| When managing people, keeping the approach simple pays dividends. Wal Beattie explains…
Over the last 12 months the debate surrounding Work Choices has distracted many managers from the basic issues of how to manage their employees and get the best out of them. In today’s tight labour markets, many companies compete to find and keep the best employees using pay, extra benefits, promotions and training but these well intentioned efforts often miss the mark.
Instead of throwing money at the problem, it is suggested that the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) can be applied to people management issues. I was reminded of the principle not so long ago when I was re-reading the book, First, Break All The Rules* by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. The book looks at what the world’s greatest managers do differently.
Buckingham and Coffman draw on 25 years of research by the Gallup organisation which interviewed literally more than a million employees and 80,000 managers. Key ideas in the book include:
1.The best managers reject conventional wisdom
2.The best managers treat every employee as an individual
3.The best managers never try to fix weaknesses; instead they focus on strengths and talent
4.The best managers know they are on stage everyday. They know their people are watching every move they make.
They distilled the information to identify the most critical answers to questions that are the simplest and most accurate way to measure the strength of the workplace.
They eventually collated the 12 key questions that the majority of employees want answered. They are:
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1.Do I know what is expected of me?
2.Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3.At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4.In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5.Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6.Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7.At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8.Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?
9.Are any of my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10.Do I have a best friend at work?
11.In the last 6 months, have I talked with someone about my progress?
12.At work do I have opportunities to learn and grow?
The best managers are those that built a working environment where the employees answered positively to those 12 questions:
What is most striking about this list is its relative simplicity – none of this is rocket science! Some questions are quite profound and most of us would say: “I knew that” after some thought. Simple yes, but is it implemented on a regular basis? No! None of these questions require lots of money to be thrown at them to be answered. Yet, if taken on board they can save lots of time effort and angst.
It’s now up to you.
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