Document Author: Rick Lynch, VMSystems
Snap Judgment Selection of Employees:
Supervisors often goof at the beginning. Poor worker selection may mean years of worker unhappiness and conflict with fellow workers and supervisors. If the supervisor does a poor job of sizing up the applicant, then a misfit is as likely as not to occur.
Letting the Job Grow Out of Control
Careless supervisors plus particularly ambitious or lazy workers can shape jobs carelessly. New duties are assigned to the worker who has the capability or the time to squeeze the work in. Lazy workers tend to shrug off unpleasant, demanding or boring duties. Ambitious workers sometimes gobble up all the duties in sight - without regard to whether they are wasting their high-level skills carrying a gold-brick. Good supervision requires good job design.
Failure to Make Assignments Clear
Vague instructions are bad. Supervisors should make specific, detailed assignments and then give subordinates the authority needed to accomplish them. A worker can't do a job without adequate authority. Divided responsibility results in misunderstanding conflict and low productivity
Being a Boss Rather than a Leader
"When I give an order around here, I want it obeyed!" Everybody knows the type. The easy way for a supervisor is to know it all and brook no interference. It's much easier to handle problems if one doesn't have to consider alternative solutions and possible disadvantages.
Indifference toward Discipline and Recognition
Nothing makes subordinates more indifferent toward discipline and achievement than the supervisor who couldn't care less. High morale and high productivity are engendered by the supervisor who demands good quality work and recognizes and regards achievement. The important thing is that recognition is given and more significant achievements are openly acknowledged.
Too Busy to Train
The supervisor who is too busy getting out production to take the time to train subordinates adequately isn't doing a good job. This kind of supervisor is the fellow who can never be away from their own job. More often than not, proper employee training would make it easier to reach production goals.
Playing Everything Close to the Chest
Perhaps worst of all is the supervisor who keeps to all to themselves. They neglect to pass the work. Nobody knows where they stand. Instructions from this person are curt and incomplete. Questions are frowned on or rejected. This kind of supervisor typically keeps their own bosses in the dark, too. Turnover, overloads, slowdowns, and other problems occur unexpectedly.
How do you fix these problems or prevent them from happening in the first place?
Train, Train, Train!! http://www.pwhrm.com/
Showing posts with label employee assessments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label employee assessments. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
7 Tips for Raising the Productivity of your Team
Top consultant Susan M. Heathfield, who serves as HR expert for the website About.com, suggests the following seven ways in which you can encourage positive, powerful self-expectations in the employees on your team.
1. Provide increasingly challenging assignments for your team members. (Make sure employees succeed at each level before moving forward.)
2. Enable each team member to participate in potentially successful projects that bring continuous improvement to the workplace.
3. Provide one-on-one coaching for your team members. (This coaching should emphasize improving what the employee does well rather than focusing on weaknesses.)
4. Provide developmental opportunities that reflect what the employee is interested in learning about.
5. Assign successful senior employees to play a developmental mentoring role with team members.
6. Hold frequent, positive verbal interactions with team members, and communicate consistently your firm belief in each employee's ability to perform the job. Keep feedback positive and developmental where possible.
7. Make sure team members receive consistent messages from other supervisory personnel. How you speak about employees to others powerfully molds their opinions.
Employee & Leadership Training, Employee Assessments, and Team Building Activities are all great tools for increasing the productivity of you team.
1. Provide increasingly challenging assignments for your team members. (Make sure employees succeed at each level before moving forward.)
2. Enable each team member to participate in potentially successful projects that bring continuous improvement to the workplace.
3. Provide one-on-one coaching for your team members. (This coaching should emphasize improving what the employee does well rather than focusing on weaknesses.)
4. Provide developmental opportunities that reflect what the employee is interested in learning about.
5. Assign successful senior employees to play a developmental mentoring role with team members.
6. Hold frequent, positive verbal interactions with team members, and communicate consistently your firm belief in each employee's ability to perform the job. Keep feedback positive and developmental where possible.
7. Make sure team members receive consistent messages from other supervisory personnel. How you speak about employees to others powerfully molds their opinions.
Employee & Leadership Training, Employee Assessments, and Team Building Activities are all great tools for increasing the productivity of you team.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
What 8 things do employees want?
Hint, money is not on the list...
This article was origianally printed in BLR's weekly newsletter.
Is money the key to retention and productivity? It helps, says the Christian Science Monitor's Marilyn Gardner, but it's not enough. Beyond pay and benefits lie eight key factors that influence "happiness" at work-factors that motivate workers and keep them at your organization. Here's our distillation of Gardner's eight factors, as found on the website, communityinvestmentnetwork.org.
1. Appreciation
Praise heads the list for many workers, and it doesn't cost the employer anything to provide it, says Gardner. A sincere thank you or a short note can mean a great deal.
2. Respect
Again there is no cost and a big payback. Respect plays out in letting people know that their work is appreciated, in treating them like adults, and in being fair in your dealings with them.
3. Trust
Trust is the action side of respect. People need guidance, but they need to know that their boss trusts them to be able to get a job done on their own.
4. Individual Growth
Today's workers-especially the Gen Y group-want training, want to take on new challenges, and want to advance based on their new abilities. Giving a raise without increasing responsibilities could actually backfire, notes Gardner. As one expert says, if you give more money to an unhappy employee, you end up with a wealthier unhappy employee.
5. Good Boss
It's the old saw: People don't leave companies, they leave bosses. In a recent Robert Half survey, Gardner notes that 1,000 Gen Y workers ranked "working with a manager I can respect and learn from" as the most important aspect of their work environment.
6. Compatible Co-workers
Working with people you enjoy is also very important, says Gardner. Spending the day-every day-with people you don't like does not make for a productive workplace.
7. Compatible Culture
Employees want a work environment that fits their needs. That could mean hard-driving, high paying, or it could mean high flexibility and significant attention to work/life balance.
8. A Sense of Purpose
People want to know that they are contributing to something worthwhile. They need to know what the organization's core purpose is and what it is trying to achieve. And then they need to know how their particular job fits into the whole.
One of the interesting things that Gardner discovered about employee "happiness" is that there is a disconnect between what managers think and what employees think about happiness at work.
Managers tend to think that salary and benefits are the main motivators, while workers consistently respond that factors such as those mentioned above are what's important. Successful organizations will find a good balance to retain their best people.
Employee Training, Employee Assessments, and Team Building Activities are all great tools to use to improve employee engagement.
This article was origianally printed in BLR's weekly newsletter.
Is money the key to retention and productivity? It helps, says the Christian Science Monitor's Marilyn Gardner, but it's not enough. Beyond pay and benefits lie eight key factors that influence "happiness" at work-factors that motivate workers and keep them at your organization. Here's our distillation of Gardner's eight factors, as found on the website, communityinvestmentnetwork.org.
1. Appreciation
Praise heads the list for many workers, and it doesn't cost the employer anything to provide it, says Gardner. A sincere thank you or a short note can mean a great deal.
2. Respect
Again there is no cost and a big payback. Respect plays out in letting people know that their work is appreciated, in treating them like adults, and in being fair in your dealings with them.
3. Trust
Trust is the action side of respect. People need guidance, but they need to know that their boss trusts them to be able to get a job done on their own.
4. Individual Growth
Today's workers-especially the Gen Y group-want training, want to take on new challenges, and want to advance based on their new abilities. Giving a raise without increasing responsibilities could actually backfire, notes Gardner. As one expert says, if you give more money to an unhappy employee, you end up with a wealthier unhappy employee.
5. Good Boss
It's the old saw: People don't leave companies, they leave bosses. In a recent Robert Half survey, Gardner notes that 1,000 Gen Y workers ranked "working with a manager I can respect and learn from" as the most important aspect of their work environment.
6. Compatible Co-workers
Working with people you enjoy is also very important, says Gardner. Spending the day-every day-with people you don't like does not make for a productive workplace.
7. Compatible Culture
Employees want a work environment that fits their needs. That could mean hard-driving, high paying, or it could mean high flexibility and significant attention to work/life balance.
8. A Sense of Purpose
People want to know that they are contributing to something worthwhile. They need to know what the organization's core purpose is and what it is trying to achieve. And then they need to know how their particular job fits into the whole.
One of the interesting things that Gardner discovered about employee "happiness" is that there is a disconnect between what managers think and what employees think about happiness at work.
Managers tend to think that salary and benefits are the main motivators, while workers consistently respond that factors such as those mentioned above are what's important. Successful organizations will find a good balance to retain their best people.
Employee Training, Employee Assessments, and Team Building Activities are all great tools to use to improve employee engagement.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Hire for attitude, train for skill.
"I just don't understand why everyone at work is complaining about me," a woman in my office whined. "The same thing happened at my last job too." Though she could not see the cause/effect of her actions, it was clear she was alienating people in the workplace. The most likely reason? Her attitude.
Unfortunately, I have never had any success "adjusting" someone else's attitude. I learned early in my management experience that it was easier to teach new skills than it was to change attitudes. To find employees with great attitudes, the following guidelines for hiring and staff development are helpful:
*The best you will ever see is the first 90 days. If you have a problem with an employee while they are still on probation, you might as well cut bait. This is the time that they have their best foot forward.
*If they complain about the last boss, they will complain about you too. Exercise great caution in hiring someone who has nothing good to say about his or her last boss or last position. It may be more about them than their employment. People who blame are hard to coach.
*Are they an optimist or pessimist? Ascertain how they appear to see the world. Pessimistic people tend to be energy suckers in the workplace and can breed an institutional pathology that pulls others into their negative energy.
*Do they demonstrate personal insight and a commitment to their development? Those committed to ongoing self-improvement are much more coachable and willing to learn new skills and behaviors. Ask in the interview what areas may need improvement. Inquire about the details of the candidate's personal plan for development.
*Are they coachable? How receptive to feedback do they seem to be? It's easy to assess in an interview; offer them some suggestions regarding their resume. If they are quick to disagree, defend, or actually become huffy, they are not likely to welcome your input on more significant matters.
*Do they listen? You can forget all of the above if the potential employee is not a good listener. They will have performance problems, people conflict and difficulty receiving feedback.
There are three keys to truly ensure the quality and effectiveness of your hiring process and consequently of those you hire. They are:
1. Competency Modeling
2. Effective Interviewing Processes and Techniques.
3. Comprehensive Candidate Assessments.
For more helpful hiring tips check out http://www.pwhrm.com/
Unfortunately, I have never had any success "adjusting" someone else's attitude. I learned early in my management experience that it was easier to teach new skills than it was to change attitudes. To find employees with great attitudes, the following guidelines for hiring and staff development are helpful:
*The best you will ever see is the first 90 days. If you have a problem with an employee while they are still on probation, you might as well cut bait. This is the time that they have their best foot forward.
*If they complain about the last boss, they will complain about you too. Exercise great caution in hiring someone who has nothing good to say about his or her last boss or last position. It may be more about them than their employment. People who blame are hard to coach.
*Are they an optimist or pessimist? Ascertain how they appear to see the world. Pessimistic people tend to be energy suckers in the workplace and can breed an institutional pathology that pulls others into their negative energy.
*Do they demonstrate personal insight and a commitment to their development? Those committed to ongoing self-improvement are much more coachable and willing to learn new skills and behaviors. Ask in the interview what areas may need improvement. Inquire about the details of the candidate's personal plan for development.
*Are they coachable? How receptive to feedback do they seem to be? It's easy to assess in an interview; offer them some suggestions regarding their resume. If they are quick to disagree, defend, or actually become huffy, they are not likely to welcome your input on more significant matters.
*Do they listen? You can forget all of the above if the potential employee is not a good listener. They will have performance problems, people conflict and difficulty receiving feedback.
There are three keys to truly ensure the quality and effectiveness of your hiring process and consequently of those you hire. They are:
1. Competency Modeling
2. Effective Interviewing Processes and Techniques.
3. Comprehensive Candidate Assessments.
For more helpful hiring tips check out http://www.pwhrm.com/
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