persuasive voice, or worse yet, the path of least resistance. None of which may be where the leader wants them to go. It is the obligation of the leader to inspire the group to follow them to an excellent outcome. However, in order to do so, the leader must have a specific destination.  Otherwise, the staff will wander aimlessly until they all fall in the ditch.

     Fail to communicate appropriately

Having a clear vision is only as important as the ability to communicate it.  Poor communication skills are the greatest contributor to the difficulties we have with other people. While this is a problem for anyone who encounters another person, it is exceptionally detrimental for a supervisor trying to achieve results through others.  Leaders must understand that people receive and decode information in several ways. Some need to hear it, others must see, still others have to interact with it in some way before understanding, and more importantly, learning occurs. Unfortunately, most people treat others like they themselves wish to be treated. On the surface that sounds like an equitable, if not honorable way to behave. The problem occurs when they are different than you. Leaders need to communicate and present information how others prefer to communicate to improve dialogue and understanding.

     Fail to transition from a great doer to a great leader

People in healthcare are often promoted to a leadership position in one of three ways. First, they are superstar doers. Second, they are a veteran employee and understand the system well. Third, they may be related to the provider. While these aren’t bad methods to use, they don’t guarantee leadership success. Leadership requires an entirely different skill set than a doer – even a great doer.  Leaders derive pleasure from seeing others succeed.  They resist the urge and thrills attached to doing and begin to appreciate the value of being a great builder of champions. Angelo Dundee never had a professional boxing match, but he has worked with, developed, and trained many legends of boxing including Muhammad Ali and “Sugar” Ray Leonard.  Leaders make the transition from doing to helping others do.  Great leaders bring out the best in others through ongoing training, and development.

     Fail to handle employee performance problems effectively

One of the great frustrations of managers is dealing with the employee who doesn’t perform at expected levels.  Many supervisors respond emotionally, others with avoidance.  Leaders recognize that performance problems may have many causes, and need to be addressed quickly. They could be a result of poor training, miscommunication, lack of vision, or personality conflict.  Once the root cause of the problem is identified, a great leader involves the employee in the solution, providing the employee with an opportunity for growth and problem-solving skill development.

     Fail to live with integrity

People don’t follow people they don’t trust, regardless of the authority level. Trust is paramount to leadership success. The staff expects the supervisor to do what they say they will do at all times and set the example for how things will be handled.  While they may not seem important to you;

• Telling a staff member you will get them an answer and then you forget
• Promising to meet or call a subordinate at a specified time and you don’t.
• Taking something from the work area and not returning it promptly,
• Chastising a staff member about the same behavior when it affects you

All of these seemingly small moments destroy the trust necessary to lead others to higher performance. If they can’t count on you for the small things, they won’t count on you for the big ones.  Another result of your behavior is in its imitation. Remember, people repeat what they see more that what they hear. Be the example they deserve.

When a leader replaces these failings with a clear vision, strong communication skills, encouragement, training and integrity, and they will start to see a positive change from their employees.  As the late president of the Mescalero Apache Nation, Wendell Chino said, “You can’t steer the ship of your tribe, if you cannot first steer your own ship.” Every person in a leadership position would be well served to remember this message and commit it to action.