Video: Why Mid-Managers Are The Lifeblood

Why Mid-Managers Are Lifeblood from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert, says most middle managers get very little training and are thrust into a role that most are ill-prepared for. It is the most thankless job and the one with the highest "hassle" factor. Add to that, when the economy tanks, middle managers are usually the first to go. The truth is, I am on the side of middle managers. I want them to get better.

Video: You Call Yourself A Professional?

You Call Yourself A Professional? from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert, tackles the subject of being a "professional." How can you call your people "professionals" when you only give them formal feedback once a year? Do you think Tiger gets one golf lesson each year? How about Kobe or Sidney Crosby? You say you run a "professional" organization but do you really?

Video: How Managers MUST Engage Staff

How Managers Must Engage Staff from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Workplace Expert, Kevin Burns, thinks that the real purpose of a good manager has been lost with too many meetings and too much paperwork and that perhaps it’s time managers changed their minds and philosophies of what they are there to do. The truth is that managers work for the staff and NOT the other way around.

Video: Managers Need Better Time Management

So managers, let me ask you this question, if only twenty percent of your time is spent actually managing, who is it that really needs a Time Management course? The truth is that Time Management is never about time. It's about having clearly defined priorities. And it is the manager's job to ensure that the clear priorities have been communicated to the staff. So how can the manager make that happen?

Video: Employees Are NOT Created Equal

Employees Are Not Created Equal from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Too much effort is spent in managing people into conformity. The truth is that too many managers want one employee to be just like another employee - one who models the traits and gets the results management likes. It's counterproductive when managers start trying to manage their employees the exact same way. It's worse when they expect each employee's results to be the same.

5 Reasons Why Middle Managers Create Culture

Culture, it could be argued, starts at the top. But at that point it is simply a vision, a direction.

Corporate culture is not a plan - it is the result of a plan (or the lack of one). It only becomes a culture once the front line people, the average everyday workers, start to act in accordance with the vision. If they do the opposite of the vision, then the vision becomes a nothing more than a daydream.

But get the middle-manager to see the benefit of the vision and you have one powerful ally in your strategy to make the culture vision a reality. Mid-managers are the people who touch the front-line worker every day. They are the people who either garner their respect or lose it (on senior management's behalf). If you want to get something done (especially shifting your organization's culture) then here are five reasons why you need your middle manager:

1. A strong culture attracts good people. 
2. A strong culture reduces stress-induced sick days. 
3. A strong culture increases employee engagement. 
4. A strong culture silences the dissident voices. 
5. A strong culture attracts better customers. 

Now you tell me one of these things that a middle manager doesn't do.

Middle managers create the culture you have. If you want to improve your culture, improve your management training. The rest follows.

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Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Managing with Attitude Blog by Email

Oxymorons And Half-Truths In Management

Seemingly, managers are supposed to manage to manage all the supposedly manageable things that they manage to manage each day - if they can manage it?

Some of the titles of "areas of management" really make me laugh - some because they are simply oxymorons and others because, well, because they just can't be managed, no matter how fancy the title.

• Quality Management - if you are able to offer quality, then why would you offer anything less? Quality is not something you manage. Quality is an on/off switch. Either you offer quality or you offer crap.
• Change Management - you can manage change about as successfully as you can manage the weather. Change happens whether you are trying to control it or not. Change is embraced. It is not managed.
• Acceptance Management - the king of oxymorons. You will only attempt to manage that which you do not fully accept. And if you do not accept it, how can you manage it?
• Thought Management - I really had to think about this one but realized, in mid-thought, that I wasn't managing the thought. The thought was managing me. Good luck with that one.
• Behavioral Management - isn't that what the straight-jacket is for? If someone's behavior needs managing, why are they still working for you?
• Crisis Management - If it's managed, it's not a crisis. If it's a crisis, the steps leading up to it were not managed.
• Disaster Management - you can figure this one out on your own. Think janitorial.
• Stress Management - just like Crisis Management, if it's managed, there's no stress. Therefore, if there's no stress, there's nothing to manage.
• Relationship Management - no one person is in charge of a relationship - business OR personal. It takes two to have a successful relationship. Go ahead and tell your spouse you're in charge of managing the relationship. I dare you.
• Time Management - my personal favorite. It's not the time you manage. It's what YOU do with the time. It's called self-discipline. Time flies whether you're managing or not. Sorry TM trainers.

Bottom-line: it's people you manage, not things. If your people-skills suck, you will suck as a manager. People are a precious commodity to be coached and inspired. Nothing happens in any organization without people. Nothing is purchased without people. There are no sales without people. There are no customers to service without people. And without people, you don't have a job - because you don't need managers if there are no people.

Get good at the basics of people-skills and building quality relationships. Leave the fancy titles for those who need to look important. There is much more reward in helping people become better people.
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Put The Money Back

When the recession hit, you asked your employees to sacrifice with you while you adjusted to a market downturn. You asked them to give up their expected raises, to find ways of cutting costs, to cut back learning and to do it for their own job security and the good of the company. And now that the company is back on the mend, how quickly are you reinstating pay raises, learning opportunities and meetings and giving back the budgets they helped slash?

Or are today's better margins going directly to the company bank account?

My, my, how quickly we forget who helped you make it through the tough times. It's no wonder that over 60% of the job market is looking for another job. It's an insult to be asked to cut back for the good of the company and then not pour that money right back to the people who sacrificed "for the good of the company." You gotta dance with the one that brung ya.

If, as a middle-manager, you're not actively pitching senior management to open the financial floodgates again, your people are going to lump you in the same bucket. If that's the case, they won't engage for you, they won't produce for you and they won't really care much what you have to say. It's because you did what senior management asked you to do and made them find ways to cut back. But now, you're seemingly not championing for them once that money is flowing again.

This is exactly how cultures of trust and mutual respect get destroyed: by how you emerge from the downturn. If you asked your people to cut back then you MUST give them back what they sacrificed to get you through - or at the very least (if you've become lean over this past two years) ask their opinion on what should be reinstated and what is better left as is. Get their input and make them feel a part of the process right now. If you don't, expect a lot of new faces in your workplace shortly.

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Part 2 - Here's where you can find me on the social networks these days:
Facebook - The Kevin Burns Attitude Fan Page
Twitter - The Kevin Burns @attitudeburns Page
YouTube - The Kevin Burns Attitude Channel
LinkedIn - The Kevin Burns Attitude LinkedIn Page
WordPress - The Managing w/ Attitude Blog on WordPress
RSS Feed - Subscribe to Kevin Burns Blog in a Reader
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Why Leadership Seems Sexier Than Management

There are a whole lot more people talking about leadership than there are people talking about management these days. In fact, on Twitter, my informal survey shows the numbers of Leadership Gurus to Management Gurus to be about 25-to-1, but I think that's a conservative number.

How many "leaders" are in your organization versus the number of managers? 1-to-25? Completely opposite huh?

Anyone can fashion themselves a "Leadership Guru." Here's why: there's no certification needed to become a "leadership instructor." And leadership is not about achieving quantifiable measurement. No, the leadership talk is all about character traits, magnetism and vision - all stuff that is not quantifiable in the short-term. Whereas, if a manager misses one item on the checklist today, there can be dire consequences immediately.

Management is much tougher than leadership. Managers don't have the luxury of being liked or followed or being a visionary. No, management is what is necessary when the leaders are off contemplating their navels. Someone has to run the place to make sure the doors stay open and people remain employed.

Management is hard work - not in the future but today. Maybe that's why there are so many "Leadership Gurus," because it's easier, less precise and fewer consequences if you get it wrong. But mess up the management thing and heads will roll and dollars will be lost. And it's also the manager's job to make sure employees are engaged and productive.

So before you go off and embrace the sexiness of "leadership," you'd better make sure you have the management thing down to a fine science. People's livelihoods are depending on it. Give me a solid manager over a wanna-be leader any day, and I'll show you an organization responding immediately to market changes and customer demands.
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Social Networks

There have been a few changes in the social networking circles recently. Thought I would update you on where I am. I want you to join me wherever it's comfortable for you.

Here's where you can find me:

Facebook - The Kevin Burns Attitude Fan Page
Twitter - The Kevin Burns @attitudeburns Page
YouTube - The Kevin Burns Attitude Channel
LinkedIn - The Kevin Burns Attitude LinkedIn Page
WordPress - The Managing w/ Attitude Blog on WordPress
RSS Feed - Subscribe to Kevin Burns Blog in a Reader
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™

5-to-1 Is The Rule

Researchers have found that for every one negative comment made between couples, there needs to be at least five positive comments made just to even out. Any less than five positive comments for every one negative comment and the couple's relationship is likely to end in divorce. That can be determined with 94% accuracy based on the five-to-one ratio.

So what does that mean for you the middle-manager? It means the very same thing at work. In fact, it's likely that you spend more time with an employee than he or she does with their spouse during the week. So the same rules of engagement apply. For every negative comment, eyes rolled, mockery, criticism and tone of voice, you had better have not less than five nice things to say, jokes, smiles and laughter if you don't want your good employees to divorce (quit) you.

As mentioned in yesterday's blog post, if the only time you speak to your people is to crap on them, they're going to quit you in short order.

Workers don't respect your title. Workers respect the individual who holds the title - but only if he or she is worthy of that respect. And in the same way you would only stay with a spouse who respects you, your people won't stay with someone they can't respect.

Five-to-one: that's the rule. Five nice things to every one criticism. Now, get out of your office and start building your relationships with kindness, coaching, mentoring and respect.
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Come visit my new Facebook page: Kevin Burns Attitude Fan Page
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Kevin Burns - Excellence Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
Follow Kevin on Twitter @attitudeburns
The Official Kevin Burns YouTube Channel

The New Mid-Manager: Coach and Mentor

"If I don't hear from my manager, then I must be doing OK."

That's the old-school management philosophy - not talking to your people unless you're dumping on them or chewing them out. And any manager that is still adhering to that philosophy of say-nothing-unless-they're-in-deep-sewage is a prime candidate for "worst manager of the organization." This is NOT something to be proud of.

If as a manager you're not reading books, watching videos and attending seminars on how to be a better manager, something that updates your perspective from the 1970's, then you honestly don't deserve to be a manager anymore because you're holding back some really good people from reaching their potential. You should be stripped of your title and moved out of the way. Your department is in need of a serious makeover - something that honors its people and understands the basic fundamentals of coaching as the new management strategy.

And don't be seduced by the whole trendy Leadership movement. Don't think Leadership is the way to manage better. It is not. Leadership and management are two different things. Think Mentoring and Coaching as the new management philosophy. Leadership is more of a personal development tool. Mentoring/Coaching/Managing are about showing, helping and inspiring your people.

Corporate Culture rests with middle-managers. Mid-managers have the power to hear what employees are saying while being able to sell the vision from upper management. But if you as a mid-manager won't be coached (won't read, won't watch, won't learn), then I can't help you. You're on your own.

PS: Join me on my new Facebook page
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Kevin Burns - Excellence Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Attitude with ATTITUDE Blog by Email
Follow Kevin on Twitter @attitudeburns
The Official Kevin Burns YouTube Channel