The GarbageFactor™

Because Employee Engagement is not about the money!

Archive for category Managers

Nothing Like Inspiring the Team

Nov 6

Posted by Marian Madonia in Communication, GarbageFactor, Managers, Toxic Environments | Comments off

I sat in on a business meeting yesterday where a department head was giving a report on what his team had been up to during the past year.  The meeting’s focus was team building and information.  His intention was to share changes and build confidence in his team so that other departments would have more confidence in the team. When he was done with his 20 minutes, the only thing I was confident of was that I’d never want anything to do with that team.

In 20 minutes, he managed to insult the team 8 times (and insult 2 other departments once each).  That’s one insult every 2.5 minutes.  The GarbageFactor™ in full force!

These were so bad, I had to write them down.  Ready for the groaners?

Regarding the mission statement “I’m not saying we’re actually doing these things.”

“We’ve had some challenges there, we’ve made some mistakes, but we’re improving.”

“We weren’t hired to be creative.” (The teams work involves about 70% creativity)

“We’re not smart enough to do this by ourselves.”

“We weren’t doing our job in the past.”

“We have to get better at it.”

“We’re struggling with quarterly updates.”

We’re going to continue to make mistakes.”

He then referred to one department as “obstacles to communicating with clients” and another department as “the big Gorilla.”

You can’t make this Garbage up!

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Meeting at 1 pm – Topic: Why we’re not Meeting Goals

Oct 28

Posted by Marian Madonia in Communication, Managers, Toxic Environments | Comments off

A Tweet I saw earlier today got me thinking.  Take a read and see what comes to your mind.

@The_Troy_Show “We will continue having meetings, everyday, until I find out why no work is getting done.”

This so clearly summed up what happens in many organizations.  Meetings are scheduled because it’s the way things have been done, but no one stops and thinks about whether the meeting will be effective and efficient or whether there may be another way to accomplish the task(s) at hand.  Organizations also don’t evaluate past meetings to see if they’ve met the same effectiveness & efficiency standards.

There are many books and experts on managing time and meetings (@chucbarnes is one of my favorites). So why aren’t people using this information?

I’ve always decided whether or not to attend a meeting by which of my body parts needs to be present in the meeting.  It’s simple, if my mouth & brain need to be at the meeting, I attend, if only my ears need to attend the meeting, I check notes from someone else who attended.

That’s easy enough for me, I manage my own schedule.  But why don’t managers show respect for their employees’ time by giving them the same rule?  If employees don’t want to attend a meeting, then they don’t see the value, or something else holds more value at the time. Managers need to make sure the meeting has value (and don’t use spin…employees can see right through it).  Many meetings do impart valuable information, but when there are too many meetings on the schedule, people have difficulty discerning which ones are important.

Meetings need to be assessed for effectiveness the same as any other activity within an organization.  Listen to employees.  They can probably tell you which meetings are the good ones.

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Kept in the Dark

Oct 26

Posted by Marian Madonia in Communication, GarbageFactor, Managers, Stress in the Workplace | Comments off

I stopped by a furniture store this week to pick up a new desk chair.  As I was checking out, there was a sign behind the cashier that announced that you could “win a $1000 shopping spree.”  I asked the cashier how I could win and he went from smiling and happy to down with a visible loss of energy.  He said to me “to be honest ma’am, that sign was here when I came in this morning, but no one told me what it’s about.  We are too busy to leave the cash registers to find out, so I’ve looked stupid all day because I can’t tell customers how to enter.”

Management often expects employee’s to be proactive, but if you don’t follow through and make sure they have the ability to be proactive, then it is the same as purposefully keeping people in the dark.  If management has implemented something new, then it is management’s responsibility to inform staff of what is new and how it will affect them.  Employee’s need time to learn and ask questions.  They deal with customers on a day to day basis and will likely know the types of questions that customers will ask.

Keeping employees informed is not limited to new things for customers.  Managers need to ask “What is new?” and “Who else needs to know about this?”  Then they need to get out there and inform staff.  Small efforts such as this add up to big results in motivation and performance.  Employees want to do the right thing and they want to be informed, but they also need management to clear the way so they can. If employees don’t get the communication they need, it just adds to the GarbageFactor™.

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Don’t forget the “d”

Sep 30

Posted by Marian Madonia in Managers, Stress in the Workplace, Toxic Environments | Comments off

Just read a story about a woman who works with a manager that screams, storms around, disciplines & mocks people publicly, and frequently uses threats as part of her management technique arsenal.  Apparently upper management and human resources have been made aware of this garbage.  I don’t know their excuse, but it sounds like this manager doesn’t know the difference between “shrew” and “shrewd.”

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Who needs training?

Sep 29

Posted by Marian Madonia in Managers | Comments off

I spent 2 hours this week in training classes for my dog.  I never thought of myself as needing training to train my dog, but I hit an obstacle with him that I couldn’t overcome.  I’m well aware that if you want different results, you’ve got to do something different.  But sometimes, you can’t easily identify which behavior is going wrong.  And sometimes, you aren’t doing anything wrong, but instead, a step or technique is missing.

The trainer helped me get over my obstacle.  I learned quickly trainer that what I needed to do differently would appear when I started to think differently.  If I change my thinking, I change my behavior, I then get different results.  I am really experiencing two different classes in one.  My dog is being trained, and so am I.

More training is needed in the workplace to teach managers and leaders how to be better managers and leaders.  Managers get upset with employee behavior, but they keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting the results with the employee to change.

I’ve often said in my seminars & speeches “When you don’t know what to do, you won’t until learn something new.”  Are managers willing to admit to themselves that they don’t know what to do?  Do they blame the employee for not changing when it’s the manager’s behavior or attitude that needs to change?  If their employee has a bad attitude, is it the manager’s that the employee is modeling?

Often, the person promoted into management was the best “technician” (i.e. the best sales person, trainer, engineer, writer, carpenter, etc.).  That doesn’t mean that the person has the skills to be an effective manager and/or leader.

Companies need to supply good managers because of the trickle down affect.  The better the manager, the better the staff that reports to the manager.  Keep improving the manager’s skills, the employee’s skills will improve.  This is a triple crown: the company wins, the manager wins, and the employees win.

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There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does

Sep 28

Posted by Marian Madonia in Managers | Comments off

Science has proven what we know intuitively.  But why is business still playing to the myths of motivation?  TED talk by Daniel Pink, author of upcoming book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

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Must Be Nice

Sep 25

Posted by Marian Madonia in Attitude, Communication, Difficult People, GarbageFactor, Managers, Stress in the Workplace, Team Work | Comments off

Friday’s were usually Tom’s only day in the office, and typically, he’d work just a half day since he’d already put in so many hours earlier in the week.  Tom had one of those jobs that looked glamorous, but wasn’t.  He traveled every week, often to a different city every day.  His schedule was grueling.  Give presentations all day, drive to the next city, get some dinner, snag some sleep, and start over again the next day.

Though he worked in St. Louis, only one team mate, Mimi, worked with him there.  The rest of his team was in Chicago.  Another division was also located in St. Louis, so he and Mimi both had an office (cubicle) there to go on Friday’s.  Inevitably, the division manager would find a way to tease Tom when he was in the office “must be nice only having to come into the office only one day a week and then make that a half day.  We should all be so lucky.”

Mimi witnessed this for about a year.  She supported Tom and gave him ideas on how to deal with (or let go of) the situation, but Tom kept letting it get under his skin.  Tom was promoted and moved out of that office.  The search began, but the division manager wasn’t waiting.  The very next time that Mimi ran into him, he said to her “must be nice only having to come into the office only one day a week.  Wish I had that job.”

Mimi excitedly replied “You can! We have an opening right now that you can apply for!”  Everyone laughed and the division manager never picked on Mimi again.

Sometimes the best way to get rid of a little garbage is to use a little wit and humor.  Instead of battling people to prove your point, try going in the same direction.

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Keep ‘em in the dark & don’t give ‘em raises

Sep 18

Posted by Marian Madonia in Managers, Toxic Environments | Comments off

Not long ago, I met Charlie, an employee of a large manufacturing firm.  Let’s just say we all grew up with the food product his company makes.  I talked with Charlie about the company’s work environment, and he told me that the company was in bankruptcy, that he hadn’t gotten a raise in 3 years, and that the only information that he got on how the company was doing was what he was able to get on the news or over the internet.

This is nuts!  What is this management team thinking?  Do they ask themselves about the impact on staff or are they so overwhelmed by company problems that they can’t see past themselves?

I’m curious, does management understand and recognize that many (if not most) employee’s would have a hard time staying positive, committed, and hard working under these conditions?  Is this management so deluded as to think that people “ought to just be happy they have a job in this economy”?

Unless they are in the habit of hiring saintly types, it’s not likely that too many people are going to be able to remain positive, committed and hard-working for an extended period in those circumstances.  I’m not suggesting that employees don’t have the capacity to do it, what I am suggesting is that it is unrealistic to expect it from employees because “it’s what they are paid to do.”

Employees are paid to do the job, but there are expectations that are unwritten that go along with the agreement to provide work for pay.  Though it is not in the job description, employees expect to work in a positive environment, they expect to be kept informed, and they expect to at least be able to keep their financial footing which means they will get raises equal to the inflation rate.  If these circumstances are not being met, management should consider that they are fortunate if they have positive, committed, and hard-working employees.

Oh, and one question: How many executives got bonuses during this same time period?

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Would you like to apply for your job?

Sep 14

Posted by Marian Madonia in GarbageFactor, Managers, Toxic Environments | Comments off

Not long ago, I met a woman who’d been with her company for more than 20 years.  She was beside herself with stress because her company was restructuring and had asked her to “reapply” for her job.  She had no idea where she stood, what she was up against, what she’d done wrong (if anything), or what she’d done right.  She had no idea whether she’d have a job when all of this was over.

This is disgusting.  No employee should ever have to wonder where they stand.  If management is doing its job, then employees know exactly at what level they’ve been performing.  Performance appraisals are done on time, are weighted accurately, and reflect the entire performance period.  Performance should never be left up for interpretation.  Everyone wins (company & employee) when performance is communicated.

So what is this garbage about having to reapply for one’s job?  Who came up with this idiotic idea?  Who decided this was a great way to handle reorganization?  This is the wimp way out.  If companies would staff their leadership positions with competent leaders that have a backbone, then no one would have to take the coward’s way out and try to displace an issue onto an employee.

I’m sorry, but if leadership has been doing their job, then leaders already know who is a top performer and who is a poor performer.  And the employees should know because management has been communicating with them.

I realize that we all take actions hoping for a certain outcome.  Organizations need to take a good look at their actions and the outcomes they’ve actually caused when they ask loyal, hardworking staff to reapply for their jobs.  Likely more damage than benefit is being caused.

The employee in the beginning of my story did win her job when she reapplied.  She was suffering from a lack of confidence, not a lack of performance.  Unfortunately, trust of her company is now permanently destroyed.  She doesn’t feel valued and is job hunting.  Given what she brings to the table, I’m confident a competitor will bring her on board quickly.  Isn’t it interesting that her company is the one that encouraged this? After all, her resume wouldn’t be up-to-date if they hadn’t made her reapply for her job.

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If Your Employees Aren’t Psychics, Stop Expecting Them to Read Your Mind.

Sep 2

Posted by Marian Madonia in GarbageFactor, Managers | Comments off

I got a story this week where an employee worked for a couple of days on a project to bring it up to the new standards that had recently been released to all staff. After completing the project, the manager changed his mind about having to meet the new standards.

The employee was furious. She holds herself to high standards of performance

Can your employees read your mind?

Can your employees read your mind?

and followed the new standards to the letter. She couldn’t help but think that her efforts weren’t valued or respected and that she’d completely wasted her time that week (and few of us have any time we can afford to waste).

How are employees supposed to be able to perform effectively in this kind of environment? If a manager sets a standard with the instructions “you have to follow them” then no one should be allowed, or encouraged, to deviate. If you want to allow for flexibility with the standard, then establish the flexibility in the beginning.

Make up your minds managers. What do you want the standards to be? Employees can’t become engaged on a job where they get mixed signals.

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