A new leader can give you the opportunity
to make a fresh impression, prove your skills
and possibly change the course of your career.
So, if you want to get on the good side
of a new
supervisor, Dave Bowman
of TTG Consulting in Los Angeles suggested
taking
the initiative
to stand out.
- Market yourself. Get your name out there.
Offer to author articles for the company
newsletter in your area of expertise. You
can be certain upper management
reads those newsletters to ensure they are getting their money's worth, Bowman
said.
- Offer to unburden the new boss. Ask how
you can help. The new boss may not have figured
out to whom to turn about the minor annoyances
of getting settled
into a new workplace. So, be a resource. Show him or her how things work
around the office, perhaps explaining the
persnickety copy machine.
- Burn the midnight oil. Getting up to speed
is tough for a new manager and he or she
is likely to be working long hours. Prove
that you do the same,
coming
in early or staying late.
- Finally, treat the boss the way you'd
treat a client or customer. If you make
these efforts
sincerely, without an overtone of "brown-nosing," the
boss will recognize it, Bowman said.
Bowman also suggested avoiding words and
behaviors that bosses hate.
The old saw, "That's not my job," should be removed from your vocabulary,
he said. "That's the worst way to win over the boss."
The clock-watchers, who only work their
scheduled shifts are usually viewed unfavorably
by management. Even if you can't work late,
try
not to be the
first one out the door.
"The people who do the bare minimum at work and hope to get a promotion
or a raise are just plain dumb," Bowman said. "You really need to take
charge of your career and manage it the way you would your own business."
Source:
www.ttgconsultants.com
|
Few things generate as much anxiety in the workplace
as the prospect of a new boss. And how a manager
handles that anxiety is key to whether existing
staff remain or high tail-it to the exit door.
In fact, poor management is the cause of as much
as one-third of employee turnover, according to
one study.
Given all of that, it's critical for a new
supervisor to know how to quickly inspire trust
and demonstrate leadership. It's also as
important that a supervisor know how to build a successful team – a task
that's often more of a challenge now than it used
to be.
In the 1950s and 60s, for example, management
was typically responsible for an average of nine
staffers, said Dave Bowman, chairman
of TTG Consultants of Los Angeles, a management consulting and training firm.
Now,
a single manager can be responsible for 20 to 50
workers. That means that supervisors can no longer
micro-manage their staffs. Being able to build
successful, self-managing teams has become more
important than ever.
"The exchange of information in the workplace
today requires more of a team environment," said
Gail Jern, human resources representative for Westaff.
"While there are still independent producers, their
jobs often require that they participate
in teams."
How should a new supervisor begin the process
of building trust and teamwork?
"The first thing that should pop into a
new manager's mind is to conduct an exercise to
find out what you have on your team and determine
whether it's
adequate for accomplishing the task at hand," Bowman said.
In the process of discovering employees' strengths
and weaknesses as a group, a new supervisor can
also learn much about their behavior as individuals – information
that is also key. A supervisor who leads and motivates staff on an individual
basis is going to have the most success as a manager.
"Some people want a very autocratic boss
who tells them what, when and how. Others are more
consensus-oriented and want to be brought into
the decision-making process," he
said. "Ultimately, that's the way a boss should motivate people – by
dealing with their needs on the one hand, but at the same time using their
strengths
to move the unit forward."
Most new managers arrive in their new workplace
and quickly set up private meetings – perhaps
15-minute or half-hour sessions with each person who will work for them. Depending
on the issues at hand, the manager might also seek professional workplace assessments
of all the people on his team – to truly determine the strengths and weaknesses
of the staff.
Good questions to ask in these one-on-one sessions,
recommended Jern, are what the employees liked
about previous managers' styles, or in what ways
the department could change for the better.
What a manager does with the information they
glean in these sessions can make all the difference.
In fact, Jern said, new managers should try to
take something from these sessions and make quick
but helpful changes to the workplace
in order
to show their
staff they can listen and act.
Again, the point of all of it, Jern and Bowman
agreed, is to win over the staff in order to effectively
manage them.
It's important to understand each staff member and what each wants in terms
of rewards, praise and incentives, Bowman said. "Remember, one size does
not fit all."
Source:
www.ttgconsultants.com
|
