Is Your Manager Working Out? (Part VI)
# 4 In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
This questions speaks to whether or not your manager cares about your contributions. Simply, a good manager will recognize and praise you for doing good work.
# 5 Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
The management gurus know that for a manager to be effective, he must show more concern for you than how many service calls you bang out in one day. How is your family? How did you do in that last RC tournament? How has your health been lately? Does finding meaning in your work matter to you?
# 6 Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
We hope and expect this person to be your manager. Your manager is being gauged on his ability to build a learning environment at work. We are all too well aware of those managers who are only interested in how many service calls you bang out and how many widgets you sell in a day.
Here is that article from Fast Company that I referred to earlier: Marcus Buckingham Thinks Your Boss Has an Attitude Problem by Polly LaBarre
Most managers mean well. But this is your work, your career and your life. You have every right to look into his competence and make sure he is the person who can and will help you to progress and develop.
This concludes the Is Your Manager Working Out? series.
Is Your Manager Working Out (Part V)
# 2 Do I have the materials and equipment that I need in order to do my work right?
Remember, these questions are being asked of employees and technicians just like yourself. They are measuring the strength of the workplace. They are measuring how well your manager is doing his job.
If you do not have the proper materials, tools and equipment to do your job right, you need to talk to your manager about it. There is a fair chance that your manager will say it is out of his control, that his boss or the owner will say it’s not in the budget. There are many legitimate reasons that this can happen. You need to look at the overall big picture, but if this is something that you hear year after year, this will be a major item to take into account when deciding whether or not to stay with this employer.
# 3 At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday?
Are you hearing this? The management gurus are concerned about you having the opportunity to do what you do best everyday. If that is important to them, how important should that be to you?
By now you are seeing a pattern here. It revolves around communication. If you are not able to answer these questions in a positive manner, it’s up to you to talk with your manager. If he is dancing around and giving you a line, well, quite frankly, your manager isn’t working out.
We’re going to look at three more questions, but I can tell you now, they all revolve around communications.
Is Your Manager Working Out? (Part IV)
Think about it, one million people were surveyed. The fact that the 12 questions listed in Part III are pretty relevant, is pretty strong. But I bet you sort of came to that conclusion on your own.
# 1 Do I know what is expected of me at work?
If your manager doesn’t tell you what he expects of you, how do you know when you are doing a good job in his eyes? Or for that matter, how do you know when you are doing a lousy job?
Well Dave, I know when I am doing a good job. Why do I need my manager to tell me?
I hear you brother. If you are satisfied with your professional progress, if you have all of the educational opportunities and resources that you need, if you are cool with your present wage, if you have all of the work related challenges that you can handle and if you feel as if you are extracting meaning from work and making a worthwhile contribution to the world – well, you probably don’t need to be on the same wave length as your manager.
Come on now, how many of us are really satisfied with our professional progress? Much less the rest of the above. And for us to move forward, you know and I know – we need to be working on the same page as our manager.
You need to know what your manager expects from you and you need to know how your productivity is measured, if it is. In a healthy technician – manager relationship, the more the technician is doing things to go beyond what the manager expects, the more freedom the technician creates for himself, the more opportunity he creates to receive additional help and resources from his manager, the better chance he has to move forward…the better chance you have to move forward.
Part V scheduled for publishing 7/25/2009
Is Your Manager Working Out? (Part III)
The Gallup Organization surveyed one million workers and eighty-thousand managers over a three decade period. Marcus Buckingham sorted through this data and came up with twelve core questions that measure the strength of any work unit.
By reading these questions you’ll immediately see where yourself as the technician, and your manager fit – or do not fit. Here they are:
- Do I know what is expected of me at work?
- Do I have the materials and equipment that I need in order to do my work right?
- At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
- In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
- Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
- Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
- At work, do my opinions seem to count?
- Does the mission or purpose of my company make me feel that my job is important?
- Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work?
- Do I have a best friend at work?
- In the past six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
- This past year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
So, if a manager wants an engaged, hopefully productive work unit, he looks at these questions, which are asked of his coworkers, and makes sure (doing what a manager is supposed to do) on his end that the questions will be answered in a positive way.
In Part IV we’ll take a look at a few of these question.
Is Your Manager Working Out? (Part II)
Marcus Buckingham wrote First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. The article that we are looking at was written by Polly LaBarre of Fast Company, in 2001. We’ll link to the article later. What gives Marcus’ point of view so much power is that it is based on intensive research. His goal is to create a better marriage between the dreams of workers and the drive of companies to win, according to Polly.
Marcus: People don’t change that much, so don’t waste your time trying to rewire them or trying to put in what was left out. Instead, spend your time trying to draw out what was left in.
Remember, this comment is directed toward managers. So a good manager tries to learn what you are good at, what you have a passion for and love to do. A good manager will spend more time on your strengths than your weaknesses. He will keep you focused in this direction.
Marcus / Polly conclude: The best strategy for building a competitive organization is to help individuals become more of who they are.
What you can do – Talk with your manager about what you’re good at and what you love to do. This needs to be an ongoing discussion where communication is open and two-way. When you do have the opportunity to do what you love, make sure the results are the best that they can possibly be.
Part III scheduled for publishing 7/23/2009
