"As a supervisor I would like to know
which problem seems to be the largest problem experienced by supervisors everywhere, and
what can we do about it?" AY,
California "As a supervisor I would like to know
which problem seems to be the largest problem experienced by supervisors everywhere, and
what can we do about it?" AY,
California
THE INDUSTRY ADVISOR
IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO PEOPLE
By Gene Levine - www.genelevine.com
Regardless of our job title, if we get results through
people, we are supervisors. We would like to think that the problems we have in regard to
our jobs are unique. But, they aren’t. Based upon my experience, the problems of
management are the same regardless of the company one is with or where the company is
geographically located. People dealings are the largest of these problems, because these
touch upon every phase of our jobs.
People have problems, they are not problems and here is a partial list of people oriented problems. How many do you experience in your job?
1. Excessive gossip.
2. High turnover rate.
3. Excessive absenteeism.
4. Employees always griping about working conditions.
5. Drop in individual and over-all production and/or efficiency.
6. Lack of teamwork.
7. Employees going to your boss to complain.
8. Employees refusing to do certain work.
9. Employees say "Nobody ever told me I couldn’t."
It’s plain to see, people can cost us money.
There is no other area within industry that can compare in interest and scope to people dealings. It is the most profitable area in an organization if done well, and the most expensive if done languidly. One measure of how effective we are in people dealings is employee morale. And, because employee morale directly affects efficiency, and efficiency, profits, we should always strive to re-appraise ourselves in this vital area.
It is always difficult to limit discussion on such a broad and interesting subject as people. To illustrate; related to this subject is a quotation which I’m sure many of you have heard before: "The subject in this world about which we know the least and talk the most is other people. Talking about other people is sometimes called the second most popular topic of conversation: the most interesting, and by far the most popular, of course, is talking about ourselves."
Before we get into some fundamental points, let’s discuss your job, and how it pertains to people dealings. Your job is to get results through people. To do this, we must know how. There is no hit or miss. We deal every day with feelings, emotions, and other people’s lives and their pocketbooks. We must know how to develop people, if we are to develop ourselves. This is important because you have to get your job done in such a manner that you will look successful in the eyes of your superiors, even though others have done the greatest part of the work.
Proper people dealings is not being "goody goody," or codling employees. People dealings is a art. Someone explained people dealings this way: "We don’t find friends; we make them." The same thing applies to our employees. We don’t find good employees; they are developed through understanding and proper opportunities. We all must agree that human problems touch upon every phase of our job, and certain principles can be applied to these problems.
The first important principle is:
A supervisor must know his or her employees.
It’s not important enough that we just know their names. We must know what motivates them; because, skillfully, we can use their wants and needs to excite them about their jobs. We must treat people as individuals; because, they are individuals. We must be able to give our employees goals, a sense of direction, something to strive for and achieve. Employees admire, respect and follow us if we show interest in, and appreciation of, their work.
If we are good supervisors, we will take the time to learn what problems our employees have, then try to help them.
Ask employees beforehand, about things which will effect them later. Get into the habit of looking at their problems through their eyes, then perhaps you can see how important the problem really is.
You may ask, "in my organization, I’m one of the important ones, aren’t I?" The answer to that is, the company would run without you if it had to; but, it couldn’t run without the people who operate the machines. My point is, from a company standpoint, our employees should be more important to us than ourselves; or, at least, get them to the point where they think it.
Learn and understand employees opinions and emotional needs.
Before we can successfully do this, we must first examine our opinion and emotional needs to find out what makes us tick. It behooves you to ask your employees’ opinions about things. When they come up with ideas, really listen to them; then, if you don’t adopt the ideas, tell the employees why. Think strongly about the fact that employees best carry out those ideas which they originate. So suggest and request, rather than demand.
To learn more about employees ... learn to listen to them when they’re talking. Socrates said: "Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, but only one tongue, to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak."
Think of people you respect most, the people you admire and really feel have been successful. In every case, you will admit to yourself that they are good listeners. If you cannot learn to listen, you’ll never be successful in management!
Here are five -(5) of the most successful suggestions that are used to encourage employees to express their opinions and to gain insight into their emotional needs . . .
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