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    The Better Boss
    The Better Boss
    The Better Boss
    Ebook116 pages1 hour

    The Better Boss

    By Leann Horrocks

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    About this ebook

    The Better Boss tells you the things you need to know to be the best boss you can be, for your employees and your employer and yourself. The book talks about the personal impact on someone that becomes a manager of other people. The emphasis is on common sense; real-life situations are featured to help anyone anticipate and prepare for some of the many surprises managers encounter.

     

    The book also talks about the basic essential skills of managing, like project management where the anatomy of a project is outlined and risks involved at each stage. Hiring, terminating and dealing with prejudice (yours and theirs) is discussed with examples. A technique for doing employee reviews is described that will make this scary task a manager's strong point.

     

    If you are a new manager, this information will give you confidence; if you are an experienced manager, you'll smile as you recognize some of the characters you run into in the business world. Get it at the introductory price!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLeann Horrocks
    Release dateFeb 1, 2015
    ISBN9780990824817
    The Better Boss

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      Book preview

      The Better Boss - Leann Horrocks

      Every Day is Judgment Day

      On Being Judged

      Your first management job is generally a signal of success. When people think of becoming a manager in a big or small company, or even starting up a business that has employees, they look forward to a few things.  More money is usually involved but primarily a promotion is a bona fide certification of success. You are a winner.  Trappings of management and perks offered to the higher position may also be enticing.  For my first job as a manager, I moved from San Diego, California to Minneapolis Minnesota—believe me, a parking spot near the door was a very big perk in the winter.

      When you look forward to the new job, you envision yourself making decisions about the business; you develop a general idea of  being in charge which is generally formed by having observed others. Since you accepted the position, you have the confidence to go into it with a positive attitude and a commitment to doing your best. You might even think people would meet you halfway.  It is unlikely that people will, in fact, meet you halfway.  Most people will sit back and watch you.

      A big surprise to the new manager is how quickly you become the object of judgment of everyone below your level whether they work for you or not.  When I started a new job before I got into management, I liked to keep a low profile and feel my way around before stepping on any toes.  I focused on getting a feel for the way things worked so I could blend in.  As soon as you get into management, however, this is not possible.  Did you ever work for anyone that you did NOT have an opinion about? I’ll bet you have an image in mind of every boss or teacher you ever had.

      We all judge our boss; in fact we all judge all supervisory figures.  This judgment is not limited to professional skills.  Any woman in management will tell you that your appearance is widely considered fair game.  Got any tics? Any little habits you don’t think about? Got a funny laugh?  Got an accent? Expect these little things to become the subject of impressions of you performed around the figurative water cooler.  Is this fair? No. Is this human nature? Yes. You have to deal with it. It will not go away.

      Men are not exempted from this treatment either.  Do you wear dopey ties? Do you wear old-fashioned glasses? Are you overweight?  All of this is cannon fodder for local comedians. Men are further very susceptible to accusations of sexism.  Again, this is a nasty marker of human behavior that is not going to change.  You have to accept it, just make sure it has no basis in fact.

      As a consequence of this cultural fact, you change your behavior when you get into management. You can’t make the feeling that you’re living in a fishbowl go away, but you can be heads up and try to limit any input to the process. For example, don’t be late to work, don’t take long lunches and look as well as you can every day.  You want to be considered mature, reliable and professional—consistency is the outward manifestation of these traits.  We’ll explore these issues throughout the book.

      I always admired one thing about Vice President Walter Mondale—he made sure he was never alone with a woman in a professional situation. I know a lot of people that belatedly wished they had the same policy.  Mr. Mondale knew he was an attractive man and he found a way to cut off a major source of damage to his career.  He turned a possible minus—his handsomeness—into a plus.  The same is true of Mitt Romney.  Whether you agree with him or not, he is very good looking by any standard, yet you can’t imagine him cheating on his wife.  He has made his devotion to her and to his family a hallmark of his image, and because of his consistency, it is totally believable.

      This fishbowl phenomenon is very disconcerting at first.  It feels unfair.  Why?  It feels unfair because you are being judged. You signed up to do a job, not to have people nit-pick every little thing about you.  Managers need to get over this. If you get resentful, it can cripple you as an effective leader and any attempt to stop it makes it worse.  More importantly, managers need to set any resentment aside when it is time to meet the responsibility of judging employees on the context of their career. The periodic employee review should not be used as a weapon of retribution. 

      Teachers, flight attendants and other public speakers go through the same process.  It can be very unkind.  It can hurt, so don’t do it to anyone else. It is very important for you to set a clear precedent that you will not participate in negative humor directed at any other mangers, the company or anyone else for that matter.  If you want respect, be worthy of it.

      Consider the case of the snarky instructor.  I worked at a large company that had instructors at the headquarters office.  I sent an employee to a class there and he came back with a story that he thought was very funny.  The instructor was known for being a little slovenly and always had his hair just long enough to be in his eyes; he was also sometimes a little hard on the students with smart-ass remarks and snarky jokes that were sometimes aimed at the students. My guy said they bought the instructor some gifts at the end of the class.  One of these was a dipstick for his hair.  Not wanting to have anything to do with this, I just said Oh and walked away. 

      The incident struck me as being very disrespectful and chillingly personal.  Like most harmless fun, it sent a message. This instructor had failed to put enough distance between himself and the students in his classes and his appearance didn’t show respect for his own position as a representative of the company.  When you are a teacher in this circumstance, you are the temporary manager of the attendees and you would be well served to act like it.  He should have expected to be judged and done what he could to limit the information people had to form their judgment.

      On Judging Others

      Most managers, especially new ones, dread the task of reviewing their employees.  When you look at the essence of this task, it’s easy to see why. It’s hard to prepare for the task of making decisions that affect others on a personal level.  This is the essence of an employee review. Very little instruction is usually available on this matter.  Some people who have been in management for years are still not comfortable with the process. 

      In a company of any size, there will be a form and you are expected to fill in the form and turn it in on time. It’s very easy to do this poorly.

      Reviewing the professional performance of another person is basically an exercise in formal judgment.  These days, the judgment of others is politically incorrect.  Many are uncomfortable judging others and vaguely wonder if they are really qualified. Well, along with the extra money and the parking space, it comes with the job.  The technique outlined here lets you start at a comfortable spot and meet this important responsibility professionally.  It is the basis of building a relationship of mutual respect and teamwork. You can do this regardless of the form or format your company uses.

      Whatever your personal style, this technique will work for you. Keep in mind that your employee may have a lot of friends, but only one immediate boss.  There

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