Tag Archives: Management

Management

Free management tip of the day, courtesy of The Godfather

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Not that I look for a lot of sound business advice from Mafia movies, but there was one good tip in the Godfather: “Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news immediately.”

No one likes bad news, but I’d rather know about it sooner rather than later so I can do something about it.  I have found that being open to this really helps you in your career.  People seem genuinely surprised and pleased when you are open to feedback.

Of course, I don’t suggest reacting to the bad news with severed horse heads.  There might be a downside to that.

A key success factor is not shooting the messenger.  I have a saying that you should give people the benefit of the doubt, because you can always overreact later.  That has saved me from counterproductive reactions many times.

That doesn’t mean I’m soft on crime.  I’ve had to fire several people over the years who quit doing quality work and wouldn’t respond to coaching.

Also, I’ve found that communicating bad news upwards in a proper way makes a big difference.  Glossing over or hiding problems is never a good strategy.  People respect you more when you own mistakes and quickly convey recovery and prevention plans.

Proverbs 19:11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.

 

Christian living

Time management

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alarm-clock.jpgI am a mixed bag on time management.  Some things I do really well, which creates plenty of time to do a variety of things.  But then I’ll waste some of it because I’m not prioritizing well.  And by “waste” I don’t mean that it is bad to just do nothing sometimes and rest.  I mean that I end up doing things that aren’t that important, like TV or Internet surfing.

How is your time management?  Remember that if you aren’t doing what you say you want to do (Bible study, prayer, family time, reading, exercise, volunteering, etc.) it is because you consider that the least important thing you actually do is more important than the things you say you want to do.  You may not have those conscious thoughts, but it is an accurate assessment.

In other words, if you are not reading your Bible and praying daily it is because you have decided not to.

A couple of tactical things help me: The O-H-I-O (Only Handle It Once) approach to emails and tasks works well when I use it.  Instead of going over a message multiple times when I’m not sure how I want to handle it, I try to deal with it the first time (respond, file, etc.).

On the flip side, knowing when to carefully analyze a situation to anticipate consequences saves a lot of time at work.  As I like to say, I don’t like to overkill things but I do like to kill them.  By that I mean that I want to get it done right the first time and not have to waste time later because a “shortcut” left someone out of a communication loop.  Sometimes you have to “brake to go faster.”  The discernment to know when to do it is the key.

I also take a Zero-Based Budgeting approach and analyze all that I do.  I realized a while ago that watching sports took a lot of time and didn’t bring that much enjoyment anyway, so I’ve cut it out almost completely.  The Steelers won the game?  Release mild amount of endorphins.  The Steelers lost?  Great, I just wasted 3+ hours of my life.  That isn’t an indictment of sports watching.  If you aren’t consumed by the process and have a net enjoyment, or perhaps it is a family activity, then good for you.  But if watching your college team lose spoils your weekend then you have a problem.  (Friendly reminder: Those “student athletes” and pros some people worship probably don’t care about you at all and are likely to have vastly different worldviews.)

Consider these words then try this exercise by Randy Alcorn.

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff which life is made of.”

Over three thousand years before Benjamin Franklin said those words, Moses said these:

Teach us to number our days aright,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

The New Testament speaks the same message: “Redeem the time,” or “Make the most of every opportunity” (Colossians 4:5b).

Management

Give credit where it is due

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Warning: Apparently self-serving post coming up.  But hey, I think it is good advice so I’m sharing it anyway.

There is a term for taking credit for someone else’s accomplishments: Stealing.

Always make sure that your employees get every bit of credit that they deserve for their accomplishments and ideas.  You may be tempted to take credit yourself, but giving them their due will motivate them and increase their trust in you.  You will still get the overall credit for your group’s accomplishments.  Oh, and it has the added benefit of being true.

I have one employee who can still tell you every last detail about a supervisor who stole one of his ideas ten years ago.  And I just heard about a Director who is notorious for stealing credit that others deserved.  He deprived people of their just recognition and hurt his credibility.  I’m sure you have stories of your own.

So what do you do or what will you do when you are in that situation?

I recently had a case where this came into play.  I sent an email about a new process and my supervisor wrote back noting that it was a good idea.  I immediately wrote back thanking him for the feedback but pointed out that the idea belonged to one of my employees.  I cc’d the employee.  (I hadn’t mentioned the employee in the original email because the recipients were unlikely to be happy with the process change and I preferred that they blame me instead of my employee.)

So aside from the truth-in-reporting aspect here, what is the net effect?  While my supervisor no longer credits me with the original idea, he was quick to credit me for being transparent and a good manager.  The employee was recognized by the CFO and he realizes that he’ll get credit for all his work and that he can trust me.  He was very happy.

It’s win-win, and it is really simple: Just be intentional and habitual about giving praise and credit when it is earned.