Archive for May, 2006

Persons with abrasive personalities who are also poor workers do not present a problem since the choice to dismiss is more easily taken. But what about the high performers with difficult personalities? These people may be intimidating to others. They may be aggressive, sarcastic, arrogant, argumentative, and generally difficult to get along with, creating a tense work atmosphere wherever they are.

Persons with rude personalities who are also good performers are very often extremely ambitious, at all times pushing themselves toward impossible aspirations but never being able to get them. When they fall short of the perfection they expect from themselves, they are frustrated, angry, or upset. Self-control for such people is very important. Such persons often over-organize and cope with imperfections by over-controlling, by not delegating, and by refusing to take any responsibility for problems they create in interpersonal relationships.

What can you as a supervisor do? First, realize that abrasive and provocative behavior arises from a person’s awfully vulnerable self-image. Such people need for affection and are eager for contact. Do not become angry. Instead, initiate frequent discussions with them; describe their abrasive behavior and how it affects you and others. Point out that you recognize their desire to achieve and that you want to help. If your workers are willing to listen to you, you may even enter into a mutual agreement to point out the abrasiveness every time it happens since they are not always conscious of it.

1. Know exactly what you want to achieve and let your employees know what is expected of them.
2. Keep a record of employee performance from which to cite specific examples.
3. Discuss the written evaluation with the employee.
4. Listen to the employee’s comments and then ask questions to stimulate thought.
5. Focus on the individual; do not compare him with other members of the group.
6. Show that you care about employees’ performance and their careers.
7. Emphasize good behavior. Be specific in your criticism. Give examples from their performance record. Ask them how they can do even better. Add your own suggestions.
8. Focus on the behavior, not on the person.
9. Don’t be afraid to give honest criticism. Most employees want to know where they stand and how to improve. In the evaluation interview, concentrate on the work, not on the person. Never say, “You were no good.” Say instead, “Your work didn’t meet standards.”
10. Help each person to set personal goals that are congruent with the goals of the group - and the company - and to develop a plan of action to reach those goals.

You have really arrived if you have your own secretary. Usually you will share one with other people or, even more likely, use the secretarial pool. If you share a secretary, I advise you get to know the people who do your typing and congratulate them if a job is done particularly well or faster than you had expected. You will thus be assured of attentive service in the future.

If there is a secretary who works for you and for one or more people, you will need to find out the approximate amount of time you can count on for yourself by discussing this with the people who share the secretary. There are periods of heavy work, others of lighter loads. Check to see how much the secretary has to do, and always say how speedily you will need a particular piece of work. For example, I ask my secretary, whom I share with other faculty members, whether she can get an assignment out on the same day and am thankful if she can. If I have a project that is not urgent, I always let her know, and she’s grateful for the information so that she can manage her time better.

Over the past decade or two, there has been a major change in the way that managers do their jobs. While, in the past, managers were supposed to closely direct their employees’ efforts, today’s best managers are coaches - that is, they support and encourage the efforts of their employees. Managers who act as coaches and not just as bosses can help employees achieve outstanding results as their organizations perform better than ever.

But beyond supporting and encouraging the efforts of employees, coaching plays a critical part of the learning process for employees who are developing their skills, knowledge, and self-confidence. Employees will never learn to be self-sufficient when you’re always telling them what to do. In fact, they usually don’t learn at all, making them more reliant on you going forward, rather than less reliant. As the old saying goes: “Tell me … I forget. Show me … I remember. Involve me … I learn.”

It’s difficult for employees to learn efficiently when you assign new tasks with no instruction or support whatsoever. Most employees will eventually figure out what to do (assuming they don’t get bored first or tired of trying), but they’re going to waste a lot of time feeling their way around.

It takes the work of a team of people whom are all working toward common goals for an organization to accomplish great things. So, regardless of the urge to try to do everything in an organization, effective managers know they can attain far faster and more efficiently by assigning specific tasks to their employees. Managers allocate the responsibility for completing tasks through delegation. But merely assigning tasks and then walking away is not enough. For delegation to be effective, managers must also give employees both the authority and the resources necessary to complete tasks successfully.

Skillful delegation is a win-win activity. By delegating well, you plan yourself for promotions and train someone who could take your place so you can move up. By delegating, others do much of the day-to-day work in your organization, freeing you up to manage, plan, and take on the kinds of jobs that only you can do as a manager. Not only that, but as your employees develop a broader range of skills as a result of having tasks delegated to them, they are likely to be more satisfied and ready to move up the organization with you. This in turn builds trust, enhances your career potential, and improves your organization’s bottom line.

Self Esteem - Meaning

What does actually self-esteem means? In everyday conversation and in the professional literature the term is often thrown about loosely, used interchangeably with self-love, self-respect, and a sense of self-worth, and also with the word “self-concept.” In fact, though, these terms are not all exchangeable.

The self-concept or self-image is the set of beliefs and images we all have and hold to be true of ourselves. By contrast, our level of self-esteem (or self-respect, self-love or self-worth) is the measure of how much we like and endorse of our self-concept. Or, as we’ve heard it put, “self-esteem is the reputation you have with yourself.”

A person’s self-concept will usually contain a wide range of images and beliefs. Some of these are simply statements of facts whose accuracy is easily verifiable: I am a man; I am a woman; I am black; I am tall; I am a mother; I am a student; I am a secretary; I am poor. Others refer to less tangible aspects of the self, and their accuracy is not so easy to verify: I am smart; I am ugly; I am sexy; I am unlovable; I am incompetent; I am no good; I am worthless.

All different beliefs and images that go into our self-concepts have one thing in common: None was with us at birth. Definitely, everyone is born with concrete physical characteristics and undiscovered capabilities.

But no one is born knowing she is male or female, black or white; nor does anyone come into the world already thinking she is stupid or smart, lovable or unlovable, pretty or ugly, strong or weak, shy or outgoing, generally inadequate or basically okay.

The newborn can be said to begin life with a “blank slate”, as far as ideas and impressions of her are concerned. Just as she later learns that she is a girl, that her hair is black, that her name is Susie Brown and that she is the daughter of John and Mary Brown, so, too, she learns to think of herself as stupid or smart, pretty or ugly, strong or weak, lovable or unlovable, shy or outgoing, generally inadequate or basically okay.

Many of the basic ideas we have about ourselves were obtained prior to adulthood, and from two main sources: how others treated us and what they told us about ourselves. Nonverbal communication played the most crucial role in early infancy: Depending on how much affection, food, touching and physical warmth was received.

Nothing makes your self-esteem soar more than achieving a lofty goal. On the other hand, nothing can be more intimidating than failing to meet your goal. Without clear goals, it’s too easy to drift through life without making definite assurances to ourselves.

As a result, we may wake up one day and find our children grown and our days pretty much our own. Yet we still haven’t found the time for those golf lessons we wanted to take when we turned thirty.

How Can Goals Build Self Esteem?

Perhaps deciding what it is that we want is the trickiest part of getting what we want out of life is. You must know exactly what you want before you set goals is one major misconception about goal-setting. Actually, one of the best ways to clarify what you want is to set goals.

You can constantly reevaluate whether or not your chosen path is the one you want to pursue while attaining them. Have you ever noticed that when you set a goal - a new car, a more challenging job, or a vacation - that it manifests more quickly? Your subconscious makes sure it’s leading you straight to the perceived goal