The Dynamic U-Method™ of Management For Creating Higher Employee Productivity and Business Loyalty
The Dynamic U-Method™ of Management For Creating Higher Employee Productivity and Business Loyalty
Many years ago, struggling to “learn the ropes” as a young manager, I had the good fortune to stumble upon a gentleman who was one of the finer managers I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. This man had a genuine knack for getting along with his employees, inspiring them to give “100%,” while maintaining quality standards far superior to anything else in his industry. His business operation was always profitable, even in those cyclical “lean times”, seemingly because of one reason ... Employee Morale!
As I grew more experienced, I was intrigued by his management methods for success. However, as I was soon to discover, his methods were not uncommon to other successful businesses. Unique management styles which create self-worth among employees, are the common denominator for almost all successful and progressive companies.
The more I observed, the more apparent was one indisputable fact. When employees were happy ... the businesses flourished! When employees were not happy, management seemed to struggle with their companies ... even in the best of times! That's also when I realized that good management is much more than purely watching the numbers.
U-Method™ Of Management
For better establishing the connection between you as the reader and my own management philosophy, I would like to share a unique glimpse into the U-Method™ of Management.
(The "U" stands for ... “U”nderstanding and working with employees for the purpose of increasing employee self worth, individual and team productivity, and business profits.)
Good management is your key to success! It is complex in its nature, requiring special talents, techniques, and a positive focus in order to be effective. It is made difficult because of incorporating people, productivity, and direction into one package of responsibility.
It is, without a doubt, a most difficult undertaking if you have had little or no experience, and certainly a task, which requires continual effort if you are to be effective. Good managers are motivators of people, reasonably good decision-makers, and forward-thinking leaders.
Good leadership –– that which entails positive communication of a clearly defined objective –– can easily be explained by what I have come to observe as my ... U-Method™ Of Management.
The U-Method™ brings together in a visual form the responsibilities management has to “U”NDERSTAND its leadership position relative to the future of the business, needs of employees, and the customers served.
The U-Method™ also provides your employees with a basis for understanding the responsibilities necessary for the prosperous continuation of the business respective of management’s decision, and for providing clearly defined levels of acceptable performance for each position. Let us begin looking at this concept more deeply by taking each part of the “U” and understanding its application and importance.
The BASE of the “U”
The BASE of the “U” will become the stated and written minimum levels of acceptable performance for a position. It is equal to a job description, which defines skills and other criteria needed to properly function in the position.
The BASE creates the understanding needed between you and your employees and gives you a realistic standard to judge performance. It helps to alleviate any frustration the employee may feel
should your performance requirements not be initially made clear.
The continuity and understanding, which both you and your employees can share by having performance levels fully understood at the beginning, helps relieve management-employee pressures as the business progresses and grows.
The SIDES of the “U”
The SIDES of the “U” represent the parameters in which your employees can function without prior management approval, while the value of providing such parameters allows for self-flexibility in accomplishing the task within the framework designed for progress and growth. It serves the human need for acceptance, security, and self-worth through “responsible” manager guidance.
By defining a given set of employee decision-making parameters for a specific position, you have eliminated the need for constant supervision. Your employee will accept greater responsibility and take a higher “personal pride” in the task at hand. The employee - without continual monitoring - will feel much more dedicated toward obtaining quality end results.
When employees are granted participation in the decisions concerning their performance, this self-monitoring management style provides a proven foundation for building self-worth within each employee, while laying a positive educational groundwork for your future supervisors and executive managers.
By observing the SIDES of the “U” it is easy to visualize that the wider the sides can be extended, the more specific flexibility in “employee job decision-making” is being granted. By opening the “U,” increased job and self-fulfillment are attained, loyalty is increased, turnover reduced, creative solutions more abundant, positive daily worker morale raised, much higher self-stimulated productivity observed, and management-employee friction virtually eliminated!
As the SIDES of the “U” narrow, more supervision is required on your part, with employee innovation, self-worth, security, and motivation becoming rapid in their decline. Instead of increased productivity and quality within your employee ranks, you effectively stymie desire in all aspects of the work environment, while wearing yourself thin trying to micro-manage all aspects of your business.
If you choose to narrow the SIDES of the “U” even more, to the point where only you are making petty job decisions as a manager, then get ready for short tempers, friction, and reduced leadership capacity.
When your objectives are clear, levels of acceptable performance established, and human needs for developing employee self-worth realized, your need to stymie employee creativity will only serve to undermine your business potential. The sidewalls in my U-Method™ Of Management represent the boundaries for your employees –– and the limits you have placed on yourself for directing and managing effective growth.
The Final Portion Of The “U” Is The Element Of Openness Found At The TOP
The open TOP is the visual example representing unlimited potential for management, employees, and your overall business. It is the motivating segment, which allows for a proper relationship to occur between you as the manager, and your employees. The open TOP provides the creative scope for each individual and your total team efforts. It is this “creative scope” represented by the Open Top, which sustains your employees in their quest to accomplish long-term business objectives.
When an individual is placed in a business environment, which is conducive to personal growth and creativity, and one which focuses on a clear, constructive objective, the end result is motivation and high productivity. When this management level is attained your business will receive the maximum benefits available for its own survival. Your employees will help see to it!
Interestingly enough, this management concept has many of the basic characteristics of child rearing. These basics include such things as: levels of expectancy, parameters and guidelines for acceptable and secure functioning, and unlimited potential for creative personal growth. (It’s unique that adulthood is very similar to childhood when applied to the workplace environment. Especially, if your objective is to produce positive behavior patterns with higher productivity.)
If you’ll notice, the basics of the U-Method™ Of Management provide the same beginning and ending as proper child development. People are people, no matter what their age. And they DO function much better when given clear parameters, than if left alone to perform the task without knowing what is acceptable to their parent or supervisor.
For you as an owner/manager, and for your employees, risks must be taken to gain and grow, and your management responsibility is to be aware of those risks. Then, create the best possible environment for a positive, productive manager-employee relationship. When attained, your business and its future will be in the best hands possible. Your productivity will soar and quality will remain at a premium. The need for your supervisory time will diminish and reduced turnover rates will make training much more cost-effective. Under this management-model, responsibility toward customer awareness and future profits will become the unspoken reality, permeating throughout your organization.
When using our U-Method™ Of Management model wisely, you’ll find it to serve you well for creating a more competitive small business structure having much less management-employee friction, and for creating extraordinary employee productivity and loyalty within your work environment.
The Dynamic UMethod of Management For Creating Higher Employee Productivity and Business Loyalty - To learn more about this author, visit Greg Bacon's Website.
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INTRODUCTION
Many years ago, struggling to “learn the ropes” as a young manager, I had the good fortune to stumble upon a gentleman who was one of the finer managers I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. This man had a genuine knack for getting along with his employees, inspiring them to give “100%,” while maintaining quality standards far superior to anything else in his industry. His business operation was always profitable, even in those cyclical “lean times”, seemingly because of one reason ... Employee Morale!
As I grew more experienced, I was intrigued by his management methods for success. However, as I was soon to discover, his methods were not uncommon to other successful businesses. Unique management styles which create self-worth among employees, are the common denominator for almost all successful and progressive companies.
The more I observed, the more apparent was one indisputable fact. When employees were happy ... the businesses flourished! When employees were not happy, management seemed to struggle with their companies ... even in the best of times! That's also when I realized that good management is much more than purely watching the numbers.
U-Method™ Of Management
For better establishing the connection between you as the reader and my own management philosophy, I would like to share a unique glimpse into the U-Method™ of Management.
(The "U" stands for ... “U”nderstanding and working with employees for the purpose of increasing employee self worth, individual and team productivity, and business profits.)
Good management is your key to success! It is complex in its nature, requiring special talents, techniques, and a positive focus in order to be effective. It is made difficult because of incorporating people, productivity, and direction into one package of responsibility.
It is, without a doubt, a most difficult undertaking if you have had little or no experience, and certainly a task, which requires continual effort if you are to be effective. Good managers are motivators of people, reasonably good decision-makers, and forward-thinking leaders.
Good leadership –– that which entails positive communication of a clearly defined objective –– can easily be explained by what I have come to observe as my ... U-Method™ Of Management.
The U-Method™ brings together in a visual form the responsibilities management has to “U”NDERSTAND its leadership position relative to the future of the business, needs of employees, and the customers served.
The U-Method™ also provides your employees with a basis for understanding the responsibilities necessary for the prosperous continuation of the business respective of management’s decision, and for providing clearly defined levels of acceptable performance for each position. Let us begin looking at this concept more deeply by taking each part of the “U” and understanding its application and importance.
The BASE of the “U”
The BASE of the “U” will become the stated and written minimum levels of acceptable performance for a position. It is equal to a job description, which defines skills and other criteria needed to properly function in the position.
The BASE creates the understanding needed between you and your employees and gives you a realistic standard to judge performance. It helps to alleviate any frustration the employee may feel
should your performance requirements not be initially made clear.
The continuity and understanding, which both you and your employees can share by having performance levels fully understood at the beginning, helps relieve management-employee pressures as the business progresses and grows.
The SIDES of the “U”
The SIDES of the “U” represent the parameters in which your employees can function without prior management approval, while the value of providing such parameters allows for self-flexibility in accomplishing the task within the framework designed for progress and growth. It serves the human need for acceptance, security, and self-worth through “responsible” manager guidance.
By defining a given set of employee decision-making parameters for a specific position, you have eliminated the need for constant supervision. Your employee will accept greater responsibility and take a higher “personal pride” in the task at hand. The employee - without continual monitoring - will feel much more dedicated toward obtaining quality end results.
When employees are granted participation in the decisions concerning their performance, this self-monitoring management style provides a proven foundation for building self-worth within each employee, while laying a positive educational groundwork for your future supervisors and executive managers.
By observing the SIDES of the “U” it is easy to visualize that the wider the sides can be extended, the more specific flexibility in “employee job decision-making” is being granted. By opening the “U,” increased job and self-fulfillment are attained, loyalty is increased, turnover reduced, creative solutions more abundant, positive daily worker morale raised, much higher self-stimulated productivity observed, and management-employee friction virtually eliminated!
As the SIDES of the “U” narrow, more supervision is required on your part, with employee innovation, self-worth, security, and motivation becoming rapid in their decline. Instead of increased productivity and quality within your employee ranks, you effectively stymie desire in all aspects of the work environment, while wearing yourself thin trying to micro-manage all aspects of your business.
If you choose to narrow the SIDES of the “U” even more, to the point where only you are making petty job decisions as a manager, then get ready for short tempers, friction, and reduced leadership capacity.
When your objectives are clear, levels of acceptable performance established, and human needs for developing employee self-worth realized, your need to stymie employee creativity will only serve to undermine your business potential. The sidewalls in my U-Method™ Of Management represent the boundaries for your employees –– and the limits you have placed on yourself for directing and managing effective growth.
The Final Portion Of The “U” Is The Element Of Openness Found At The TOP
The open TOP is the visual example representing unlimited potential for management, employees, and your overall business. It is the motivating segment, which allows for a proper relationship to occur between you as the manager, and your employees. The open TOP provides the creative scope for each individual and your total team efforts. It is this “creative scope” represented by the Open Top, which sustains your employees in their quest to accomplish long-term business objectives.
When an individual is placed in a business environment, which is conducive to personal growth and creativity, and one which focuses on a clear, constructive objective, the end result is motivation and high productivity. When this management level is attained your business will receive the maximum benefits available for its own survival. Your employees will help see to it!
Interestingly enough, this management concept has many of the basic characteristics of child rearing. These basics include such things as: levels of expectancy, parameters and guidelines for acceptable and secure functioning, and unlimited potential for creative personal growth. (It’s unique that adulthood is very similar to childhood when applied to the workplace environment. Especially, if your objective is to produce positive behavior patterns with higher productivity.)
If you’ll notice, the basics of the U-Method™ Of Management provide the same beginning and ending as proper child development. People are people, no matter what their age. And they DO function much better when given clear parameters, than if left alone to perform the task without knowing what is acceptable to their parent or supervisor.
For you as an owner/manager, and for your employees, risks must be taken to gain and grow, and your management responsibility is to be aware of those risks. Then, create the best possible environment for a positive, productive manager-employee relationship. When attained, your business and its future will be in the best hands possible. Your productivity will soar and quality will remain at a premium. The need for your supervisory time will diminish and reduced turnover rates will make training much more cost-effective. Under this management-model, responsibility toward customer awareness and future profits will become the unspoken reality, permeating throughout your organization.
When using our U-Method™ Of Management model wisely, you’ll find it to serve you well for creating a more competitive small business structure having much less management-employee friction, and for creating extraordinary employee productivity and loyalty within your work environment.
The Dynamic UMethod of Management For Creating Higher Employee Productivity and Business Loyalty - To learn more about this author, visit Greg Bacon's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle'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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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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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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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig'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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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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