Emotions and Purpose

In my previous post, "Its Employee Review Time," I wrote about the need to honest and thorough feedback to employees, helping them to further their success.

Like many other occasions in business, employee review time can be very emotional. What is my manager going to say? What am I going to say in response? Am I going to get a raise? Questions such as these shouldn't be asked, IF the manager has been providing feedback throughout the year.

In the July 28 issue of Business Week, Jack and Suzy Welch address how to handle emotions in the workplace. They mention that getting a handle on negative emotions and dysfunctional behavior is critical.

From the article, "All it takes is an active commitment to remove uncertainty from your company and to instill a purpose-oriented approach to inspiration."

Most managers would agree that removing all uncertainty is impossible. Rather, managers can remove certain elements of uncertainty. For example, regular feedback removes the uncertainty of where an employee stands in their managers' mind. Additionally, statements about the business, like Jack Stack's Open-Book Management, give employees all of the relevant facts about the business. In good times, but especially bad, their is relief in knowing.

Managers should also provide purpose. When employees have a clear purpose, whether via a mission or vision statement, they are able create their schedules and fix their minds on a defined goal. The goal helps to reduce uncertainty and provides a rally point.

Does this sound an awful lot like common sense? You bet. Dealing with emotions and uncertainty are things managers do everyday, most of the time using common sense. Open and honest communication is the key to good management, an empowered workforce, and a successful company.

Manager 2.0, Part V

The post has finally arrived, the last in the series of five on management, Web 2.0 style. Through the previous four posts, we have discussed several topics, from Open-Book Management, compensation, and even Total Quality Management. In this post, we shall discuss items relating to deadlines and opportunities.

Item 13 states: "Deadlines agreed on and set by those doing the work." One could suggest that this isn't realistic, as it ignores both the internal and external customer needs. Consider home renovation. Does the customer allow the contractor to dictate how long the job will take, or is the schedule negotiated? Also, what if those doing the work are inefficient and their scheduling of the work promotes inefficiency? While a negotiated work schedule is best, no one side should have the scheduling power.

Item 14 states: "Employees create opportunities to learn and to be challenged." This is an excellent statement. Employees should be doing this any way! Suppose an employee has access to the company's online training resources. Shouldn't that employee take the opportunity to learn about new things in the business, or just improve other skills? It is always better to be proactive. Study the business, ask questions about the direction of the business, and be prepared to change.

As the Bible states, "There is nothing new under the sun." In each of the 14 topics, we have seen how the cultural phenomenon of Web 2.0 is causing managers to rethink how they operate their business and how they relate to their employees. Web 2.0 has brought acceptance of self-service, as well as acceptance of rapid change. While these elements have been demonstrated as positive for business, they have always required strong leadership. Let's hope that these Web 2.0 lessons will make for a more efficient, and stronger Manager 2.0