July 7, 2009

The majority of middle managers believe their job is to hit the numbers.  But far fewer are comfortable with the idea that their job is to hit the numbers by keeping their people involved and enthused in bad times as well as good. 

The importance of managing employees effectively becomes clearer if we ask:  Which organization will hit its numbers –?
One in which employees say, No one cares about what’s happening to me.  I hate coming to work,
or one in which people say, We’re a really strong team, with everyone pulling together.  This is a good place to be.

Managers need to recognize how people feel

While organizations and most managers prefer to deal with facts which are neat and measurable, in terms of people it’s the messy feelings that really matter.  People’s desires, hopes and fears are much more powerful than facts in determining how they react and behave.  That’s clearly true at work where the environment is

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made up of the more powerful and more powerless, the more influential and the more ignored…This makes Kissing Up normal and straight-forward communication rare.  As a result, people’s behavior is a thousand times more informative about how people feel – and therefore how they will behave - than what they say.

There are three general areas managers need to be especially observant about:  behavior at work; how people relate to their manager; and how they interact with peers and colleagues. 

Here are some examples of what to look for:

People are feeling Positive:                                  People are feeling Negative:
                                                    Behavior at Work
There’s a hum of enthusiastic discussion             Overall, it’s pretty silent
Knowledge is shared                                            Knowledge is hoarded
People challenge in order to get solutions           “Consensus” is “kissing up.”
Deadlines are met                                                Deadlines are met by excuses
People are creative and curious                           People are apathetic
                                          Relations With Their Manager
There’s mutual respect and trust                         Mistrust and no respect
Discussions are face to face                                 Interactions are avoided
Relations are collegial                                          Relations are resentful
Both parties learn from each other                      Communication is top-down
The manager is seen as transparent                   The manager plays games
                                     Relations with Peers and Colleagues
People want to respect & like co-workers           Everyone competes
Collaboration flourishes                                      Politics prevails
People interact informally                                    Each individual is isolated
Knowledge and skill create leaders                    “Leaders” are in powerful jobs
The world is a meritocracy                                  Influence & connections matter

The facts are very powerful:  when employees are very enthusiastic and involved, the organization succeeds in terms of financial outcomes.  The current terms for these feelings are Commitment and Engagement.  When people are committed they are proud of their organization and when they are engaged, they see their work as contributing to the organization’s mission, which they strongly believe is important.

Commitment and Engagement are so powerful that high positive scores on measurements of them predict financial success.  The reverse is also true:  strong negative scores of Not Committed and Actively De-Engaged predict failure.  That’s why organizations need to sustain powerful positive feelings about the organization and the work it does in bad times as well as good.

Today, in most organizations, there’s vastly more fear and anxiety than joy and optimism.  That’s seriously bad.  While success and recognition generate positive attitudes and energy, failure and non-recognition deplete and exhaust people.  Organizations’ must get fear and anxiety levels down, and replace those feelings with a sense of hope, the purposefulness of a united and supportive community, and a conviction the future will be better.

WHAT MANAGERS CAN DO TO INCREASE POSITIVE FEELINGS

1.  Increase mutual respect and trust

If you want to know how someone feels about their organization and their job, find out how they feel about their manager.  That relationship is the single most powerful determinant of how that employee feels about work.  The Gallup Organization said it best: “People join organizations but they leave their boss.”

While Commitment and Engagement are crucial, the critical building block underlying those feelings is the relationship between an employee and that person’s direct manager.  Managers are the face of the organization to their subordinates and they must gain their people’s respect and trust.  They do that through their actions:  They tell the truth; they’re clear about what is expected; they recognize everyone’s contribution; they make the playing-field level, and they really listen to subordinate’s observations and suggestions.

Commitment and engagement will increase when managers create opportunities for everyone to earn opportunities to lead, to learn, to contribute, to have more responsibilities, and to innovate and be creative.

2. Communicate Effectively

When people are frightened and there’s no hard information about what’s happening, people create “information.”  Rumors multiply like bacteria in a Petri dish and they are always “worst case”.  A lack of information leads to pessimistic cynicism.  During the last severe recession one executive I knew in a very troubled company decorated her office with a full size hangman’s noose…

The first rule is, give people as much information as possible and never lie.  People can handle specific information, including really bad news, much better than the vacuum of no news. 

While communications can lighten the news or make it more threatening, the basic message must be the truth.  In the long run, people always learn when they’ve been lied to and when that happens, the result is widespread mistrust.  Mistrust creates paranoid feelings; people become so preoccupied with making themselves safe that little work gets done.  Worse, once there is mistrust it is extremely difficult to recreate trust.  And trust is the glue that makes cooperation and collaboration happen.

To be effective, communications need to focus on what’s most important and need to be repeated often enough to make a mark but not so often that they are ignored.  In many organizations, communications are filled with too much information so the focus is lost and messages are repeated so frequently, that repetition deadens any impact. 

Another common mistake occurs when the highest executives deliver the message and believe that because it came from them, that made the message important to subordinates.  But, executives often feel too distant to subordinates who ignore communications from them.  

The most effective communication is focused, direct and brief and comes from a source that is trusted and relevant.  In most cases, that source is the person’s manager. 

Every important communication needs to be evaluated as to its impact.  The question is, did anyone hear the message or believe it is important.  Simply ask, What’s going on?”  If there’s no answer, ask Have you heard anything lately?  If there’s still no answer, that message was never delivered.

3.  Listen Effectively

A really effective communicator does more than tell or answer someone’s questions.  The far greater part of communicating is listening.  Really listening involves focusing on them and not on what you will say.  Managers need to listen, respond with questions, and really hear the answers.  All relationships are cemented when a person is truly “heard”.

Fear is about something specific like, I’m afraid I could lose my job.  The good thing about fears is their specificity because that lends itself to problem solving:  For example, “Since I could lose my job, what can I do to increase my value?  I better have a talk with my manager and get some good ideas”.

Today it is likely that a subordinate is experiencing anxiety as well as fear.  Unlike fear, anxiety is not specific.  Instead, it is a non-specific but powerful feeling of dread and foreboding. 

When people are anxious, managers communicate their support by taking time to listen - without arguing or trying to persuade.  They may attempt to direct the discussion to,  Let’s think about what you might do…which involves trying to transform vague feelings into specific goals and tasks.  If there is no progress because the level of anxiety is too high, the manager can suggest professional counseling.

4.  Increase people’s sense they are recognized as valuable contributors.

A major reason many people in most organizations are not Committed and Engaged is employees are no longer seen as important stakeholders and valuable assets.  The result is many feel like they have become anonymous, replaceable widgets with no control over what’s happening to them.  Feeling anxious, afraid and resentful makes it impossible to feel Committed and Engaged.

The job of the manager is to hit the unit’s targets by motivating, guiding, teaching and encouraging subordinates.  There is nothing more discouraging than performing beyond anything you’ve done before to total silence.  Managers need to recognize and encourage the achievements of their subordinates and celebrate them.

But too many managers and executives boast, I never recognize anyone.   I don’t need any and they shouldn’t either.  Withholding recognition is both dumb and immensely destructive. 

When people have earned recognition, it should be served up with psychological as well as financial generosity.  Nothing motivates like success and nothing reinforces success as much as really joyous celebration.

And lastly, managers are not immune to the same stresses, disappointments and fears as their subordinates.  When managers help subordinates cope in hard and uncertain times, chances are good they will learn what they need to do for themselves.  This is a great and an unexpected benefit.