employee experience

[Greg]

I think the key to being a people manager is all in communication. Be clear on what you expect from them. A big problem I see a lot is that you are unhappy that someone didn't do what you "wanted" them to do. However they probably did what you "told" them to do, but your expectations where higher than what you communicated to them. We as managers need to do the opposite, express at the high end what you want accomplished, and settle for a little less.

Instead of saying "we need that back yard spotless when we leave here" try saying, "Bill, when we are finished chipping the brush I want you an Mark in the back with rakes an a blower picking up all of the sticks, fixing divots, and then blow off the deck" In the eyes of a manager spotless means a whole bunch of things, where as an employee might think, ok, I'll get the branches out of the yard, and forget all about the deck or putting the lawn furniture back in place.

2 great quotes I read this week:
"The higher a monkey climbs in a tree the more his a$$ is exposed" Jack Welch

"A professional is a person who can do their best work even when they don't want to"

 

[treeman82]

Greg, what you said made me think of something that Mark Tobin said on my first day in his class. He asked what was wrong with the question "is this clear?" The answer he gave to that was, you should not ask "is this clear" but instead, "what do I want you to do?" or "what are we doing?" something along the lines where the subordinate reads back the pending task to make sure that the stories match. He also likes to use the phrase "so to be clear..." God do I love that class!

 

[treeman82]

Mitch, I was just reading through your posts and several things rang very familiar with me about the companies I have worked for recently. The guy I worked for last weekend, I brought my climbing helmet with me in the morning and put it in the truck. He then took that helmet out of the truck and placed it back in my car stating that I didn't need it. Guy also spikes on prunes, doesn't try to fertilize trees, or mulch them either. But then I look at what Reed? says about how that type of people's lives are just that worse off and it makes my view true (guy got divorced a few years ago BAD divorce, has shoddy equipment, is CRAZY, and a bunch of other negative stuff.)

 

[Jumper]

82 Agree totally. The older I get the less tolerence I have for bosses who are idiots or rife with personal issues. I guess maybe I have too high an expectation of what people should be like; I have been burned in the past!

 

[Jumper]

And what business did this guy have doing removing your PPE (as in PERSONAL) from his truck and saying you would not be need it! That would have been a warning in my book.