Welcome to the March 2007 issue of Rise & Shine
Your Leadership Solutions and Resource Newsletter!
Bright Lights (Tips/Solutions)
For the next several months, Rise & Shine will continue to highlight tips and suggestions from
The 10 Keys of Effective Supervision™:
- Support Growth
- Unite With Your Team
- Praise Others
- Expect Excellence
- Require Accountability
- Verify Potential
- Instill Independence
- Share Continuously
- Optimize Ownership
- Reinforce Relationships
This month’s focus is on the seventh Key – Instill Independence:
According to the Rising Sun model, "Instill Independence" is defined as: "Allowing/encouraging employee autonomy."
Have you ever been micromanaged? How did it feel? Did you like it? Did you feel respected? Did you respect the person who micromanaged you?
It is always interesting to us that no matter how many people we ask, almost all have been micromanaged, but no one likes it! So who is doing all the micromanaging and why?
If you've hired someone for a particular job, you must have believed they were capable of doing that job. So why not get out of the way and let them do it?
We are not saying don't hold them accountable … we are saying, set clear expectations, provide the necessary resources – including coaching and supervision, get out of the way, let people do their jobs, and then hold them accountable for the results!
Unfortunately, many managers and supervisors struggle with the act of delegation. Effective delegation requires being very specific about what you want, setting clear parameters and timelines, making sure the resources are available to accomplish the task, setting up regular "touching base" meeting to check on progress (if necessary), and being available for support if requested.
Your job is not to do the work for others – if that were the case, why would you need them in the first place? Effective delegation not only instills independence in your employees, it also frees you up to do the job you were hired for. Unless of course, you’re being micromanaged as well.
Shining Stars (Best Practices)
Keystone Wood Specialties, Inc. is this month's Organization of Excellence. Founded in 1972 by Sam Stoltzfus, this company has grown to over 50 employees who focus on providing high quality cabinetry components in a customer service oriented environment. Keystone has won several awards in recent years. Included in this list of recognitions are the Best Places to Work in PA in 2005, the SHARP Certificate from OSHA since 2003, and is one of only 12 companies who won the America’s Safest Companies award in 2005. Additionally, Keystone president, Sam Stoltzfus, was the recipient of Wood & Wood Products magazine’s prestigious Jerry Metz Achievement Award for 2006. What has led to this success? Here are just a few of this organization’s strategies:
- An appreciative and respectful top leader who takes the time to speak with his employees on the shop floor every day.
- A strong emphasis on going above and beyond basic safety compliance standards, which has created an award-winning safe work environment and practices for their employees.
- Bonuses based on business profit that are distributed twice a year.
- A company chaplain who comes in once a week to talk with employees and to be there for counseling regarding personal issues, if needed.
- Instilling an appreciation for the mindset of finding solutions, not placing blame.
- A newsletter that is sent directly to employees’ homes that reviews company events, awards, news, trainings, birthdays, etc. The family members enjoy this communication, too.
Employees at Keystone Wood Specialties appreciate and respect their President as much as he does them. It is a mutually caring culture that employees feel blessed to be a part of. We thank David Landis, Safety/Compliance Coordinator, for meeting with us to talk about this organization. More information about Keystone Wood Specialties, Inc. and their recognitions can be found at their website, www.keystonewood.com.
World Views (In the News)
Do Parents Make Better Managers?
Perhaps business schools should start teaching parenting classes.
According to new research, parents--at least those committed to family life--actually perform better in the office. Researchers from Clark University and the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C., interviewed 347 managers and executives, mostly from large public companies, about their family lives. Then they talked to the participants' colleagues, subordinates and bosses about their work performance.
Those who were committed to family life achieved significantly better reviews. The reason: Parents learn to multitask, handle stress and negotiate, says Marian N. Ruderman, research director at the Center for Creative Leadership, and one of the study's authors.
"In parenting roles you get a chance to do a lot of the same things you do as a manager," Ruderman says. "You get to hone your interpersonal skills. You learn how to develop other people. It's another opportunity to learn from experience.
The parent-manager comparison can be taken too far. After all, employees are not toddlers. "Businesses are collections of adults," says Steve Tirado, chief executive of semiconductor firm Silicon Image, who has four daughters between the ages of 19 and 24. At home, the parents always know best. At work, he says, executives should involve everyone in making decisions.
But he acknowledges that parenting skills and management skills do overlap. "Having kids forces you to learn how to make compromises, and to listen, and to try and support them to be better," Tirado says.
Of course, just because the same characteristics that make a good manager make a good parent, that doesn't mean one causes the other. "The best employees are probably those who are engaged in all life roles," says Tammy Allen, a psychology professor at the University of South Florida who also studies the interactions between work and family life. "It's just indicative of someone who's an active, engaged individual." But Allen adds that parents do develop useful business skills. And people with happy family lives tend to be happier at work as well.
Conventional wisdom, of course, says the opposite. According to a steady barrage of studies and media reports, family life and work responsibilities are constantly in conflict, particularly for women with children. That's why many managers work 70 hours or more every week, under the assumption that succeeding at work means suppressing every other aspect of life.
But Ruderman had a hunch that wasn't always the right strategy for getting ahead. "I did not believe the results out there about how depleting it is to have a full life," she says.
Many companies are catching on. More and more, companies are developing ways to help their employees juggle hefty workloads and equally intense family responsibilities, in order to find the holy grail of "work-life balance." Such companies as Enrst & Young and Johnson & Johnson are offering flexible hours, child care and even nursing rooms, sending the message that stellar performers can also be stellar parents.
Just having kids won't make you a better manager, but being actively involved in raising them will, according to the study. To measure the participants' commitment to parenting, the study's authors--Ruderman, Patricia J. Ohlott and Laura M. Graves--asked questions about whether they expected to spend a significant amount of time raising children, and whether they would sacrifice other goals to spend more time with family. Those who didn't mind sacrificing for their children did better in the performance reviews.
Single parents take heart: Commitment to a spouse didn't alter the performance reviews. The study's authors used similar questions to analyze each participant's level of commitment to a spouse or significant other. Although those in devoted relationships had higher levels of satisfaction with work and life, says co-author Graves, a professor in the graduate school of management at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., they didn't perform significantly better in the reviews. A spouse or life partner can provide support and encouragement--but he or she won't improve your management skills, Graves says.
Family Time Relieves Stress
A spouse can provide support and act as a sounding board when you need to vent about work. Meanwhile, helping your daughter with her homework will take your mind off your own homework. That lowers stress and makes it easier to face work again the next day.
Family Teaches You To Play Well With Others
Do you have difficult in-laws? If you can get along with your spouse's family, managing difficult co-workers is easy. If you can resolve conflicts over the course of a 30-year marriage, an eight-hour day is nothing.
Parenting = Multitasking
Are you cooking dinner, picking Billy up from soccer practice and doing your taxes tonight? Look on the bright side: Learning to juggle multiple family responsibilities will help you manage complex situations at work.
Parenting Improves Your Self-Esteem
When you overcome challenges in your personal life--say, helping Billy get an A in algebra--that builds confidence that will help you perform well at work.
Marriage Requires Negotiation
Are you having trouble getting your spouse to do the dishes? Negotiating over relationship matters, big and small, is just like negotiating deals at work. The communication skills you build at home will transfer to the office.
Raising Kids Is Leadership Development
As you transform your children into intelligent, well-mannered young adults, you're learning about leadership development. The skills you need to help your subordinates move up at work are similar to those required to raise children.
Leaving The Office Helps You Find New Ideas
As you take your daughter to Girl Scouts, talk with her teacher about her performance in school and shop for her back-to-school clothes, you are looking at the world with different eyes from the ones you use at work. Those experiences will help you generate new ideas and look at old ones from new perspectives.
Family Helps You Bounce Back
If you have a strong family life, setbacks at work don't mean as much. You'll be able to bounce back from a crisis or a bad day instead of wallowing in failure.
Children Help You Develop Patience
If you can deal with a troubled 2-year-old, you can put up with a disgruntled co-worker. The skills and traits you acquire while raising children--including patience, negotiation and crisis management--will all serve you well at work.
Spouses Teach You To Compromise
Does your husband always open the window, even in the middle of winter? At home, you always have to change certain things to suit your partner's needs. Compromising is also a crucial skill at work.
(Adapted from Forbes.com)
Rays of Hope (Stories/Parables)
Once Iswarachandra Vidya Sagar was proceeding to a neighbouring village to deliver an address. People used to gather in large numbers to listen to his lectures. A young officer, who wanted to listen to Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar's lecture, got down from a train with a bag to go to the Lecture-hall.
Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar also got down from the same train. The young officer was calling for a porter to carry his bag. Iswar Chandra went to him and said: "Why do you need a coolly to carry this small bag? Can't you carry it yourself and save the money?" He replied: "It is not in keeping with my dignity to carry my bag. I am an educated person." Iswar Chandra told him: "The hallmark of education is humility, not pride. If you cannot carry your own bag, how are you carrying your body? If, however, you cannot carry your own bag, I shall do so." And Iswar Chandra carried the officer's bag. He acted on the motto: "Plain living and high thinking." The young man wanted to offer money to his 'porter'. Iswar Chandra told him: "To serve you is my reward".
The young officer left and was later proceeding to the venue of the meeting. There people were offering garlands to Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar to welcome him to the meeting. The young officer realised that the man who had offered to carry his bag at the station was none other than the respected speaker of the evening, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. He felt ashamed that he had made such a great man carry his bag. He reflected: "What is his education and what is mine? I am like a glow worm before the Sun."
- Chinna Katha II, 107 |
Thank You
On behalf of all of us at Rising Sun Consultants, we want to thank you for reviewing the March edition of our Rise & Shine Newsletter and we want to wish you all good health. As always, we invite you to visit our website (www.risingsunconsultants.com) and to enjoy our latest book review and white paper.
Until next month: Always Keep Your Eyes on the New Horizon! |
