Without you your company would be out of control

I had an amazing experience a while back. I was driving next to a car that had virtually no shock absorbers. How did I know that? Because at ever little bump in the road the car would bounce happily up and down. The kids riding in the car were having a blast and probably contributing to the height of that bounce and they were just laughing and bouncing and bouncing and laughing.

Then a strange thing happened.. we came to a curve in the road and it went under a railroad overpass. Well you know those areas where the road dips quite suddenly? This car turned into the curve and hit that dip at the same time and suddenly the bouncing was completely out of control and for a few heart pounding moments I really thought they were going to lose control and crash into the concrete overpass.

Then they were through it but the driver was hammering his brakes... and pulled off the road and come to a complete stop... as I passed you could see the terror in their eyes because they realized how close they really did come to having a huge accident.

Well, I equate that event to you as a manager. Many managers allow their company to merely bounce along and when it hits a bumpy stretch the company and its employees are in serious trouble.

You see, a GREAT manager is like a good shock absorber. You have this massive weight of the car, in this case your company sitting above you and then you, the shock absorber, and then the wildly erratic happening of the springs and tires underneath it. It is your job to allow enough bounce to make the ride smooth but not enough bounce to make it lose control and crash.

You are that shock absorber. It is your job to balance the weight of the organization above you, maintain control, and accept responsibility for any actions happening at your level or below. It is also your job to absorb all of the shock coming from the springs and road, your people that you watch over and take care of. It is your responsibility to keep them from getting to bouncy wild, to make sure any potholes are absorbed and minimized, that any unforeseen thing that happens can be taken care of by you with little or no attention form the company above you.

A great manager listens to the hums, anticipates the bumps and keeps everything under control so that the organization runs smoothly and in the right direction.

You are the person that helps both of those things come together to make a wonderful working organization stay in control and keep everything moving in the direction it should.

So the next time you wonder… what makes a great manager? Just say…I’m here to absorb all the bumps. Until next time~ Many blessings and success in your managing!  ~Steve Sapato

Expectations?

I recently read a post that read 'the less you expect of me the harder i'll work to prove you wrong. The more you expect of me the harder I will work to exceed those expectations.'

While on some levels that could be possible, for instance, the less you expect the harder I will work to prove you wrong, typically comes from the realm of underachievers... the few that you run across who will react positively to this are people who need to prove themselves and have almost always proven that they have not excelled in the past and need to keep proving themselves because of reputation or earlier experience.

The second part of this is, the more you expect of me the harder I will work to exceed those expectations, also comes at the expense of too many people. By this I mean that high expectations can backfire. Along with high expectations there also must be high rewards, thorough explanations and understanding of what is wanted, needed, expected and why. Without those necessary understandings, most people feel that your high expectations are unnecessarily pushy. They will feel exploited, unappreciated and over worked. They will rebel, stop working or worse, quit and move on.

These expectations may be used to take rather unusual individuals and produce a motivated and exceptional employee but when dealing with the general population it should be noted that for most people this 'expectation' kills moral, depletes motivation and drives down production.

A great manager will treat each of their people as individuals. They will find out what their hopes and dreams are, find out what motivates them and do their utmost to find ways to keep their people happy within the realms of their employment.

I know of a company right now that when they hire their employees share with them how much they expect of them, how heard it will be and why they do it this way. They also explain one incentive that usually excites the type of employee they are looking for: after five years with the company they will receive an all expense paid trip to anywhere in the world for a month.

You see, learning what your employees want and better yet, hiring with the right incentives will help your company become or remain at the top of their food chain.

Learn more about the many different reasons people excel and what motivates your people as well as how to become a GREAT MANAGER by writing to me or subscribing to my blog at blogger.com/stevesapato