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January 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)
They like praise - why can't they take criticism?
Dear Bob ...
I recently got promoted as a middle manager. My workplace has a very high employee turnover. My predecessor was very sweet to the present employees as most of them were in their honeymoon period (new recruits when she was the boss) as a result of which they expect the same kind of treatment from me. Besides, they do have a problem accepting me as I was their colleague until last year.
My immediate boss is very snobbish and encourages me to crack the whip, while she herself loves to play the 'good guy'. I often use motivational strategies to boost employee morale and they love that. The problems occur when I point out flaws about their work, or when deadlines are not met. I am totally confused.Why would they not accept me as their critic when they have no problem with me being their cheerleader?
I have spent 7 years in this organization. Each day I dread going back to work. I'm already looking at a change of jobs. Is it time for me to move on?
- New manager
Dear New ...
From your description, here's what I think might be going on: You don't yet have enough tools in your explain-to-my-employees-how-they're-doing toolkit. Neither cheerleading nor criticizing is particularly valuable. You have better alternatives.
Cheerleading, by which I think you mean relatively unspecific praise ("You're a terrific group of people and you're doing great things!") is a bit like serving cake icing. It tastes really good, but its primary nutritional impact is to encourage development of adult-onset diabetes.
Criticizing, by which I think you mean pointing out deficiencies, does let employees know their work isn't what it should be, but without helping them understand what "what it should be" looks like, let alone how to get there. They feel bad without much guidance about what it will take to feel good again.
Here are the alternatives, which might initially seem like the same tactics under different names but are really quite distinct: Offering approval and coaching.
The difference between cheerleading and approval is the difference between generality and specificity. "That's terrific," is cheerleading - vague and general. "That was a terrific report. Your evidence was comprehensive, your logic was airtight, and what I especially liked is that your recommendations are entirely practical," is clear and specific. Employees respond to approval in very positive ways. In particular, since you're clear about what it is that you approve of, the individual or team it's directed at knows (a) that it's sincere, and (b) what they'll have to do to receive more of it. Meanwhile, everyone else who hears you give it knows that (a) it's possible to receive your approval; and (b) what they need to do to get some.
An important dimension of approval is that it is isn't just specific in terms of subject matter - it's specific in terms of who it's directed to. You cheerlead the entire group. You provide approval only to those who have earned it.
Now for coaching. The difference between it and criticism is immense. When you criticize, your true intentions don't matter - what the person criticized will experience is unproductive fault-finding. When you coach, you first offer more balance - you find and comment on what's good and valuable along with what needs to be improved. And second, you make clear that your goal is to help employees improve. So:
"I know all of you have been working very hard, and it's clear we're making progress. That's the good news. What concerns me is that too much of our effort goes to what I have to call improvisation - to whatever tasks happen to occur to someone that day, instead of our working to a plan. I'm going to guess that if we did a better job of planning we could cut our workload by ten percent and still move forward faster."
"My part of this is to work with our business counterparts to improve our governance process, so you spend less time distracted by telephone calls that interrupt important work with priorities that are only high because of who is on the other end of the line. Your part of this is to make sure you're working to a plan and a design, or following and perfecting well-defined procedures when that's the right answer. We have to stop making things up as we go along and start working in ways that help us become more efficient at what we do."
One other coaching technique that's important for achieving the best results: Help employees coach themselves. "I see a problem and I'd like everyone's thoughts on what we can do about it," works much better than, "I see a problem - here's what we should do about it," for two reasons.
The first is that it creates a sense of empowerment among employees - the knowledge that the have some influence over their environment. The second is that you'll end up with better answers.
- Bob
Posted by Bob Lewis on January 15, 2007 07:22 PM
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Spot on as usual. When I was managing a bunch of folks I used what I jokingly referred to as the carrot and stick approach....reward good behavior is the carrot (your approval, above) and punish bad behavior (no one was beaten....for the most part it was a question of having people fix their own mistakes so they had negative consequences when they got sloppy). The only addition to what you said is that I like praise to be public, and coaching as you describe it should also be public. But there IS a place for criticism, particularly when an individual is not working into the program. THAT criticism should be private and, as you mention, VERY specific to behavior and/or results.
Posted by: Doug Johnson at January 17, 2007 11:14 AMRE: Employess unable to accept criticism
Create vision and purpose that each of the department individuals can own.
Show them that their contributions are important to the company's profitability.
They will respond and performance and production with quality (ISO 2000:9001)will increase and you will have mastered a very challenging circumstance.
Signed: 40 years of High Tech business experience
Posted by: Richard Jackson at January 17, 2007 11:18 AMObviously, people like to hear good news and don't like to hear bad news -- that a simple part of human nature.
As always, Dr. Bob provides sound advice, no need to rehash that. But I noticed that in your description you perceive your boss plays the "good person" and wants you to "crack the whip." You may [diplomatically] want to clarify that w/ your boss -- are you expected to play the "bad cop" in this dynamic? I bring it up b/c I've encountered managers who abhor conflict of any kind and must always be the "good cop," and often hire a "bad cop" to do the dirty work.
If you're expected to be the "bad cop," you better know that upfront because you'll be the one delivering the negative/unpopular news to the team. You should frame these messages using the techniques Dr. Bob suggests, but its possible the team may still give you a lukewarm reaction -- after all, you are the one delivering bad news. If that's not your cup of tea (and that's OK), you may need to decide if this role aligns with your values/personality.
Posted by: Mike at January 17, 2007 11:22 AMOne more minor point..."New Manager" (NM) is way too concerned about how the reports feel about NM's work. NM needs to get over it. While it can be useful if the employees like NM, that is not necessary. I have coached other new managers and one of the hardest hurdles to get over is that you are no longer a peer, but are, indeed, the boss. That doesn't mean you have to "crack the whip" or "be the good guy" or anything in particular. It just means you have to get the job done through the efforts of other people (my definition of management) and that is not a popularity contest. NM will need to keep focused on the goal of the job and work to gain the respect of NM's reports through competence and being a GOOD "New Manager". Whether they like or don't like NM is not relevant, except as it affects the job, and until NM deals with that, NM WILL have to look for a different job, out of management.
Posted by: Doug Johnson at January 17, 2007 11:26 AMThis was previously known as "Management by Walking Around". It implies that you understand the day to day issues, not just the "ivory tower" fed imput.
You are correct in the advise and its subtle yets substantial nuance/slant, but Bob should be even better at implementing this strategy-outlook-philosophy/approach because he has been there so long (in their place). Management can never achieve great results without assuming the others point of view.
Bob, you aren't new to the organization and structure-you have a tremendous advantage with this knowledge. Bringing in someone new for management would not have this tremendous advantage you do. Give your former teammates the advantage of your experience because surely an "outsider" would have a significant learning curve that you don't require.
Good Luck
Posted by: Craig McCord at January 17, 2007 11:41 AMAnother valuable tool is the feedback model (check out www.manager-tools.com for podcasts and discussions on this topic). This is a structure for giving constructive feedback or praise.
The general format is:
(1) [fill in name], can I give you some feedback?
(2) Describe the behavior. "When you [specific, observable behavior]
(3) Describe the impact. "Here's what happens..."
(4) What can you do differently?
As my old boss told me, don't tell me about problems, tell me about the solutions.
Posted by: Robert at January 17, 2007 12:45 PMAnother keeper, Bob. As I was reading this, it occurred to me that it also applies to parenting. Thanks for some good insight.
Posted by: Bruce Maples at January 17, 2007 01:33 PMBob's insight reminded me of the "One Minute Manager" approach. Spend a lot of time in training at the beginning. Catch your employees doing what is right and be specific about what they are doing correctly. When an employees does something wrong, correct quickly them, but focus on correcting the activity and not blaming the employee, e.g. "All the items on the general ledger should be reconciled to receipt and invoices. George, I know you are capable of much better work."
Posted by: Leigh at January 18, 2007 06:05 AM|
Three books. Three ways to change the world, your life, or at least Bob Lewis' bank account. Leading IT: The Toughest Job in the World distills the world of IT leadership into eight learnable skills and gives you concrete, practical techniques for each one of them. Bare Bones Project Management: What you can't not do makes project management manageable, even for first-time project managers with no formal training in the discipline. ManagementSpeak: What managers say/What they mean … well, it won't help your career, and won't make you a better manager. Mostly, it will make you chuckle, guffaw, and maybe even chortle. Make friends - it's the perfect gift for anyone who has ever suffered through one of those meetings. Order your copies today! |
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