Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: A New Managers Tale

This article relates to the Manager/Supervisor competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. This competency evaluates an employee's feelings regarding their direct manager or supervisor. The manager/supervisor competency covers topics like clarity of goals, manager support, coaching and feedback, and regular reviews of performance. The old adage that "people leave their managers, not organizations" is often true. Of all the workplace stressors, a bad immediate manager is one of the worst and will directly impact the emotional health, productivity, and retention of an employee. This competency can be especially insightful if your organization is losing quality employees while your compensation and benefit packages are equivalent with industry standards.

This article, A New Manager's Tale, is part of AlphaMeasure's compilation, Tales from the Corporate Frontlines. It tells the story of a new manager's search for wise advice that will lead him to a successful career with a new company.

Anonymous Submission

As a recent college graduate, I'd just landed my first management position and was eager to begin. My start date was a few weeks away, and I decided to read up on the management techniques and principles I learned in college. I wanted to be successful with my new company, but more than that, I wanted to be successful and popular with the people I would supervise.

As I sat in my local bookstore coffee shop one afternoon, poring over books and magazine articles, an old friend wandered by. Joe and I had worked together at one of my college jobs for two summers, and when he saw me, he stopped by to chat for a few minutes. He saw what I was reading and asked if he could offer a few hints from his own experience.

A middle-aged worker, Joe was an employee with a great work ethic and sense of company loyalty. He also had experience working for many different managers over the years. I trusted him and wanted his input. "Go ahead," I said, and settled back with my coffee to listen.

" First of all, Joe began, when you give instructions, be as clear as you can. Don't expect your people to read your mind. Let them know what you need, how and when you need it - with regard to workload. Don't make them guess, they hate it and it wastes time and results in unnecessary extra work and inferior quality."

"Secondly, if you have a problem with someone's performance or conduct - take it to the back room. Discuss it, one on one, in private and come to an agreement. I've seen managers berate their employees publicly and come to regret it. In fact, I once saw that practice clear out an entire department - person by person."

"Perhaps most importantly, don't hold back on praising your workers for a job well done. It doesn't cost anything and lets them know that their hard work is appreciated."

"You are their boss, and they want to please you. It's the reason they come to work - other than a paycheck. The company I'm with now actually rewarded managers who scored highly on giving praise and recognition on their recent employee satisfaction survey. Many of them received hefty bonuses."

Joe stopped to sip his coffee. "Is that it?" I asked. "No, he smiled, but those three ought to give you a great start. Good luck, I know you'll do just fine".

I said goodbye to my friend, and a week later started my new job. I've tried to follow his advice and be clear, tactful, and forthcoming with positive recognition. So far---so good!

This article may be reprinted, provided it is published in its entirety, includes the author bio information, and all links remain active.

Measure. Report. Improve your organization with AlphaMeasure employee satisfaction surveys.

Josh Greenberg is President of AlphaMeasure, Inc.

AlphaMeasure provides organizations of all sizes a powerful web based method for measuring employee satisfaction, determining employee engagement, and increasing employee retention.

Launch your employee satisfaction surveys with AlphaMeasure.

More resources:

RELATED ARTICLES

Effective Meetings Begin With a Real Agenda
Everyone knows that an agenda is the key to an effective meeting. But an agenda that consists of a list of nouns, such as budget, software, and picnic, is useless.

Know Your Business! - 7 Key Questions You Must Ask
You need to know all that is going on around you to be successful in business, whatever the size of your organization. Yet how do you keep all those plates spinning? Here are just 7 quick and easy questions for your checklist - use them and they will serve you well.

Writing and Revising Your Life Story
Change is not simple. Why do we repeat behavior that doesn't work? Those actions that lead to stifling debt, disappointing careers, or stuck relationships? Then do it harder, yet expect a different result? Why is it not obvious that trying to exit an old story by simply writing a "better ending" only recreates the same story, and ensures that we remain in it? That a thousand better endings to an old story don't create a new story? That the past cannot be changed and is a settled matter? That too often, we see ourselves as the victims of the stories that we author and the feelings we create?We actively construct what we think, feel, and experience.

25 Super-Practical Steps to Build Your Business!
For the past several weeks, we have focused on some wonderful but (to my way of thinking) rather fancy ideas about life. I wrote about motivation (I don't believe in it).

Keys to Feeling Powerfull In An Uncertain World
Life has always been full of uncertainties. Over the last several years with downsizing, bankruptcies, scandals, crime, the economic environment, and the threat of war, people are feeling power-less, fearful, and stressed about their present and future lives.

Personnel Access Poses a Continued Risk
The Security Consultant's Perspective..

Its All About The Customers, Baby
If you want to ensure a steady stream of customers in your business, you must always remember why you're in business in the first place.Sure you want to earn a decent income for yourself, but you also want to provide a useful service don't you?That second reason should take precedence over the first.

Ringing Doorbells Without Howitzers
Many operations leaders have been there, done that with re-engineering. And they report, in effect, that the process is like ringing a doorbell with a howitzer shell.

10 Critical Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Consultant
Talk to as many consultants as you can before hiring one. Even if you have one person or firm in mind, interview at least a few others as a sort of due diligence.

Creative Writing - business principles produce more quality work, faster
Maximization methodologies have long been used in business to produce quantities of quality ideas, faster. Creative writers who want to rapidly produce quantities of quality work should apply these same principles.

Performance Appraisal Scenarios: Improve Your Communication
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION DURING THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: If the employee has trouble getting started on the self-appraisal you might say: "Why don't you start by talking about the XYZ project?" (Pick a topic that the employee will feel comfortable with, a success rather than a failure.) "It seems to me that the PDQ project was harder than we expected.

Steps in Using the Critical Incident Technique
STEPS IN USING THE CRITICAL INCIDENT TECHNIQUE:1) The incident. Read, review, or assume roles.

How to Attract and Retain the Right People
If you're one of the many executives struggling with finding and keeping the right people to propel your business forward, you'll find these insights helpful.If you're frustrated by trying to motivate people, work instead to develop a company where people are self-motivated - where they do things because they want to.

Questions To Ask Employees You Want To Retain
Times of cost cutting and downsizing has dramatically impacted the way employees look at their careers. Employees at all levels now know better than ever that job security is no longer something they can count on.

How to Make a Difference Every Day
Every day, everyone can make the world a better place. It's simple; it's quick and it is free.

What Makes a Crisis a Crisis?
If you're old enough and were living in America about 30 years ago, you may remember the scandal in the motion picture industry known as "the Begelman affair" or "Hollywoodgate."A skillful analysis of the crisis that rocked Columbia Pictures, a leading company in its field, is presented by Steven Fink in his book, "Crisis Management: Planning for theInevitable.

You Cant Not Communicate
Most of us would like to be better communicators. As leaders, co-workers, team members and in all of the other roles we play both professionally and personally, we know that communication is a major key to success.

Lawyers With 2 Hands And Everything Else
I heard this back a few years ago. The boss yelled, "Get me a good lawyer but not the one with two hands!""Huh?" secretary was puzzled.

Productive Meetings: How to Make Your Meetings More Productive
There's one simple secret to effective meetings: set an agenda and stick to it. The agenda drives the content and outcomes of the meeting and, where appropriate, should reflect the needs of all attendees so everyone has a buy-in and an interest in the outcomes.

Never Wrestle with a PIG
The business books at the library and book stores fill many shelves. Some authors tend to run a little long at the keyboard.