Management PEARLS
Stan Wright
President,
Physicians Management Services
Tap your employees’ creativity because their ideas are solutions
by imagination.
Retaining good employees is always a primary goal for managers. The current tight pool of qualified employees makes retaining solid producers even more important to your organization. We all know that losing good employees means lost productivity, additional hiring and training costs, and those myriad other details that cost time, money and just generally slow things down.
Dispensing constructive criticism is a manager’s job. How good are you at this? For two to three weeks, run a daily tally on the number of positive and negative comments you make to each employee. If the negatives are outpacing the positive, ask yourself this: Who wants to go to a job every day knowing that four to six landmines are waiting for you?
The last thing you want is to motivate good employees to seek employment elsewhere.
Remember that we as managers are really coaches. A good coach does not wait until the end of the season to offer advice, feedback, insights and encouragement. These should take place throughout the season.
Being a good listener is part of being a good coach. Learn to ask questions since people often behave in ways for reasons not readily apparent. Try to understand accurately what is being said. Ask questions to let them know you are listening, as well as to ensure that you really understand what they are saying. Listening to staffers’ points of view may change your understanding and will definitely earn greater staff commitment to resolving problems. More importantly, it will prevent you from having a reputation for being unapproachable, intransigent or a waste of time to speak to.
Old-style supervisors feel that their job is to come up with solutions -- the boss knows best mentality. This management philosophy’s day is long gone. All successful organizations actively seek employees’ ideas. Tap your employees’ creativity because their ideas are solutions by imagination. The added benefit lies in quicker buy in to your plans, the organization’s mission and fosters commitment.
