We sometimes hear about “living up to expectations”, but it’s time to recognize that it’s impossible to do such a thing without a few prerequisite conditions. We would be better off insisting that people practice communication instead of expectation.
Completing all aspects of a workplace problem or upset, especially when it involves several people or workplace activity, can be immediately important. Forgiveness can save the day, but not without closing out the original trigger for the issue. Fix it, then forgive it.
Feedback comes in different flavors – appreciation is one of them. But all feedback, if it is respectful and useful, can be valuable.
Managers see their world of work in a very different way than staff members do. What does this tell us about how to improve Manager-Staff communication? The performance review is a good tool that can support a more effective Staff-Manager relationship.
What makes a good worker? Here is a collection of criteria from seven different types of organization, where Supervisors – not Managers – defined four levels of employees.
Don’t look for accountability in a person. Create the structures and agreements that support a shared understanding of Who is responsible for producing What results and When those results are due. Then establish regular meetings to update the status of those agreements and modify them as needed.
What is “performance management”? Tracking how many hours people are at work? Or tracking the results they produce? Hmmm. It’s easier to watch the clock than do the real work of managing performance.
Evaluating leaders for their “people skills” is not the same as evaluating their effectiveness. Being effective is not a personality thing.
We used to think people should “just do their jobs”. That day is pretty much gone. Now that we need to reinvent the job – often, and sometimes every day – we’d better get really good at productive communication.
Procrastinating on our unfinished chores and projects is natural. Maintaining an effective “Results Wanted” list – and doing the work to check things off that list – isn’t hard either. But we sometimes forget that’s what it takes to get some things done.
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