13 Management Practices That Waste Time & Money (and what to do instead)

Transcription

1 13 Maagemet Practices That Waste Time & Moey (ad what to do istead) By Dr. Aubrey C. Daiels Just Because Every Orgaizatio Uses Them, Does t Make Them Effective To achieve maagemet excellece, you eed to avoid faulty maagemet practices Maagig idividual behavior is the aswer but it requires a uderstadig of the basic behavior-based priciples that drive good performace Here are 13 of the most commoly used ad misguided maagemet practices ad what to do istead. (The followig is derived from Aubrey C. Daiels book, OOPS!)

2 Oops! #1: Employee of the Moth A program meat to motivate all employees to deliver superior performace ca oly have oe mothly wier. The others are left with performaces that go urecogized -- violatig every kow priciple of effective positive reiforcemet. Uderstad what you wat to achieve as a result of this kid of program, ad the establish a iitiative based o criteria that recogizes all employees who deliver outstadig performace. Oops! #2: Stretch Goals It is prove that people fail to reach stretch goals 90% of the time. The primary reaso: stretch goals are typically set too high. Set may, mii-goals. To get the kid of improvemet a orgaizatio eeds, i both people ad productio, maagers eed to esure that positive reiforcemet is delivered for the may small achievemets alog the way to reachig the larger, desired goal. Oops! #3: Performace Appraisals Ay system that does t recogize performace as it s happeig misses the opportuity to get the most ad best from employees. Set up a eviromet i which each employee kows how well he or she has doe at the ed of every workig day. Evaluate each performer agaist what he or she is expected to do, ot i relatio to others.

3 Ay system that does t recogize performace as it s happeig misses the opportuity to get the most ad best from employees. Oops! #4: Rakig Your competitio is outside your orgaizatio, ot iside. Publicly displayig how employees rak based o objective measures breeds uhealthy competitio ad ihibits sharig ad teamwork. Evaluate idividuals ad uits i terms of what they eed to accomplish, rather tha comparig their performace to others. Whe the coditios are right, people will ot oly achieve at high rates but also assist others i doig the same. Oops! #5: Rewardig Thigs a Dead Ma Ca Do Across the board perks ad beefits are examples of udeserved rewards. Employees will do just eough ad whe poor performers are rewarded, it is puishig to those who do a good job. Employees are hired to do thigs. Make sure all rewards ad recogitio are eared by active behaviors. Oops! #6: Salary ad Hourly Pay Pay cotigecies that are t closely tied to the right behaviors or accomplishmets are essetially pay for showig up.

4 Implemet a true pay-for-performace system. Aberathy s Profit- Idexed Performace Pay provides a way to icrease employee pay ad compay profit at the same time (refer to William B. Aberathy's The Si Of Wages). Oops! #7: You Did A Good Job, But... It has become commoplace to provide positive ad costructive feedback. While it seems efficiet to do both at oce, the positive statemet rarely has the iteded effect ad employees ed up focusig oly o the egative. Be clear to separate the good ad the bad. Give the good first, ad at a later time deliver the corrective feedback. That way the good will be valued, ad the employee will be more resposive to the corrective feedback. Oops! #8: The Sadwich What goes wrog? The sadwich practice is a cousi of the You did a good job, but... ad creates a waitig for the other shoe to drop eviromet where attempts at social reiforcemet are received with suspicio. Be direct. If behavior eeds correctig, pipoit the behavior to be stopped: Tell the perso the cosequeces of cotiuig the udesirable behavior. The discuss the behavior you wat to see i its place ad positively reiforce all istaces of the ew behavior. Oops! #9: Overvaluig Smart, Taleted People What s wrog! Smart, taleted people are ot i short supply. Thikig that some employees are smarter tha others is harmful to all.

5 Most of what we call talet is othig more tha urecogized practice. Give the right eviromet, most people ca become smart ad taleted. Create a culture where maagers are rewarded for the umber of smart, taleted people they produce -- ot hire. Oops! #10: The Budget Process The budget process is a game: Ask for more tha you eed, ad hope that you get what you eed. Maagers who do more with less are ofte puished rather tha positively reiforced. Iclude ways to reward those who do more with less. Exted this icetive to all employees. Properly arraged, this ca create a culture of cotiuous right-sizig. Oops! #11: Promotig People No Oe Likes There is a perceptio i leadership that maagers who are wellliked are ot effective at producig results. There is a correlatio betwee ieffective maagers ad other operatioal costs: high turover, grievaces, abseteeism, traiig, ad recruitmet. Look for maagers ad leaders who get results the right way: those who uderstad behavior from a scietific perspective ad ca desig systems, policies, ad procedures that brig out the best i people every day. These folks are always well-liked. Oops! #12: Dowsizig The way compaies dowsize is rarely effective. Termiatios are typically made i a matter-of-fact way ad remaiig employees

6 are give more work. More ofte tha ot, survivig employees sped more time lookig for aother job tha lookig for ways to be more effective ad productive. Get employees ivolved i a solutio as a first step to avoidig a lay-off. If the lay-off happes ayway, be more geerous tha you eed to with those who are dowsized; that will help calm the axieties of survivig employees. Oops! #13: Mergers, Acquisitios, ad other Forms of Reorgaizig Fiacial cosideratios almost always trump huma oes i ay form of reorgaizatio. Noe will be successful without the eergetic, ethusiastic behavior of all employees. Yet plas for creatig such behavior are usually a mere afterthought. Make decisios quickly. Icorporate the best practices of both orgaizatios ito the work of the ew orgaizatio. Itegrate policies, maagemet practices, ad magers. Make sure that all maagers kow how to build positive reiforcemet ito all of the work of the ew orgaizatio o the first day so that employees will see that it is ad ca trust that all will be okay. Dr. Aubrey C. Daiels Aubrey Daiels, Ph.D., is the fouder of workplace cosultig firm Aubrey Daiels Iteratioal ad presidet of the Aubrey Daiels Istitute. A thought leader ad iteratioally recogized expert o applyig the priciples of huma behavior i the workplace, he coied the term performace maagemet. Dr. Daiels has writte six best-sellig maagemet books, icludig Oops! 13 Maagemet Practices that Waste Time ad Moey (ad what to do istead), ad is a sought-after keyote speaker.