The New Art of Managing People
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From the award-winning authors of the bestselling management classic comes the revised and updated edition of The New Art of Managing People, featuring eight new chapters on important contemporary business issues such as ethics, diversity, managing conflict, and creating high-performing teams. When a manager establishes a friendly yet productive working atmosphere, the benefits to the entire organization are substantial. Here, Dr. Phillip L. Hunsaker and Tony Alessandra clearly provide practical and accessible strategies, guidelines, and techniques for managing the best team you could possible have.
Tony Alessandra
Dr. Tony Alessandra helps companies turn prospects into promoters. He’s two speakers in one... a professor and a performer, or as one client put it – he delivers college lectures in a comedy store format. Tony offers audiences the opportunity to enjoy themselves while learning practical, immediately applicable skills that positively impact their relationships with prospects, customers and co- workers. His focus is on how to create instant rapport with prospects, employees & vendors; how to convert prospects and customers into business apostles who will “preach the gospel” about your company and products; and how to out- market, out-sell and out-service the competition.
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The New Art of Managing People - Tony Alessandra
Preface
The art of managing people is perhaps the most challenging task facing any manager. Many books have been written presenting theories, concepts, strategies, and techniques with the express purpose of helping managers manage
others better. More books will be written in the future on this same topic. Why then should you spend your time reading this book on the art of managing people? How is it different? What makes it important for you? And what can you expect to get out of this book once you’ve finished it?
The art of managing others is a dynamic process that is always evolving to accommodate changes in the increasingly diverse and complex workplace. Some of the managerial concepts proposed in the past are no longer appropriate in today’s environment. People have changed. The business environment has changed. Government has changed. The world economy has changed. Resources are scarcer and more expensive. Attracting, training, motivating, and keeping employees have become much more difficult and much more expensive. Diversity issues in the new workforce regarding differences in gender, race, religion, regional differences, ethnic origin, personality traits, and generational values (e.g., Boomers, Gen Xers, Gen Yers, Gen Nexters) make the art of effectively managing people more crucial today than ever before.
The Art of Managing People explains how managers develop effective teams of satisfied and productive individuals by creating trusting interpersonal relationships with employees. The book is based on the philosophy that people perform effectively and productively when managers encourage optimum personality expression at work. When employees are empowered to independently decide how to perform their own jobs and to express their opinions about how to improve them, personal, professional, and organizational productivity are optimized.
The Art of Managing People introduces a number of ways to diagnose, understand, and relate to different types of people. After reading this book you will be aware of the different ways people prefer to learn, and you will know how to help employees with different learning styles learn more effectively. You will also learn to recognize and relate productively with people who have different behavioral and decision styles. Armed with these insights you will be equipped to develop productive interpersonal relationships and enhance employee problem solving and decision making.
Interactive communication skills, such as questioning, actively listening, reading nonverbal cues, and excelling at conflict resolution and feedback, are the foundation for effective management. The various questioning techniques and strategies will give you a greater ability to uncover your employees’ problems and needs. Active listening skills will help you to be more sensitive, attentive, and responsive to your employees during the communication process. Your increased awareness of the nonverbal messages others send you will make you more sensitive to feelings and hidden agendas. Feedback skills will close the communication loop and help you verify that you understand exactly what others are telling you, and that they understand exactly what you are telling them. Additional chapters on planning and goal setting, valuing diversity, developing ethical guideposts, evaluating and controlling performance, motivating others, creating high-performance teams, and promoting change will not only make you a better manager of people but a better leader that others will want to follow.
By reading, assimilating, and applying the skills, guidelines, and techniques that are presented in this book, you will be better able to interact with your employees and solve problems in an open, honest atmosphere of trust and helpfulness. Employee problems will get genuinely solved, and the increased support you will gain will lead to greater fulfillment of personal, professional, and organizational goals for both you and your employees. The bottom line benefit will be increased productivity for everyone involved in this approach to the art of managing people.
Many of the ideas and concepts in this book have been field-tested
over the last thirty–plus years in the authors’ classrooms, consulting, seminars, and speeches. The input and comments from the thousands of managers, supervisors, and salespeople helped shape and refine the material into a practical, success-oriented book.
Phil Hunsaker
Professor of Management
School of Business Administration
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 260-4870
Phil.Hunsaker@gmail.com
Tony Alessandra
5927 Balfour Court, Ste. 103
Carlsbad, CA 92008
(760) 603-8110 (California)
TA@Alessandra.com
www.Alessandra.com
1
Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us to see oursels as others see us.
—Robert Burns, 1786
Building Productive Managerial Relationships
Have you ever wished that you could magically know what other people are really thinking about you when you are interacting with them? There are plenty of reasons why this information could be very valuable to you as a manager. There may also be plenty of reasons why you would rather not know:
That incompetent SOB. He’s trying to get me to do his job again.
Another phony smile. She doesn’t really care about me.
He makes me feel so stupid and helpless.
She’s treating me like a child. When I get the chance, I’ll slip it to her good.
He asks questions as if doubting everything I say.
She does all the talking. Obviously, my opinion doesn’t count.
His poker face keeps me guessing whether he understands me or is even listening to me.
She argues with everything I say. I’m always wrong. She’s always right.
Thousands of managers have such things said about them every day. But because they can’t get inside the heads of their employees, peers, and superiors, they are unaware of why they are having such problems. In fact, many of them are unaware of any problems existing at all. And we’re talking about some of the brightest managers with the best technical track records in industry today. In most of these cases the problem is not lack of experience, energy, intelligence, or dedication but neglect in building and maintaining productive relationships with others. In attempting to determine what managers need most to be effective, countless surveys have produced a very consistent answer: More than anything else, a manager needs to be able to get along with other people. You probably aren’t too surprised with this answer. Then why is it still such a monumental problem for so many managers?
One reason is that managers typically are not well trained in relating productively with others. Many managers today have advanced degrees in business administration, engineering, or the like, but such technical expertise does not magically confer equivalent expertise in managing relationships. And neither do years of successful experience in a technical area. Consequently, most managers simply are not as well equipped to deal with people problems as they are with technical ones. Even if they were, chances are that most managers would not think in terms applicable to people problems.
In the business world, management is almost always viewed in terms of productivity. Why? Because productivity is the key to the success of the organization and to your future as a manager. You evaluate your employees on how much they produce, because you are evaluated on how much they produce. Under this one-dimensional system of evaluation, it is easy to slip into the point of view that people are similar to such other resources as material and money, which are to be exploited as much as possible for the company’s good. Today’s employees will not tolerate this type of treatment without severe negative consequences for both their own well-being and their contribution to the company’s goals. Successful managers realize that for employees to be most productive, they must have opportunities for satisfying their own needs built into the work environment. Consequently, managers need a thorough awareness of employees’ values, needs, and reasons for behaving, as well as personal skills in communicating with and motivating employees to accomplish organizational goals in ways that will be accepted and not resented.
Getting the work out is only one side of the productivity coin. For long-term effectiveness, you must accomplish this work by being sensitive to the needs of those who work for and with you. In fact, management by definition is getting the work done through the efforts of other people. You may be able to get short-term results by exploiting and dominating people, but your effectiveness—and maybe your career—will no doubt be jeopardized in the long term. The resulting hostility and resentment that will have built up eventually will be released, either openly or secretly, and cause your failure as a manager.
An analogy often used to illustrate the two sides of the productivity coin is that of a bicycle. Technical knowledge and people knowledge
can be thought of as the two wheels. Technical knowledge is the back wheel, which makes the bicycle go. It supplies the drive that you have to have to go anywhere. Obviously, technical management is important. The front wheel is the people knowledge. It steers, directs, and takes the back-wheel power where you want to go. You can have all the back-wheel expertise in the world; but if people won’t cooperate or don’t know where to go with it, you won’t go anywhere. This is what Interactive Management is all about!
No matter how ambitious or capable you are, you cannot be an effective manager without knowing how to establish and maintain productive relationships with others. You must know how to relate so that others want to work with you and accept you rather than reject you.
Does this mean that you become mushy and other-directed, primarily concerned with servicing the needs and desires of others? Or that you should develop a master strategy that will give you repeated breaks at the expense of others, or enable you to play up to those who can do you the most good while paying little attention to others? The answer to these questions is, of course, a resounding no!
It does mean, however, that you should sincerely do everything you can to develop strong, friendly, honest, and trusting relationships with all of the people you work with, including your bosses, employees, and fellow managers. In your position as a manager, you automatically assume two responsibilities: (1) to do the best technical job you can with the work assigned to you; and (2) to interact with all people to the best of your ability. It is with the second of these responsibilities that this book is designed to help you. The goal of this book is to develop your skills of managing transactions with others in ways that spell success for yourself, others, and the organization as a whole.
THE INTERACTIVE APPROACH TO MANAGING PEOPLE
Research on human behavior suggests that healthy individuals need to be treated with respect and to have opportunities to feel competent and independent as they actively pursue goals to which they are committed. Unfortunately, research on technical management indicates that its directive, production-oriented characteristics tend to create situations where employees feel dependent, submissive, and passive, and where they hold back from using their important abilities, let alone developing them. Their activities are aimed at fulfilling the organization’s and manager’s needs rather than their own; and they often end up frustrated, resentful, and underproductive. Under these conditions, employees will tend to adapt by leaving, manifesting defense mechanisms (such as daydreaming, aggression, or ambivalence), or rebelling openly against the manager and the system.
If employees leave or use defense mechanisms to suppress their frustrations, management may not even be aware of the problems being created. In the case of open rebellion, however, the technical manager’s responses are usually in the form of corrective actions
such as increased controls, stiffer penalties, or other actions that tend to compound the employees’ frustrations. The result is an increasing distance, mistrust, and resentment on both sides. Nobody wins.
The interactive management philosophy was developed to overcome some of these manager-employee relationship problems. Although the ideas are not radically new, how they are combined in establishing the supervisor-employee relationship makes this approach unique. It is based on the philosophy that it is neither healthy nor profitable to manipulate or exploit other people. This philosophy incorporates the belief that people perform effectively because they understand and feel understood by the supervisor, not because they are forced to comply by a mandate from above. It revolves around helping people understand procedures rather than forcing them to comply. The entire process is built around trust-bond relationships that require openness and honesty. Figure 1.1 points out some major differences between interactive- and technically-oriented management.
Figure 1.1. Differences between Technical and Interactive Management
Company-Oriented versus Employee-Oriented
In technical management, the manager is predominantly interested in the task instead of the employee. Getting the job done, regardless of the human costs, is the primary motivator. Verbal and nonverbal behaviors suggest urgency, impatience, and dominance.
On the other hand, the interactive manager fills the role of a counselor, consultant, and problem solver. Helping the subordinate determine the best course of action and how to implement it takes top priority. All verbal and nonverbal behaviors project trust, confidence, patience, empathy, and helpfulness. The result in this new form of management is a close, open, trusting manager-employee relationship—a win-win relationship.
Tells versus Explains and Listens
The technical manager dominates the conversation, asking for little verbal input from employees except to indicate compliance at appropriate points. Conversely, in interactive management, the emphasis is on problem solving that incorporates two-way discussion and feedback. The manager is knowledgeable, competent, and confident in the verbal communication skills of questioning, listening, and feedback.
Forces Compliance versus Develops Commitment
Power and authority are key buzzwords for the technical manager. Do it my way or else!
Managers are the thinkers. Employees are the doers.
Management makes the decisions around here!
These are familiar phrases in technical management. Thus, the manager controls, persuades, and figuratively browbeats
employees to do as requested now, whether or not they are ready. Although this technique may work in the short run, it generates dissatisfied workers who are apt to rebel subtly or quit when they get the chance.
An effective blending of short-term and long-term objectives is the trademark of interactive managers. They allow employees breathing room
to solve their own problems in a reasonable period of time. Immediate compliance is not as important today as building an efficient and effective work team. Although this orientation may take a little longer in getting positive results from the employees, it leads to less resentment, more manager-employee trust and goodwill, better long-term morale, and greater team effectiveness.
Task-Oriented versus People-Oriented
Meeting production deadlines is more important to the technical manager than developing people. This orientation very often leads to frustrated employees who only give the minimum required effort.
Interactive management is people oriented. The employee’s problems and/or needs are as important as the task. The interactive manager’s ultimate objective is to develop relationships with employees so that they are motivated to accomplish organizational goals of their own volition.
Inflexible versus Adaptable
Technical managers typically approach and interact with different employees in the same way all the time. They are not sensitive to variations in the styles, needs, and problems of their different employees. Technical managers often are insensitive and oblivious to cues that an individual employee has unique and pressing needs at this particular time or under the present circumstances.
Flexibility is a key skill used by interactive managers. They are flexible in communicating with all different kinds of employees. Their management style is adapted to each individual employee and situation. They are simultaneously perceptive about the verbal and nonverbal cues that a subordinate sends and willing and able to change their approach and objective if necessary.
Thwarts Needs versus Satisfies Needs
When you tell someone that you know what the person’s problem is and proceed to present the solution to it without getting much feedback, the person tends to become defensive, secretive, and resentful. The interaction becomes more like a battle—a win-lose situation. An employee will not freely share important information with a manager under these conditions and often will create smoke screens
(false fronts) to throw the manager off balance. Obviously, this is not a productive relationship.
In interactive management, the supervisor is skilled in information gathering in order to help the employee openly and honestly discover personal needs and problems. With this approach, the employee perceives the relationship as a helping
one. Trust, confidence, and openness are free flowing in this win-win
association. In addition, the employee is totally involved in the solution process with the manager. This allows the employee to be more personally committed to the implementation of the plan.
Creates Fear and Tension versus Establishes Trust and Understanding
The six previously discussed behaviors culminate in a supervisor–subordinate relationship based either on fear and tension or on trust and understanding. In technical management, fear and defense levels are high. Both the manager and the employee play games with each other. Management becomes more of a process of persuasion and control rather than problem solving and facilitation. The supervisor-employee relationship deteriorates as defensiveness and distrust continue to increase.
Conversely, in interactive management, trust, acceptance, and understanding are the norm. The supervisor-employee communication process is open, honest, and straightforward. Information is openly shared, and problems are genuinely resolved. Whether or not a decision is made, both supervisor and employee feel good about each other and about their interaction. Both sides win.
PRINCIPLES OF INTERACTIVE MANAGEMENT
There are four basic principles behind the interactive management philosophy. They are aimed at developing a trusting relationship between two adults. This is in contrast to technical management, which typically develops as a suspicious relationship between a naughty child and a critical parent.
1. The entire management process is built around trust-bond relationships that require openness and honesty on the part of both the supervisor and the employee.
2. Employees comply, not because they are made to, but because they feel understood by the manager and understand the problem.
3. People strive for the right to make their own decisions. They resent being manipulated, controlled, or persuaded into making a decision even if that was the decision they ultimately would have made.
4. Employers should not solve employees’ problems. They will resent the solution, and if you as the manager inflict the solution, they will resent you, too. Point out problems; don’t solve them. Let employees solve their own problems with your help.
By following these principles, the interactive manager allows employees to obtain optimum personality expression while at work. Employees are permitted to be more active than passive, more independent than dependent, and to have more control over their world, to feel accepted and respected, and to exercise many of their more important abilities. As employees experience these things with their supervisor, a trust bond is formed that facilitates the development of an effective team made up of satisfied, productive individuals held together through healthy interpersonal transactions.
INCREASING EMPLOYEES’ ON-THE-JOB EFFECTIVENESS
We realize that it will be difficult for managers who are held responsible for results and who have been used to keeping on top
of what employees are doing to drop old habits suddenly and trust that employees will automatically and immediately take the ball. In fact, they probably won’t. Their experience has taught them that you are in charge and that their roles are to implement what you direct. So we’re talking about a gradual process with an initial risk of mistakes and failures. These must be seen as opportunities for learning and not as dangers to be avoided for fear of reprisal.
In communicating this atmosphere of growth and learning to employees, keep in mind that your actions speak louder than words. Don’t attempt interactive management unless you are willing to trust your employees and give them the opportunities to adjust to your changed style and expectations.
There is a five-step process we recommend to ease the transition and aid in the establishment of effective relationships for joint problem solving. These five steps, presented in Figure 1.2, enable the interactive management philosophy to be translated into action. Can you see the probable differences in employees’ reactions to the two management procedures?
Trust Bond
Mutual respect and understanding are prerequisites for joint problem solving. The development of a firm trust-bond relationship with your employee is the foundation of interactive management. Employees prefer a supervisor on whom they can rely, someone who cares about them and will help fulfill their personal needs. Under these conditions, employees can let their guard down and not worry about being exploited. They can dare to experiment and take risks conducive to personal and professional development.
The interactive manager must acquire an understanding of the employees and of communication skills to facilitate a mutual trust relationship. This provides both an opportunity and a threat for many managers, because it requires them to be more open and complete as people in their own role as managers.
Figure 1.2. Technical versus Interactive Management Procedures
Define the Problem
Once a strong trust bond has been established with employees (or even while building the trust bond), the interactive manager deepens the relationship by becoming totally involved in the problem-solving process with the employees. It should be mutually determined exactly what the current situation is like for the employees. What are their personal and task goals? What are employees currently doing to solve their problems or satisfy their needs? This diagnostic activity relies very heavily on effective information sharing and information gathering skills, as well as a keen understanding on the part of the manager of the style
differences among employees.
The interactive manager determines whether subordinates are fully satisfied with their relationship and working procedures. Each employee is urged to crystallize personal goals and objectives and to match them with the company’s objectives to determine if the current relationship is the most efficient and effective method of achieving the desired results for both. This situational analysis leads to the conclusive question: Can another plan of action be more productive in helping the employee and the company achieve mutual goals and objectives?
Develop New Action Plans
Together, both the interactive manager and the employee begin planning new courses of action. The major role of the supervisor is to ask the proper questions in order to help the subordinate solve his or her own problems. The supervisor actively
listens to the employee and helps direct the process toward the realization of both personal and professional goals and company objectives. Hopefully, the newly derived action plan will be mutually beneficial. However, it is important to remember that the interactive manager acts as a guide, not as a controller, manipulator, or persuader. If employees are allowed to discover
the solution for themselves, it will have more personal meaning and value. That solution also is more likely to be implemented enthusiastically.
Commitment and Implementation
The commitment process in interactive management centers on when,
not if.
If employees are allowed to have a major role in determining goals and objectives and to design a workable plan to optimize those desired results, they become personally committed to the implementation of the plan. The manager’s role is to ask the employee to commit to his or her own plan at some specific point in time.
Follow-Through
In Step 4 of interactive management, Commitment and Implementation,
the supervisor asked the subordinate to make a commitment to the new action plan. In Step 5, the supervisor makes a commitment to the employee. The supervisor must assume the responsibility and the challenge to maintain the relationship after the agreement has formally been made. The supervisor must constantly seek feedback from the subordinate to monitor the situation and the results. The supervisor must react to situations before they become problems, rather than waiting for something to happen that requires fixing.
In the final analysis, it is follow-through that determines the future relationship with an employee. The interactive manager develops a thorough follow-through strategy for each employee that firmly cements their long-term professional and personal relationship. The follow-through is a sensitive, constructive process as opposed to the traditional suspicious overseer’s
approach.
These steps of Interactive Management, covered in detail in the last part of this book, are transformed into action through the use of specific skills that are covered in the next four major sections of this book. Let’s take a closer look at these next four crucial sections and see how their chapters unfold.
ESTABLISHING PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS
Planning and Goal Setting
Planning involves defining followers’ objectives, establishing strategies for achieving those goals, and developing the means to integrate and coordinate necessary activities. Planning is concerned with both ends (what needs to be done) and means (how it is to be done). One of the most basic skills in planning is goal setting. Goals are the foundation of all other planning activities. They provide the direction for task activities, management decisions, and criteria measuring accomplishments.
Evaluating and Controlling Performance
One of managers’ most important, yet most difficult, responsibilities is assessing the work of their employees through performance appraisals. Through performance appraisal, managers ensure that objectives are obtained and employees learn how to enhance their future. This chapter shows you how to apply a number of control processes to aid the attainment of objectives and provide effective feedback to enhance employee performance and development.
Developing Ethical Guideposts
Making the right choices in ethics-laden situations is an almost-everyday occurrence for most managers. A manager’s ethical decisions set the standard for employees and help create a tone for the organization as a whole. A manager’s reputation, as well as that of the organization, is also affected by how ethical the manager’s decisions are. In this chapter, you will learn how to develop a moral climate for your employees and an ethical decision-making process for yourself and others.
ADAPTING TO PERSONAL STYLE DIFFERENCES
Valuing Diversity
As the workplace becomes more diverse and business becomes more global, managers can no longer assume that all employees want the same thing, will act in the same manner, and can be managed the same way. Instead, managers must understand how cultural diversity affects the expectations and behavior of everyone in the organization. This chapter will teach you how to provide a workplace where differences are recognized and valued, resulting in increased satisfaction and productivity.
Learning How to Learn
Successful managers today can be distinguished not so much by their particular knowledge or skills but by their ability to adapt and master changing job and career demands. All of us have unique ways of learning, with both strong and weak points. It is important for managers to be aware of their own and employees’ learning styles and the alternatives made available. Personal and team development can then proceed in the most efficient and effective manner.
Practicing The Platinum Rule
People with different behavioral styles inherently create tension between themselves simply by being near each other. As this tension increases, the probability of their establishing a trust bond decreases. In order to increase the chances of establishing trust with others, you must be able to keep tension at a minimum level. This requires knowing how to identify different behavioral styles and how to relate to each style effectively and productively. In order to relate effectively and differentially, the interactive manager must: (1) learn about the behavioral characteristics of each behavioral style; (2) be able to identify the behavioral style of the person with whom he or she is dealing; and (3) acquire skills in behavioral flexibility, in order to treat people the way they want to be treated.
Deciding How to Decide
Different people perceive and process information in different ways. The interactive manager must be able to perceive these differences and adapt to them in order to utilize employees’ abilities most effectively. It is important to have methods for assessing your own and others’ decision styles and to know how to apply this knowledge in a fruitful information exchange for effective goal setting, decision making, and implementation.
INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Sending Understandable Messages
Managers must send understandable messages to followers in order to set goals, plan strategies, coordinate actions, agree on a division of labor, and conduct group meetings. In this chapter you will learn skills for increasing the clarity of your messages, developing credibility, and soliciting feedback from receivers to ensure they understand what you really meant to communicate.
Understanding Others: The Power of Listening, Questioning, and Providing Feedback
This chapter covers the various types of questions, when to use them, how to use them, and with whom to use them; the art of getting the other person to open up
; and the best ways for asking questions that allow employees to discover things for themselves. It also covers active listening, which involves hearing your employee’s words, processing that information in your mind, and using that information to help structure your relationship. Active listening also involves verbally and nonverbally projecting to your subordinate that you are really listening. There are numerous learnable skills for actively
listening to other people. This is one of the best ways to establish trust relationships with others. Finally, we cover feedback, as a way to verify that you understand exactly what others are communicating to you. Feedback is a subtle way of showing sensitivity to the nonverbal messages that your employees are communicating to you.
Nonverbal Communication: Body Language, Image, and Voice Tones
Body language is regarded by many experts as the most important element of nonverbal communication. You not only receive positive and negative feedback from others in the form of body language; you also send it. Therefore, an important communication aspect of interactive management is being aware of the silent messages you send to your employees through body language. How you come across
to others very often determines how they will treat you. In addition, if you project a good image—professional, authoritative, knowledgeable, successful, enthusiastic, and so on—your employees are much more likely to trust you, believe you, and accept your leadership and guidance. If your image is inappropriate, the opposite will likely occur. We explore various ways for you to project appropriate images of yourself to others. Finally, when it comes to choosing between the meaning of what is said versus how it is said, people most often choose the latter. The same exact words said with a different vocal emphasis can have significantly different meanings. Effective communication requires awareness, not only of the way you yourself say things, but of your employee’s vocal intonations. Such awareness helps you gather more information, meaning, and feeling from the words spoken.
Communicating through Time and Space
The way we use time, space, and things says
things to other people. When people are kept waiting or you don’t have enough time to spend with them, negative feelings are created. When you intrude too closely on your employees’ personal space or territory, you’ll notice that they become uncomfortable and uneasy. Space violations of this nature can block the trust-building and communication processes without your ever knowing why. The nature of your relationship also may be affected by your use of words and objects to communicate, consciously or unconsciously, relative status and images.
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Motivating Others
Managers need to be concerned about two corresponding aspects of motivation: motivating workers to stay on the job and motivating them to do their best. This chapter explains what motivates workers to stay in an organization, what determines job performance, and what we know about the needs that motivate people to perform. You then will learn established methods you can apply to motivate employees to achieve organizational goals.
Creating High-Performance Teams
Successful managers are those who work with successful teams. In this chapter, you’ll learn about the characteristics of high-performing teams and how to design them. You will also learn about the five stages of team development and how a manager can facilitate team members’ functioning at each stage by adapting your leadership style to match the requirements of the situation. Finally you will learn how to spot team problems and methods for fixing them.
Managing Conflict
Conflict is natural to organizations and can never be completely eliminated. If not managed properly, however, conflict can be dysfunctional and lead to undesirable consequences such as hostility, lack of cooperation, violence, destroyed relationships, and even company failure. In this chapter, we cover the main sources of conflict, how to deal with emotions in conflicts, different methods of conflict resolution, and guidelines for effective negotiation.
Interactive Problem Solving
When managers are asked how they make decisions and solve problems, the typical response is usually: I don’t know. I just do what has to be done.
Although they may not be able to specify what steps they take or what rules they apply, managers would probably agree that making good
decisions and effectively solving problems are the essence of good management. Even though they may not be aware of it, most managers proceed through fairly common steps when making decisions and solving problems. In this chapter, we take you through the step-by-step approach of defining problems, developing action plans, implementing those action plans and tracking results. This knowledge provides you with the power to successfully implement the interactive management philosophy.
Promoting Change
Most people dislike and resist change because of the uncertainty about what the current situation might be like after the change. To successfully implement change, managers need the skills to convince others of the need for change, to identify gaps between the current situation and desired conditions, to create a vision of the desirable outcome, to design an appropriate intervention, and to implement change in a way that the desired outcome will be obtained.
Implementing What You’ve Learned
In this final chapter, we discuss how to take all the concepts discussed in this book and successfully make them a permanent, habitual part of your daily managerial behavior.
CONSTRUCTIVE MANIPULATION
Manipulation is a nasty word to most of us; yet if it is looked at in a constructive way, it is an integral part of interactive management. Actually, we all try to control the attitudes and behavior of others, and they are working just as hard to manipulate us. We start trying to manipulate others in infancy and continue on until death. Those of us who are managers, supervisors, or teachers are paid to be manipulators. Rather than try to deny reality, let’s take a closer look at