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[wishfulthinking]

I have never managed people as part of a job, so I find myself struggling a wee bit in a management position which I got because I was the last man standing. My boss is acting up in a higher position in another office, and the other person who would have got my boss's position applied for another job in a different team on my encouragement and got it (and who is now kicking themself). So, as I said, I was really the last man standing for the job even though I have only worked there for 6 months. I have to oversee 6 other people (not that many, I know, but plenty for me to get my feet wet with) in two different regions, which is soon to expand to 12 people in 3 regions by xmas, and the area is to undergo a big legislative change come mid next year. I won't know until nov/dec whether I can hang on to it (love the pay).

Any suggestions, comments, tips, wise words etc for a newbie? Particularly as everyone else is older and a lot more experienced in their jobs than me?

 

[ms.read]

Whatever you do, don't let the other employees run you like youre a carpet.

You are not there to be their best friend, so don't act like one. You are the person to come to when coworkers have a dispute YOU are the one to settle the score.

There will always be gossip and backstabbing. Its now your job to keep it to a minimum. don't preach to someone about thier duties about their job unless they are being lax. Just because you can do 10 things in Five minutes does not mean every one can.


maybe this will help. I've been at a certain company for two years and have seen 5 sets of managers come and go in between then. This is what i have observed.


Oh and don't hire 18 year old girls, because they're still in high school mode (very clicky and likely to start trouble) unless they have at least 2 yrs experience at the same facility, employement thing.


any more questions?

 

[Lee Chambers]

Don't be afraid to kill one person as a warning to the others if they start falling down on the job.

 

[Chantilyvamp]

Don't be afraid to kill one person as a warning to the others if they start falling down on the job.

lol, i'd go with that one...scare the shit out of them and they'll all behave

One of my managers was having trouble with the front office so she let slip a little rumour that there might be a layoff of one person soon. The rate that people cleaned up their act was amazing

 

[Sapphire_O]

Ask your company if they have a Professional Development fund available to you, so you can take a short course in management. Sell it as a win-win, bc you'll do your job more effectively and be more confident. Having trained managers working for them will be a great benefit as they expand into 3 regions too. GL!!

 

[wishfulthinking]

Whatever you do, don't let the other employees run you like youre a carpet.

You are not there to be their best friend, so don't act like one. You are the person to come to when coworkers have a dispute YOU are the one to settle the score.

There will always be gossip and backstabbing. Its now your job to keep it to a minimum. don't preach to someone about thier duties about their job unless they are being lax. Just because you can do 10 things in Five minutes does not mean every one can.


maybe this will help. I've been at a certain company for two years and have seen 5 sets of managers come and go in between then. This is what i have observed.


Oh and don't hire 18 year old girls, because they're still in high school mode (very clicky and likely to start trouble) unless they have at least 2 yrs experience at the same facility, employement thing.


any more questions?

Thanks for the great advice! I worry about the carpet thing. I know I'm very easy going until someone treads on my toe, but I don't want to be one of the flick the switch bosses, and be consistent all the time.

As to backstabbing, I have one motto: make it good. One of them said they were going to talk to the big boss about "work issues" this week. I wasn't worried, and knew I wouldn't feature much in the talk (maybe I should be more paranoid), but I still told her that if she was going to whinge about me she better make it damn good, because I didn't want to deny any piss-weak allegations.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Don't be afraid to kill one person as a warning to the others if they start falling down on the job.

Good tip. Pity I work with a bunch of lawyers. I'm sure the action would break some sort of law, and ignorance is no defence

 

[wishfulthinking]

Ask your company if they have a Professional Development fund available to you, so you can take a short course in management. Sell it as a win-win, bc you'll do your job more effectively and be more confident. Having trained managers working for them will be a great benefit as they expand into 3 regions too. GL!!

Ha, I would imagine 99% of companies could benefit from managers who knew what the fuck they were doing. Now I'm one of those fuckers who don't know!

 

[neonlyte]

You'll be judged by performance and need to apply the same criteria to those you manage. If you are managing a small team, write down what you think each persons role and duties are within the team. Interview each individually (preferably on the same day) and ask them what they think their personal role and duties are. You might be astonished by the difference in your and the individuals perception of 'job'. Use this information to manage by eliminating overlapping job functions, filling voids by assigning new duties (if required) and setting performance criteria for individuals. If the company has some sort of year end bonus payment, make sure staff are aware that an increment of their bonus is dependent upon performance. It won't make you their 'best friend' but will demonstrate you effectiveness as a manager. Finally, be compassionate with individuals who have problems. A tough manager can be ruthless as long as they are seen to be compassionate when genuine need arises.

 

[wishfulthinking]

You'll be judged by performance and need to apply the same criteria to those you manage. If you are managing a small team, write down what you think each persons role and duties are within the team. Interview each individually (preferably on the same day) and ask them what they think their personal role and duties are. You might be astonished by the difference in your and the individuals perception of 'job'. Use this information to manage by eliminating overlapping job functions, filling voids by assigning new duties (if required) and setting performance criteria for individuals. If the company has some sort of year end bonus payment, make sure staff are aware that an increment of their bonus is dependent upon performance. It won't make you their 'best friend' but will demonstrate you effectiveness as a manager. Finally, be compassionate with individuals who have problems. A tough manager can be ruthless as long as they are seen to be compassionate when genuine need arises.

Geez, it's comments like this that make me realise I have to completely change my way of thinking and approach. Sound advice!

 

[BlackShanglan]

Neonlyte's advice is excellent. I'd add a few bits and bobs:

(1) Get your old boss's ear for a good, long out-of-workplace chat if you possibly can. Grill him on what he perceived as the biggest challenges of the job, the most vital duties, and most effective strategies. Get all of the information you can, then filter all of it through your own perceptions of what it was liking working for him. That will help you to identify both the real challenges and goals of the position and any problems that your boss might have created through errors you can avoid.

(2) As others have said, recognize that the people you supervise are not your buddies. It's fine to be pleasant, helpful and compassionate, but bear in mind, in all interactions, that your primary purpose is to achieve useful goals for the company and for the workers. Make sure that you're clearly and consistently communicating that you're there to work and that you expect the same of them. I'd suggest thinking about formality as a tool that can help you, as it's good at communicating a bit of detachment / seriousness without being rude, hurtful, or aggressive.

(3) Unless there's an emergency that requires immediate action, never dress down an employee in front of other workers. Summon him or her to your office or to a private location. This has two useful effects. First, it communicates a basic level of respect to your staff and helps avoid the resentment that public humiliation will inevitably foster. Second, whatever other employees imagine is being said will inevitably be a more unsettling deterrent than what you're actually saying.

(4) Stay solution-oriented, even when you're not happy with a given situation. If you've got a problem with an employee's work, begin by exploring the problem with an open mind, however certain you may be that the problem is the employee. Sometimes you'll be surprised. Sometimes a question like "We talked this morning about how important it was that this work be done today. Why hasn't it been done?" will have an unexpected answer like "The vice-president above you sent me haring off on his own personal project. Again." or "Look, I haven't wanted to drop anyone in it, but Kate comes to my cubicle door every day and talks for an hour or more. I can't get anything done!"

Pressing gently but persistently for the answer to the question "What prevented this goal from being achieved?" is useful for many reasons. If the problem is an obvious one that the employee is aware of, it prompts him or her to reveal it and let you help solve it. If the problem is one that the employee hasn't identified, it pushes him or her to examine and discover it - and the employee will always be better at doing that than you will. And if, indeed, the problem is that the employee really can't be bothered, then you're already administering one effective solution. You're making it more work and less pleasant work for the employee to explain everything at length to you and try to formulate a solution than it would have been to have done the job.

(5) Go slowly on changes, and listen to what your employees want to change. It's common for a new supervisor to want to sweep through changing anything that strikes him or her as awkward. This is a problem for at least two reasons. First, a new supervisor rarely knows the whole picture of everyone's jobs, and so the changes may not be thoroughly informed. Second, people have a limited capacity for change and a limited amount of energy to drive it with. If you fritter all of that away on cosmetic or non-essential changes, you'll have lost the drive you need to push through major and important innovations.

Before you make any major changes (unless you're in a crisis now), spend a good few weeks observing, listening, and developing a good idea of how both your employees and management perceive the work environment and results. When you feel that you're ready to start making some changes, ration yourself. It's more important that you make the most important changes in a coherent way with good support, explanation, and follow-through than that you make every change that has occurred to you. Pick the most important issue, address that first, and don't add anything else until the first change is well accepted and working.

Before making that first change, do all you can to ensure that it's one that the employees as well as management will benefit from (this will build good will) and that you introduce it carefully to your staff, giving them clear explanations of how it will benefit everyone and making sure that they understand how it works. Follow rule #6, below, scrupulously.

(6) Never give, as your answer to anything, "Because I'm your supervisor. I don't owe you an explanation." If you're in an emergency, of course, the answer might be that you'll explain later, but do explain. When you give people reasons, at the very least you communicate the fact that you've thought about the situation carefully and have a clear idea of what you hope to achieve. At the best, your reasons may be convincing enough to persuade them to agree with you. On the other hand, you may hear counter-reasons so compelling that you can't answer them; they may be unanswerable. Then thank God that you didn't try to railroad your ideas through on blind authority, because those unanswerable counter-reasons need resolution. Giving reasons also communicates respect to your team. You don't necessarily have to agree, but your team will have more faith in you if your explanations communicate to them that you consider them intelligent and mature people who are capable of grasping your reasoning and of supporting your excellent ideas. Asking for blind allegiance can suggest that you don't consider your staff capable of anything better.

And best of luck.

Shanglan

 

[ms.read]

i have to agree with shanglan!!!

 

[BlackShanglan]

i have to agree with shanglan!!!

Well, you don't have to. Feisty and mischieviously in need of correction works for me too.

And wishfulthinking, I love the AV.

 

[rgraham666]

Don't be afraid to kill one person as a warning to the others if they start falling down on the job.

I suppose the Soviet method is effective. If your point is to scare the shit out of your employees.

As the former Soviet union showed, its results are less than salutary.

I've always thought that the infantry leader's motto was good advice for any sort of leadership role. "Follow me."

Beyond that, learn all you can about the people you're responsible for. Find out what their strengths and weaknesses are. Play to their strengths and keep them away from their weaknesses.

Also, remember that you are responsible for them, not just in authority over them. You'll be careful and wise because you know that any mistake is your mistake.

I highly recommend Up The Organization for an excellent read on how to be a good manager.

Of course I've never been in a management position so I could easily be talking out of my ass.

On the other hand I've been on the receiving end of management so often it drove me off the deep end.

 

[jomar]

Lots of good advice so I'll be brief (some of this has been mentioned, I think):

Be firm but fair.

Lead from the front.

Discipline in private and don't say negative things about others.

Care about them as people even as you push for productivity.

Make sure what you say is what they hear.

If you can, look and listen and wait a few months before making changes (it'll help you learn the job and get a feel for what others do/want) unless that's the expectation of you, and if you must, let them know the reasons and goal for the changes.

Always be respectful.

If at all possible, make the problem the problem and don't blame the individual (e.g., the process is the problem, not the person that didn't get it done).

 

[gauchecritic]

Expect that they will do their job.

Be prepared to have harsh words if they don't.

Make sure you know what their job is.

Edited to add. Bawling out staff in front of other staff is bad for them, for other staff and most of all for you.

 

[WRJames]

I was a manager for a few years. My second line, when I first started, had a few pieces of advise.

1. Never let anything go.

I know this sounds like being a real hard ass -- but his point was, once you tolerate something, then it makes it all the harder to deal with a situation later on. At that time, we were really rigid about work hours -- at least getting to work on time (we didn't care how late you were leaving!). So, if someone was late, go talk to them, every time. I had young children at the time, and I applied the same philosophy to them -- and you know what, it worked.

2. Interact with your employees day to day.

Don't make it an event when you show up. In those days, people actually worked in the same location, so I tried to drop in on everyone, every day or at least a couple of times a week, just to chat. I spent a lot of time "goofing off" so to speak. That way, when the time came for a more serious conversation, at least we knew each other. When I went out of management, I revealed this to the last group I'd been working with. Their reaction -- oh -- that's why you haven't come to see us lately. We thought you just didn't like us anymore.

One other thing -- as a first line manager, you are representing your employees to the company, and the company to your employees. Your job is to make sure that both sides come out on top.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Also, remember that you are responsible for them, not just in authority over them. You'll be careful and wise because you know that any mistake is your mistake.

That's excellent advice. I recall my father (who spent most of his life managing staff) saying, of a teacher who'd been sacked for doing something very stupid, that the school district needed to bear more of the burden because she'd done similar things many times and had never been disciplined. "She had a right to be managed" was his phrase, and I've tried to bear that in mind whenever I must supervise staff. They do have that right.

That fits together well with WRJames's point ...

1. Never let anything go.

I know this sounds like being a real hard ass -- but his point was, once you tolerate something, then it makes it all the harder to deal with a situation later on. At that time, we were really rigid about work hours -- at least getting to work on time (we didn't care how late you were leaving!). So, if someone was late, go talk to them, every time. I had young children at the time, and I applied the same philosophy to them -- and you know what, it worked.

Absolutely. Employees have a right to know that they're making problems for themselves while the problems are still small. It's not kindness to ignore someone's escalating inappropriate behavior, then suddenly sack him when it becomes outright intolerable. It's also probably going to be much easier for you as a manager to discipline people when you're not angry and frustrated with the continual liberties they've been taking (uncorrected). It's much easier to remain calm, firm, and solution-oriented when you haven't allowed the employee to continue long enough to really annoy you.

My father's solution to lateness (which always worked) was this: find something that the employee dislikes more than getting up a bit earlier and getting everything organized for the work day in time to arrive on time, and make that the result of being late. He quickly discovered that employees hated to be called to his office to talk to him; I can't really blame them for that, having as a foal been often subjected to the unending hell that is being calmly but intensely dully reminded over and over of the same basic point for half an hour. He instituted a policy that every single lateness had to be explained to him personally and at length in his office, and within a month everyone was arriving on time.

My own personal addition to his basic mantra ("make doing the job properly more pleasant than not doing it properly") is a refinement that arose from noticing how often short-cuts and half-hearted semi-work was getting throw up the chain of command. "Make doing the job properly less work than not doing it properly." Once I made the results of a poorly done job a personal interview with me, a worker-produced detailed explanation of why the job had not been done properly, and redoing the job to the appropriate standard, I stopped seeing careless work with remarkable alacrity.

What I like most about this particular process is that the interview / worker-produced explanation of what went wrong occurs early in it, allowing me to find out if the problem really is the worker or if it's something completely outside his or her control. If it's the former, then yes, coming up with a detailed explanation of why one couldn't be bothered and then redoing the entire task is onerous enough of a requirement to discourage a repeat performance, and so it should be. If, however, it's the latter, then the chance to explain to me personally and in private what the problem was and how it affected the project was something that people were generally grateful for, and such meetings would end very happily. It's good for people to know that there are consequences for failing to meet expectations, but it's also good for them to know that the consequences will fall on the source of the problem and not some innocent bystander who got stuck holding the bag.

One other thing -- as a first line manager, you are representing your employees to the company, and the company to your employees. Your job is to make sure that both sides come out on top.

I couldn't agree more. I think that huge swathes of managerial problems can be solved by remembering that keeping workers energized, motivated, and keen to be there is part of the job. People tend to worry most about how to handle the whip-cracking, but building trust and morale and cultivating a positive, effective working atmosphere need more constant work.

 

[rgraham666]

One has to be careful with the discipline. Shang mentioning people being punished for being late.

One company I worked for was very hard assed about this.

Once I was late because of construction. I think it was planned badly because the traffic stopped and didn't move for half an hour. I got out and walked. Due to the way the streets were laid out in that part of town, and a river being in the way, that was a five mile walk to get to work.

Another I'd been busting my ass for over a week on a project. Hadn't left work before midnight, including weekends. The night before I'd left at three in the morning. I slept through my alarm.

The company never forgot these examples of my irresponsible behaviour.

 

[Lee Chambers]

I suppose the Soviet method is effective. If your point is to scare the shit out of your employees.

As the former Soviet union showed, its results are less than salutary.

My point was to scare the shit out of the employees, but that's just how I roll.

And in my defense, I'm not a nice person.

I will agree with the part about not letting things go. The company I work for is currently trying to revamp their entire infrastructure because our productivity is so low. The reason for this is because they've allowed the workers to engage in lazy ass behavior for too long. 15 minute breaks have turned into 30 minute breaks. Half-hour lunches can run 45 minutes or more. Guys leave at noon when the work day ends at 3:30.

They've allowed this behavior to go on for so long that now it's taking an act of God to try and fix it. It will start small but eventually escalate once people realize they won't get in trouble for small infractions. Then, just like small children, they'll begin pushing the boundaries to discover just what they can get away with.

 

[WRJames]

One has to be careful with the discipline. Shang mentioning people being punished for being late.

It wasn't a matter of "punishing". At least, hopefully, it never got to that. It was a matter of letting the employee know, hopefully without too much furor, that the lateness had been noticed, that it wasn't okay (personally, I did not give a rat's ass, but it was company policy), and please try not to let it happen. Sometimes it was sugggestions -- if you're going to be late, at least come in through the back entrance instead of underneath the site director's office. Sometimes -- believe it or not -- my manager would get a call that the site director had noticed so and so not exactly sneaking in and what were we going to do about it.

Which brings me to the least pleasant aspect of management -- what they used to call "transparency." That is -- even thouugh you think a policy may be a total crock, you still have to sell it you your employees. Either that, or find some other way of making a living. I guess that's why I eventually went back to being technical.

 

[BlackShanglan]

One has to be careful with the discipline. Shang mentioned people being punished for being late.

One company I worked for was very hard assed about this.

Once I was late because of construction. I think it was planned badly because the traffic stopped and didn't move for half an hour. I got out and walked. Due to the way the streets were laid out in that part of town, and a river being in the way, that was a five mile walk to get to work.

Another I'd been busting my ass for over a week on a project. Hadn't left work before midnight, including weekends. The night before I'd left at three in the morning. I slept through my alarm.

The company never forgot these examples of my irresponsible behaviour.

Excellent points, Rob. That's why I prefer to ask for an explanation first; I don't think that any sane person could fault an employee for lateness when he'd been keeping a schedule that would leave any person on the brink of collapse, or for a traffic problem that severe that wasn't part of the normal commute. I was hoping I was communicating that I'm quite serious about wanting an explanation; there's no point in the sort of theatrics involved in demanding an explanation that you don't intend to listen to. Much of the reason that I prefer the method is that I've seen how often I haven't really understood what was happening.

One young man, God bless the poor soul, apologized repeatedly for his poor attention to his work but wouldn't say more than that he didn't know why he hadn't done what he was meant to and would do better in the future. I stressed several times that I really wanted to know if there was something in the company affecting his performance, something about his duties, something out of the ordinary - thank heaven, that last was the magic phrase. He looked at his feet and said that he didn't want to make excuses, but his girlfriend had been killed in a car accident a week before. He had a crumpled prayer sheet from the funeral in his pocket, which he proferred when he apparently took my expression of surprise for disbelief.

You can forget, sometimes, how intimidating you can appear to people for whom you have sincere affection and a real sense of sympathy and duty. He honestly thought that his loss would make no difference to me. I try to remember him when I feel myself growing angry with someone who appears not to be applying himself; I remember that it's always best to seek the cause first.

Just a last word of defense on my father's behalf. He worked in a genuinely and sincerely time-critical industry. A low-level worker who showed up half an hour late was quite capable of wasting thousands of dollars through that single action. He's a fair man, my father, and he listened to people's reasons as well, but the bottom line in his field of work was that his employees had to be reliably punctual. Not every field works that way, I agree, but his did.

 

[wishfulthinking]

And wishfulthinking, I love the AV.

You would, you flirt.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Great advice Shang. I particularly like the deviousness of this:

whatever other employees imagine is being said will inevitably be a more unsettling deterrent than what you're actually saying.

When the office door shuts, it is like a signal that something serious is going down.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Of course I've never been in a management position so I could easily be talking out of my ass.

On the other hand I've been on the receiving end of management so often it drove me off the deep end.

I think being on the recieving end counts for a lot of experience. Or I could be just talking out of my ass, too