Management Training Tip - What Makes A Good Boss?
Management Training Tip - What Makes A Good Boss?
According to Rob Sheehan, director of executive education at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland, “Being a good boss is important in any organization, but it’s particularly important for small business. With smaller businesses, you really have the opportunity to set the tone for the entire company.” There are several characteristics, traits, and attitudes that seem to be prevalent among executives that are viewed as “good bosses” by their employees. These include:
• Including all levels of employees in decision making
• Concentrating on the company’s mission, not just its ability to make money
• Demonstrating the value of learning new skills
• Encouraging employees to advance their careers
• Setting an example of a positive attitude and work ethic
Assigning Responsibilities
The organization of your small business will be determined by your determination of who should be doing what and when – in other words, assigning tasks and duties to your employees. At the center of any organization are its people and those people have to know what is expected of them in order to perform satisfactorily. Usually a small business will start with a few (maybe even one) person(s) performing all of the day-to-day functions. However, as the business grows it will be necessary to hire others to perform specific roles within the firm. As a manager, you will be required to recognize when new needs emerge and to hire the appropriate personnel to address those needs.
Business Teams
You should not be the only one responsible for the success of your small business. The ultimate in organization is the formation of a business team that allows you to delegate authority and, as a result, increase productivity. Your business team should consist of those employees who are in charge of the major functions of your organization.
To be effective, a business team must have a leader that is respected by all of the team members. In return, the leader must respect all of the member’s individual abilities. A team spirit should be evident as each member uses his or her strengths to compensate for the weaknesses of others.
Mistakes in the workplace should result in correction not retribution. Each member of a team should realize their own importance to the organization and feel free to explore other areas of activity.
Communication
Tips for Employers
A 2001 study analyzing 20,000 exit interviews revealed that the most common reason that people leave a job situation is poor supervision – basically, they had a bad boss. Probably the biggest factor contributing to the perception of poor leadership seemed to be poor communication skills. How can you as an employer improve your communication with your employees? Try out a few of the following suggestions:
1) Listen. Actually pay attention to what your employees are saying. As simple as this sounds, try this exercise; Tape a conversation then after you have finished communicating, try typing as much as you can of what the other person said. When you are finished, play the tape while reading your notes. See how accurate you’re listening and memory is.
2) Designate specific times to meet with your employees one-on-one at least twice a month. Not allowing interruptions during these meetings will convey to them that they have your undivided attention and that you value their input.
3) When changes are going to have to be made in the workplace, let those affected know as soon as possible. Tell them personally and don’t let them find out through the grapevine.
4) Let your employees know what you stand for. When they are aware of your value system, they will be able to make better decisions, or at least decisions that will be more pleasing to you.
5) Let your employees know how they are doing on a regular basis. Don’t let an employee find out that they are not performing up to your standards at their yearly performance review.
6) Improve your public speaking skills. Your credibility with your employees is directly tied to your ability to convey information to them successfully.
7) Don’t use e-mail to do your dirty work. Whenever a situation involves strong emotions, it should be dealt with in person.
Management Training Tip What Makes A Good Boss - To learn more about this author, visit Sean McPheat's Website.
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What Makes a Good Boss?
According to Rob Sheehan, director of executive education at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland, “Being a good boss is important in any organization, but it’s particularly important for small business. With smaller businesses, you really have the opportunity to set the tone for the entire company.” There are several characteristics, traits, and attitudes that seem to be prevalent among executives that are viewed as “good bosses” by their employees. These include:
• Including all levels of employees in decision making
• Concentrating on the company’s mission, not just its ability to make money
• Demonstrating the value of learning new skills
• Encouraging employees to advance their careers
• Setting an example of a positive attitude and work ethic
Assigning Responsibilities
The organization of your small business will be determined by your determination of who should be doing what and when – in other words, assigning tasks and duties to your employees. At the center of any organization are its people and those people have to know what is expected of them in order to perform satisfactorily. Usually a small business will start with a few (maybe even one) person(s) performing all of the day-to-day functions. However, as the business grows it will be necessary to hire others to perform specific roles within the firm. As a manager, you will be required to recognize when new needs emerge and to hire the appropriate personnel to address those needs.
Business Teams
You should not be the only one responsible for the success of your small business. The ultimate in organization is the formation of a business team that allows you to delegate authority and, as a result, increase productivity. Your business team should consist of those employees who are in charge of the major functions of your organization.
To be effective, a business team must have a leader that is respected by all of the team members. In return, the leader must respect all of the member’s individual abilities. A team spirit should be evident as each member uses his or her strengths to compensate for the weaknesses of others.
Mistakes in the workplace should result in correction not retribution. Each member of a team should realize their own importance to the organization and feel free to explore other areas of activity.
Communication
Tips for Employers
A 2001 study analyzing 20,000 exit interviews revealed that the most common reason that people leave a job situation is poor supervision – basically, they had a bad boss. Probably the biggest factor contributing to the perception of poor leadership seemed to be poor communication skills. How can you as an employer improve your communication with your employees? Try out a few of the following suggestions:
1) Listen. Actually pay attention to what your employees are saying. As simple as this sounds, try this exercise; Tape a conversation then after you have finished communicating, try typing as much as you can of what the other person said. When you are finished, play the tape while reading your notes. See how accurate you’re listening and memory is.
2) Designate specific times to meet with your employees one-on-one at least twice a month. Not allowing interruptions during these meetings will convey to them that they have your undivided attention and that you value their input.
3) When changes are going to have to be made in the workplace, let those affected know as soon as possible. Tell them personally and don’t let them find out through the grapevine.
4) Let your employees know what you stand for. When they are aware of your value system, they will be able to make better decisions, or at least decisions that will be more pleasing to you.
5) Let your employees know how they are doing on a regular basis. Don’t let an employee find out that they are not performing up to your standards at their yearly performance review.
6) Improve your public speaking skills. Your credibility with your employees is directly tied to your ability to convey information to them successfully.
7) Don’t use e-mail to do your dirty work. Whenever a situation involves strong emotions, it should be dealt with in person.
Management Training Tip What Makes A Good Boss - To learn more about this author, visit Sean McPheat's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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