How to drive your supervisors crazy in 10 Easy Steps!

| July 27, 2010

I recently met Julie Allemagne while I was counseling at SCORE.  As with my philosophy of helping others I have invited Julie to blog on The Business Source LLC blog.  She’s an expert in Human Resources.  Enjoy her post.

John

How to drive your supervisors crazy in 10  Easy Steps!

#10.      Do not clearly define a supervisor’s project role-Are they the project lead?   An advisor to the project, with no tasks to accomplish?    If your supervisors don’t understand what role they play on a project or within an organization, they will fail to understand how they can best support the organizational goals.

#9.       Assign several bosses for each functional role a supervisor plays-There is nothing worse than wasting time by having to report progress to more than one boss, or to obtain the green light in order to move on the next phase of a project.  It’s ineffective, inefficient, and generally causes morale issues within your organization.

#8.       Do not clearly state the purpose and goals for the organization- What are the expected outcomes associated with each role in the organization?     Spell them out using specific, measurable goals.  Assign responsibilities and deadlines as well.

#7.       Make sure that the breadth and scope of your supervisors’ responsibility is unattainable. No matter how hard they work, how many Little League games they miss, how many hours they put in at the office, they will drop the ball somewhere.  This is a quick way to bring down your supervisors and to cause your best employees (at all levels) to leave your organization.    As priorities change, insure that you survey your supervisors in order to redistribute the workload accordingly.

#6.       Change priorities weekly- Leaders  in organizations have difficulty understanding the impact of  their changing priorities.   Employees, including managers and supervisors, need to feel that they are part of the organization’s progress, and that they can focus on priorities successfully.   Especially in today’s business climate, employees at all levels need reassurance that some priorities will continue on a long term basis.

#5.       Keep them busy until you figure things out–  When organizations don’t exactly know the path they will take, they develop “busy work” projects for their supervisors to complete.    This can be an effective way to gather intelligence on a complex issue, or to gain understanding about employees’ attitude on current issues, but when this  method becomes “the norm”, it can be damaging to morale.

#4        Set up your organization in a “team” format because your competitors are doing it–   Many organizations have adopted team structures because they have been told that this is a good thing.  If you are going to adopt a team structure, define the purpose of the team, and be sure that the team can be successful within an appropriate scope.    If you and your supervisors don’t fully understand and believe in team structures,  adopting teams will frustrate your employees and may become counterproductive.

#3.       Do not hold people accountable–  Supervisors  who have to manage around poor performers quickly become frustrated.  Define your policies.  Apply your policies each and every time.  Organizations get into trouble when exceptions are made because of a favored employee status.     Employee populations have a very strong BS detector and can see these actions much faster than leadership would ever realize.

#2.       Do not teach your supervisors basic organizational skills-A CEO once told me that “if someone has made it to this level, they should know how to prepare a budget and read financial statements”.     This type of thinking couldn’t be further from the truth.   Even if you have highly skilled supervisors in an organization, chances are that they are not familiar with YOUR budget process, financial statements, or other organizational processes.    Make time to train your supervisors so that your organizational and employee learning continues.

#1 ½     Make sure that 50-75% of supervisory time is spent in meetings! – Meetings take time and energy away from the real priorities of the organization.     Have “stand up” meetings, which are focused, problem solving and within the scope of responsibilities for the employees attending them.

#1.       Make sure that your meetings are redundant, include as many people as possible, have no stated purpose, and make no progress! Find more appropriate ways to communicate with employees and enlist creative ways to engage them in understanding the organization’s goals.

Julie Allemagne is the owner of Root Solutions, LLC.  We partner with small to medium companies to hire and retain the right employees, increase profits, increase sales and profits.   Using a variety of tools and a systematic approach, we will work with your organization to meet your business objectives.      www.myrootsolutions.com 608.426.0380

Determination, Will, Drive and Passion

| June 16, 2010

I was listening to talk radio yesterday and Mark Belling from WISN in Milwaukee was talking about people that accomplish extraordinary things.

Bob Lang from Delafield built Erin Hills golf course with the intention of having it become the site for the U.S. Open golf championship.

Senator Herb Kohl built Whistling Straits near Kohler and has hosted several PGA tournament events and will host the 92nd PGA Championship in August.

To build these world class courses was a feat in itself.  The state of Wisconsin is filled with pitfalls and challenges for business owners.  According to Forbes Magazine, Wisconsin ranks 44th out of 50 for “the best states for business”, barely ahead of Michigan, Louisiana and West Virginia.

The only thing that allowed them to achieve success was their determination, their will, their drive, their passion for a vision and a belief that would not be squelched by government regulation.

Without their true grit, these amazing golf courses would never have been built.  These are men of courage that followed their dream.  They had a vision and they pursued it relentlessly.  It’s people like Bob Lang and Herb Kohl that inspire me and keep my spirit alive.

To succeed in business today, you need more than a great idea and money.  You need determination, incredible will, drive and passion for what you believe in.

Legend and Leader

| June 7, 2010

Over my 30 year career in sales and sales management John Wooden’s name and principles popped up about once a year in various training discussions.

His recent passing creates an opportunity to pause and reflect on his greatness.  Seldom in our history do we come across great leaders that are completely authentic and live by principles that guarantee success.  John Wooden was one of those great leaders.  His father passed along this 7 Point Creed as John was entering grammar school.

John Wooden’s 7 Point Creed:

  • Be true to yourself.
  • Make each day your masterpiece.
  • Help others.
  • Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
  • Make friendship a fine art.
  • Build a shelter against a rainy day.
  • Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.

John went on to write his own Pyramid of Success.

John Wooden served our country in the Navy achieving the rank of Lieutenant.  As a player he once made 134 consecutive free throws in 46 games.  As a coach, he won 10 NCAA basketball championships coaching the UCLA Bruins.  Overall his coaching record was 664 wins and 162 losses.

I would say that John Wooden was an extraordinary man that we can all model our lives after.

Social Media

| May 19, 2010

I’ve been fascinated by all the buzz and hype surrounding the topic of social media.  When I decided I wanted a blog to go along with my website, I didn’t realize that I was ahead of the curve.   I wanted a blog to share ideas and educate.

Over the past year or two companies and consultants have popped up that specialize in helping others develop social media programs.  Helping companies learn what social media is, where it is, how it works and how to engage in social media is very similar to helping companies learn about and understand advertising, marketing or any number of related business disciplines.

What’s all the hype?  Let’s look at the facts from my point of view.  Social media is not for every company or every professional.  The four main social media sites are Face Book, Twitter, Linked In and blogs.  Face Book has some value and I believe there are strategies for companies to promote themselves and get involved in various conversations on Face Book.  But seriously, Face Book is for family and friends.  People that I observe who are fans of Face Book are rarely using it for business.  There are more potential threats with Face Book than value for business in my opinion.

Twitter is just that.  I’m embarrassed for some that use this format of communications to share personal things and professional acts that have no value to the readers.  I wouldn’t say it’s a total waste of time, but close.  Save the tweet, no one cares.

Linked In however, is a powerful business information engine and resource.  There’s many ways to use Linked In and it adds value to my work, my time and my ability to help others every day.  Linked In is easy to use and can be a powerful Social Media tool.

Blogs are web logs.  A place for people to comment, share events, experiences and education.  Video plays well in Blogs and You Tube has captured the essence of using video to entertain, communicate and educate.  Personally I think having a strategy for using video is a better investment in time and money than social media and they are connected.  Video is a stronger driver of Search Engine Optimization than Social Media.

Over the past year, I’ve asked several Social Media experts to demonstrate for me and show me what value they’ve created for their clients.  So far no one has been able to show me the value.  I’m still waiting and will probably be waiting, perhaps because my expectations equal the hype.  If it’s all that, show me where it’s at.  Having a profile and listing in one of the various social media databases (that’s really what they are), is easy and no big deal.

I do appreciate the exponential level of information and knowledge power I’ve seen at www.Mashable.com. This is the premiere website for social media information.

Technology is moving so quickly it is impossible to keep up.  What you heard, see and read is only a small percentage of what’s happening behind the scenes related to information technology.

Social Media needs to be recognized.  In the Friday May 14th edition of the Wall Street Journal, there is a story on Procter and Gamble highlighting allegations that its’ new Pampers product creates rashes and leaks.  The sub-headline says, “Company Staunchly Defends New Pampers as Allegations of Rashes, Leaks Find Traction on the Web.”   That’s some serious stuff for P & G.  Pampers makes up $8.5 billion dollars of P & G’s total $79 billion in revenue.  P & G changed the formula and application for absorption and pissed off thousands of moms.  One mom started a Face Book page titled, “Pampers Bring Back the Old Cruisers/Swaddlers and in one week it went from 3,500 fans to 7,000 fans.  That’s what I call going “viral”.  It’s also social.  And it’s now the new media.

People across the world are now connected.  The World Wide Web is definitely gaining momentum and more and more people are getting into the conversation via whatever social media outlet suits their needs.  For me it’s Linked In and Blogs.  For others it’s Twitter and Face Book, plus another two dozen specific applications known as social media.

From my perspective, my job is to educate my clients on Social Media so they can make good choices and if they so choose, develop a communications strategy to monitor the various Social Media sites and participate in the conversation.   Today and in the past advertising was a paid form of Social Media.  Public Relations is a paid form of Social Media also.  Creating a website is a paid form of Social Media.  Taking time to visit, read, monitor and write for Face Book, Twitter or Linked In is a paid form.  Time is money.  Where do you want to spend your time?

Value

| May 7, 2010

In my opinion, value gets created when there is an exchange of knowledge, goods or services where the provider exceeds the customers  expectations.  Value occurs when the recipient feels they’ve received as much or more benefit than they expected,  sometimes for a price, sometimes at no cost.  What’s your definition of value and how do you create value for your clients?