Over the past few weeks I’ve been “getting back to basics” and it’s been an interesting time. I’ve canvassed a number of business managers for their top 10 “basics”, and the list is widely different – yet each of them is highly successful. Just goes to show why management is such a fascinating job – there’s truly no one way to do it. So while your list might be different to mine, for the record here’s my list of basics so far:
1. Keep very close personal contact with the market.
2. Hire the best people money can buy.
3. Cash is king and an accurate cash flow budget is non-negotiable.
4. Crystal clear managerial clarity on the road ahead repeatedly communicated to all staff.
5. Everyone in the team knows their job and exactly what’s expected of them.
6. You fully understand the difference between motivation and satisfaction.
7. The negative impact of poor “hygiene factors” is understood and eliminated.
8. Pay rates never motivate, they only dissatisfy. Make sure they are right.
Number nine in my book is to understand just how deeply we are all affected by recognition and praise.
Have you ever read The One Minute Manager, written by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson and first published in 1983? If not, it’s still in the bookshops, and if you’re serious about making a success of your management career, read it.
The powerful lesson from this little book is that “catching someone doing it right” has more motivational power than a thousand criticisms or reprimands. “Catching them doing it wrong” has a place, but if badly handled has huge potential to demotivate. The best teacher about human response to recognition and praise is you yourself. Think about your own reaction. A sincere compliment for a job well done energises and motivates. It makes you feel good about yourself and motivates you to do an even better job.
Managers that build winning teams are highly sensitive to success and less sensitive to failure. They are quick to compliment and slow to criticise. What mode are you in? Focusing on the positive and never forgetting to say a good word when there is a job well done, is one of the great “true motivators”. At the end of every day, spend a few minutes thinking about the positive things people around you do. Pass an appropriate compliment to them. It could be a quick SMS, e-mail or phone call.
Go to that employee personally and shake their hand, or drop them a hand-written note – in today’s world of e-communication the sincerest compliment of all. It was the one I always appreciated the most and which really fired me up. But take care; it needs to be done with sincerity. If it’s seen as manipulative it will have a negative impact. Get yourself into compliment-praise mode and do it now. – Peter Hughes ([email protected] or call (013) 745 7303). |fw
