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There are impediments to the
maximization of organizational effectiveness strewn throughout your company.
We often focus on lower personnel, blaming the schools for lower standards
and youth in general for a lack of seriousness. As business owners or those
charged with overall management of the organization, these are easy targets.
You generally have little contact with these individuals, most of your
knowledge of them comes from your management team. And of course, your
management team is a pretty good one, they recognize how wonderful you are
and always have your interest and the interest of the company foremost in
their minds. Additionally, you're well aware of their Herculean efforts and
the wonderful ideas they generate to improve the bottom line.
But what if these are exactly the people causing the stagnation in growth
and overall negative environment you've seen develop? New eyes should
generate a wealth of new ideas. When that doesn't occur, especially in those
with backgrounds that indicate otherwise, you may have to initiate plans to
stimulate creativity. And you have to open your mind to the possibility that
the wonderful management team around you may be the source of the poor
performance in new employees. They are the pipeline between you and your new
people. Is this line clear and efficient or is it a clogged artery
interfering with the health of the organization.
There are many reasons those with authority over the pipeline want to
maintain the status quo. Insecure or overly ambitious individuals may feel
threatened by a new person who generates a wealth of ideas. In some cases,
they may present the ideas as their own. Nothing interferes with the
creativity of an employee like the knowledge that their superiors take
credit for their efforts. Nothing switches off the creative elements in the
brain like this type of betrayal.
Perhaps new employees are not receiving the training necessary for
success in their positions. It's common knowledge that new employees are
expected to hit the ground running in many cases. But regardless of
technical expertise, entering a new position always requires training in the
way things are done in that particular company. Those same insecure or
overly ambitious managers mentioned in the previous paragraph sometimes
remain indispensable by hoarding the knowledge others need to succeed. And
of course, you don't have to be an insecure person by nature to realize that
middle management has become dispensable in these times of downsizing.
How do you find out if your organization is afflicted with these
maladies? The managers relying on these methods aren't going to expose
themselves. And it's often not a good idea to allow employees to evaluate
their managers. This can lead to an increase in what is probably already a
hostile environment. Besides, such evaluations are often viewed with
skepticism, discarded as just an opportunity for disgruntled employees to
take revenge on those trying to whip them into shape.
A better idea, and one that gets lip service but little else in
organizations, is to make the management team responsible for the
performance of their people. You could schedule regular meetings with your
managers, where the positive contributions of their employees are the focus.
Ask each manager to cite new ideas generated by those they supervise. Reward
those managers who are adept at stimulating the creative processes in their
people. Make sure a manager receives almost as much credit for an idea that
originated beneath them as they do for those they create themselves.
And don't neglect training. Ask for details on the training provided to
those who aren't performing up to standards. Let your management team know
that as the gap between their knowledge and that of their employees
decreases, their esteem within the organization increases. Whatever you
reward, you'll receive. Reward management for the performance of new
employees, and you'll see that maybe the schools aren't pumping out
defective product after all.
About the Author
HR Consultant Master's of Industrial Relations Career Rebuilding Services
http://careerrebuilder.com/
091530@msn.com |
