Friday, September 19, 2014

3 Things and More


Wally Bock tackles the topic of "three things I wish I'd learned sooner." He provides a great list.

My own would be longer and would include:

  1. Take more time to schmooze.
  2. Don't postpone confronting problem employees.
  3. Examine the management system more than any of its personalities.
  4. Consider the other person's reality.
  5. Don't rush to overrule your intuition.
  6. Talk about values.
  7. Expand your circle of advisors.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not so sure I agree with number 3. So often I find that complicated management structures, full of internal controls, have all been designed with one problem employee in mind, who cannot be trusted to make expense claims.

I also often find the solution to be to remove the untrustworthy executive, rather than to add additional controls.

Also ineffective at improving performance - training courses on how stealing is wrong.

Michael Wade said...

I agree that organizations should not manage to the dysfunctional. If someone isn't working out and can't be turned around, then it is time to get that person out. At the same time, I see many organizations that inadvertently encourage poor performance due to various rewards. The individuals may be competent but they are operating at cross-purposes due to procedures.

Ethics training on "stealing is wrong" are a waste of time but ones which address the harder "right versus right" questions are valuable.

Michael