Mitch's Blog

It’s hard to stay positive all the time. Life doesn’t always give us exactly what we want, and often that irritates us. When we get frustrated or irritated, we can do a few things. One, we can totally shut down; two, we can try to make things bad for whomever got on our nerve; three, we can find alternative ways to work our way through it.

When it comes to work, the same types of things occur. I remember once finishing a project that didn’t end on the high note I was hoping for. What occurred is that new management came into the organizations I was working for, which had split near the end of the engagement, and basically decided to shut down the project step by step. I didn’t have a problem with that; after all, that’s the life of an independent consultant. What I didn’t like, though, was how communications pretty much shut down over the last three weeks of the project.

All seemed well at both places initially. However, it became clear pretty fast that there were some changes coming. Access was starting to be shut down in some cases, with no explanation, even when questions were asked. By the time notice was given that the assignment would be ending (the contract called for two weeks notice of the ending of any engagements), it was already apparent based on what had been occurring.

Though good work had been performed, proven by an increase in legitimate revenues over a period of 3 months, the new management pretty much acted like myself and the other consultants didn’t exist. They weren’t there for our successes, so we meant nothing to them. Even some of the personnel who were there while we were doing our thing suddenly seemed uncomfortable. One day, two senior directors of one of the organizations came into the office I was working out of, and wouldn’t even look at me, though I said hello. The lack of appreciation and professionalism was appalling, and I was ready to end the project there and then and come home.

Taking a look back on the three things I mentioned above, I had some options. I could have checked out and left. The way I saw things, they probably wouldn’t have even noticed that I had left. Whereas they had abided by the contract and informed me of their decision, the truth is that I could have left the same day without any problems, because they had already made other provisions that didn’t include any of the work I was still doing for them, and I’d have still gotten paid. However, I knew that had I left it wouldn’t have left the new management with a good impression of me or my company; I’d have never had an opportunity to work with them again, even if it didn’t look like I was going to work with them again anyway. Because of the lack of communication, I don’t even know that they noticed I was still around, but I had pride in the work I still had to do, and was going to put in my time.

I could have tried to sabotage the organization. Even though much access had been taken away, not all of it had been, because I still had some work to do. Were I the vindictive type, I could have easily set some things in motion that they wouldn’t have ever caught, or certainly wouldn’t have been able to track back to me. Some people feel justified in certain situations to get even; not me.

I did the third option I mentioned. Whereas the new upper management wouldn’t talk to me, the individual managers that I’d been working with before were still engaging me. Those individuals, as well as other employees I’d worked with, were glad to have me still helping them out until the final days, and were glad that I was still around. Those who commented to me said they’d never had anyone else who’d taken an interest in them or their departmental issues, and they lamented that I was leaving.

The sense of appreciation was welcome, and it reminded me of the maxim that all anyone really wants is to be shown a little bit of appreciation for the work they do. I worked up until the next to last day, when I finally completed the final projects I had set for myself. At that point, I decided I wouldn’t come in the next day, because I didn’t want to get paid for doing nothing, which is what I had left to do; luckily, I got paid anyway.

Every day managers go into the workplace and take their employees for granted. Many of them feel that paying employees should be a good enough reason for them to give the best they have to offer, and that nothing else is needed. Money has been proven not to be the best motivator of employee behavior. What does it cost you to give and show a little bit of appreciation for the work others give to you? If people are performing well, does it hurt to let them know you’ve noticed? Doesn’t every one want to know that what they’re doing is valued by someone? Don’t you?

Don’t save it for only work either. Every encounter you have tomorrow, and for the next week, look for a reason to say thank you to someone. If they deserve more than that, then say something. Watch the look on their faces change; you’ll feel better for it.
 

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2012 Mitch  Mitchell

Good management principles can help turn around bad situations. Teaching someone how to become a good manager if they wish to learn can be a rewarding experience. Trying to teach someone those same concepts when they don’t want to learn them can be frustrating and hard to overcome; most likely, you’re wasting your time. However, even in that situation, you can still show how those principles, when put into place, can help turn a department around.

I was requested to do a short term consulting assignment, and one of the things I was asked to do was work with two supervisors who weren’t performing up to standard, or so I had been told. Because I knew something about the industry, it was pretty easy for me to ascertain just what each supervisor’s duties were.

The first thing I did was learn that there was no job description for either supervisor position. I took the time to write one for each of them, because I believe that if a person doesn’t know what’s expected of them, they don’t know what they’re supposed to be performing up to. I also decided that I didn’t want to immediately start working with both supervisors at the same time, because one area was more crucial, at least in the eyes of administration, than the other area.

I had the first supervisor come to see me. I asked her if she knew that management had certain expectations of her; she said yes. I asked her if she knew what those expectations were; she said no. She told me she’d been told she was responsible for one particular process, but then wasn’t instructed on what she needed to do to work with others in getting that process working. I asked her if she’d ever been given a job description; she said no, the answer I knew she’d give. I then pulled out the job description I wrote and gave it to her, and asked her to read it. After about five minutes, she looked up and said “whew”. I asked what she thought and she said that was a lot, but that she thought she could do it.

We then worked on a strategic plan based on the job description. The process she was responsible for was time critical, so we worked on that premise. What was going to be involved was her walking around to visit each employee at specific times during the day and monitoring their overall progress towards completing their tasks. By doing this, she would know well in advance who was falling behind and why, and if the reasons were legitimate she could shift some of the work onto another person. She would also know what might be missing and could address those issues much sooner.

Then we talked about the position and job duties of a supervisor. She had been promoted to the position after working alongside many of the people who now reported to her for many years. She was a good worker, but as a supervisor, she thought that meant she was supposed to produce more work than anyone else. Instead, we worked on the reality that, though she might still have to do the same work from time to time, her responsibilities were more along the lines of review, monitor and report rather than work. She was being judged on the output of many, not what she herself was doing on a daily basis.

The next day, we started the new process. I walked around with her that first day, giving her support as well as helping her to explain to everyone what she was going to be doing on a daily basis from that point on.

There were four messages that needed to get across to each employee. One, there was an expectation that this particular work would be done within a specific time frame daily.

Two, someone was going to be checking on them multiple times during the day; they weren’t going to be invisible employees anymore.

Three, she was going to be there to help them as they learned the time transition, but this wasn’t a short term thing; she was going to be doing this from now on.

And four, she was going to show them she cared about them, and what they were going through, and was going to try to do whatever she could to give them support.

That first day, the new process took a long time to get through; the second day, which I also walked around with her on, the process was much shorter. By the third day, I only walked around with her the first and last time, and the new process was working perfectly. The employees knew when she would be there, they knew what they had to have for her, and because she knew what each employee had and where they were with their assignments, she knew how to fill out the reports and send the information to management, which they were happy to finally be receiving.

During that third day, I decided it was time to meet with the other supervisor. The process she was responsible for wasn’t as time critical, but overall was more important than what the other supervisor was over. She was also another long time employee who had been promoted to the position with no advanced warning, nor assistance, in how to do the job now required.

I asked her to come to the office I was using for a meeting. I began by asking her the same questions I’d asked the other supervisor, and received the same answers as before. I gave her a copy of the job description for review, and she took about five minutes to do it. When she was finished I asked her what she thought, and she said she thought it was unrealistic for anyone to assume one person could do everything that was listed. I asked her why and her response was “How do they expect anyone to get any work done if we have to do all of that?”

The job description was very close to the one for the other supervisor, with only two changes that pertained directly to the process she was over; the reaction didn’t wash. We talked about it for a short while, and though she agreed that management was judging her on all that was listed on the job description, she felt it was their issue, and that their expectations were just too high.

I showed her a procedure I’d written for the employees she was responsible for to learn. She thought it was good, but said she didn’t believe any of the employees would ever learn it. We talked about ways for her to monitor those employees, and she said she didn’t have time to check on people during the day because she was too busy, that people needed to be responsible for themselves. While I agree with that statement in principle, I also believe management needs to foster that attitude from the beginning, and sometimes one has to take a step back in order to move forward later on. I told her that, and she said it wouldn’t work; she was giving up before we ever got it off the ground.

Still, the next day we started out trying the process I felt would work, and she grudgingly went along with it in the morning. But by the afternoon, she had decided she wasn’t going to do the rest of it. I wasn’t in a position to make her do anything, but I knew the process would work, so I decided to assume that part of her responsibilities for a week, just to see what would happen.

By the end of the second week, remarkable changes had started occurring. For the first supervisor, the numbers she was reporting were remarkable. Things were flowing smoothly, she’d only had one minor bump in the road that I was able to help her through, and she wasn’t feeling any stress because she had direction and a full process to follow through on. It had made her work easier to do, and management was happy with the reports she was sending them.

For the second supervisor, I was doing the daily follow up with employees, and their numbers jumped also. However, management was receiving the reports from me; I figured that since I was the one doing the process, I was going to report the numbers. The other supervisor had never done reports anyway, so she was oblivious to their being completed.

Unfortunately, for her, because I was there in a consulting role, I had to report that she was uncooperative on following the process and that they would have to make a decision on whether she was going to be a long term project for them or whether they were going to have to go in a different direction. I had shown them that the process would work, with the right person in the position.

The only limitations to whether a bad situation can become a good one are the limitations of the mind. Negative thinking makes everything fail; positive thinking makes everything possible. What mindset will you adopt, as a manager, and what results will you hope to attain?
 

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2012 Mitch  Mitchell

I often get questions from friends and employees on how to deal with their supervisors and managers. They often seem to feel that they’re not being treated fairly compared to how they see someone else being treated. Since I’m not in the office I’m never quite sure whether it’s a matter of perception or reality. Often it doesn’t matter.

What I notice most of the time is that problems occur when there’s a break down in communications. Actually, I think that’s an overused metaphor because sometimes there’s never been any real communications to begin with; can’t break something down that never existed.

Often this is the fault of ineffective management, because managers need to know how to communicate with their employees. But if you as an employee is always going to wait for a bad manager to come to you then you’re not going to get any satisfaction. That’s pretty much standard for everyone; if you wait for things to happen, instead of trying to do something to change them, you’ll end up with nothing but frustration.

I believe the first step is always trying to set up a meeting with your supervisor to discuss your issues. This is a very proactive move, and if you’ve got a supervisor who’s at least willing to listen to you then you’re on the right track.

Make sure you have your issues organized in some fashion and have thought them through, because the last thing you want to do is waste someone else’s time. As a manager, I was willing to help an employee express exactly what they were hoping to get across, but you can’t assume every person in a management position will do the same thing. If the issue is personal, make sure to keep your emotions in check as you discuss the issue; you don’t want to risk turning the manager off with too much emotion. Make sure your words stress how serious you feel the problems are.

With this, you’ve crossed the threshold of the communication gap that sometimes happens between people on different levels of the employment stairs. However, there are some things you need to consider. One, your supervisor may not agree with what you have to say. You’re not always right, but then again neither is the supervisor. Remember that the issue is communications, not necessarily total agreement.

Two, watch out for the “whiner” tag. There are some people who are always complaining about something, and supervisors really hate to deal with those people. If the issue is important enough to you and you’re not getting any satisfaction, be prepared to go the next step up with your complaint. Unless your supervisor’s answer seems to be a thoughtful response to what you’ve had to say, you don’t have to allow someone else to demean your concerns.

Three, remember what I said at number one; your supervisor’s supervisor may not agree with you either. At that point you have two things you can do. Either look back at your issue and see if you’re possibly wrong in your assessment, or realize that your issue definitely needs some kind of satisfaction and be ready to take it to the next level once again. Well, there is a third option, but deciding to leave a company is always a hard decision to make.

Four, know your rights. If the issue is one of some kind of harassment or discrimination you’re definitely covered by state and federal employment laws. If the issue is procedural yet illegal you’re protected under federal laws also. If the issue is procedural yet not illegal you may just have to learn to live with it, because if it doesn’t work it’ll get changed soon enough. If the issue is personal, well, you have the option of deciding if it’s a one time thing that you can move beyond or need to look for employment elsewhere.

Sometimes your perception of how things are isn’t what someone else’s perception of the same event is; that’s why we’re all different. But if it’s something you can’t live with only you can make the initial decision as to what’s best for you. My favorite phrase, even to myself, is ‘just do something.’
 

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2012 Mitch  Mitchell

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