Welcome to the March 2008 issue of Rise & Shine
Your Leadership Solutions and Resource Newsletter!
New Horizons (News from RSC)
Micromanagement:
Why are You Paying Them if You are Going to do Their Job for Them?
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" meetings to check on progress (if necessary), and being available for support if requested.
Your job as manager/leader 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.
World Views (In the News)
CEOs Who Inspire---And How They Do It
Vijay Govindarajan, a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, examines how the most successful leaders inspire others in his study "The Emotionally Bonded Organization: Why Emotional Infrastructure Matters and How Leaders Can Build It."
There are eight factors:
Proximity to the Staff - Once the company grows beyond a certain size, the leaders can't be totally accessible. But through their actions, leaders can create a sense of proximity. I'm not talking about CEOs meeting with the staff when they want to meet. It's when the staff needs it. A good example is how the CEO of eBay, Meg Whitman, handled a power outage in California, where the company is based. For 13 days, she stayed in the office 24/7. She slept on a cot and ate all her meals there until everything was restored. She didn't fix the power lines, but her act was symbolic.
Instilling Rituals - A good example of this is the tractor company Deer & Co.'s gold key program. On the day the tractor will be assembled, the company invites the farmer that placed the order to the factory, along with his or her entire family. They are received by a retired employee who walks them through the factory and shows the finishing touches being put on their tractor. Once the tractor is finished, they give them a gold key, and the farmer uses it to start the tractor. It's a powerful scene for employees. They can't help but feel a sense of pride.
Creating Opportunity through Adversity - Southwest Airlines is a good example. After 9/11, the airline industry was in turmoil and 120,000 employees were laid off. Southwest didn't lay anyone off, even though they, too, were affected. The executive team gave up their salary until the profits came back. The company continued to make the contribution to the employee pension plan. Meanwhile, the customer service representatives were bombarded with calls. The flight crew stepped up and helped them out because they were overwhelmed. It paid off. They're profitable and doing well. It's not an accident.
Exclusivity - The more difficult it is to get into an institution, the more emotionally bonded you are. If it's very easy to get into an institution, the easier it is to come out. When Nucor Corp.'s South Carolina plant needed to hire eight people, they placed an ad saying they would take applications at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. When the management team arrived to conduct interviews, there were over 1,200 people lined up outside the plant. Managers couldn't even get into the building, so they called the local police to ask for help. The officer on duty told them he couldn't send anyone because there were three police officers there applying for jobs.
Non-Stop Communication - In corporations, the higher-ups go to great lengths to keep things secret. Employees, in many cases, aren't told about financials. CEOs and other managers should keep their employees informed as much as possible so they feel like they're part of something.
Social Networks - When there's a problem at work, employees tend to go to their boss if they want a problem solved. There are two problems with this. The formal channels have a finite capacity. Also, subordinates might not feel comfortable telling the boss about an issue. General Motors encourages its employees to form affinity networks. These are groups of employees who have things in common, such as an Asian American group or working parents group.
Values - They show that the company is about more than making money, and they must be practiced. For example, in the early 80s Tylenol faced a crisis because six people died after someone in Chicago tampered with the pills. It was clearly established that Johnson & Johnson didn't have any legal responsibility -- they were the victim. But they wanted to do the right thing for their customers. So J&J withdrew Tylenol from every market in the U.S., even though they clearly established that the tampering only occurred in one pharmacy. It took several months for them to come up with a tamper-proof lid, and they spent $100 million between taking the items off the shelf and designing the lid. The competitors benefited by getting all of Tylenol's business. But J&J wanted to show they're serious about their values.
Vision - It creates emotional uplift. Think long term and then seeing what we need to do today to bring about the vision. We get uplifted when we want to do the impossible. Think about JFK saying we will put a man on the moon. That's a great vision because it created passion. We get uplifted when we want to do great things. It fires up the troops.
Why does this so often get left out?
Most executives are uncomfortable leading emotions. But we must create a sense of belonging at work, since most of us spend as much time there as we do at home. We want the same meaning at work that we have at home.
(Adapted from Forbes.com)
Rays of Hope (Stories/Parables)
Butterflies: Too Much Help can actually Hurt
A man found a cocoon for a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared stuck.
The man decided to help the butterfly and with a pair of scissors he cut open the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. Something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man watched the butterfly expecting it to take on its correct proportions. But nothing changed.
The butterfly stayed the same. It was never able to fly. In his kindness and haste the man did not realize that the butterfly's struggle to get through the small opening of the cocoon is nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight.
Like the sapling which grows strong from being buffeted by the wind, in life we all need to struggle sometimes to make us strong.
When we coach and teach others it is helpful to recognize when people need to do things for themselves.
- Author Unknown
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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 …
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your interest in Rising Sun Consultants and we invite you to visit our website (www.risingsunconsultants.com) and encourage you to submit a question for a future addition of Rise & Shine.
Until next month: Always Keep Your Eyes on the New Horizon! |
