Mid-Managers Learn From Hockey Coaches

Right now, there's a hockey game playing in the background. It's spring and that means NHL Playoffs. There's already been a lot of upsets and I think it's great.

While superstar players take a seat on the bench and catch their breath, coaches lean down and whisper instructions, tips, ideas and motivation into the ears of players - guys who out-earn the very people they take their cues from.

But that's what the coach is supposed to do. Once a player reaches the big leagues, it's not fait accompli. There's still lots to learn - even for the best in the game today.

A corporate middle manager is just like a sports team coach. The job is to guide, instruct, inspire, critique and improve the performance of their players.

Middle managers used to think they were somewhat powerless having no control over corporate policy and little opportunity to address upper management with staff concerns. But the truth is that the biggest influence on an organization's corporate culture is the middle manager or front-line supervisor. These are the people who either make it a great place to work or a lousy place to work. That means that it is imperative that a middle manager keep sharp on what's happening in the market, what new technologies are coming and how to communicate with the different generations.

If you're a middle manager and are not keeping up to date on what's happening in your own market, on what inspires and engages your people and what you can do to bring out the best performance of your people, then I would hazard a guess that you're in the way and holding back some talented people. That needs to change - and quickly.
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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

Finding Happiness At Work

"When I find the perfect job, then I'll be happy."

Maybe you've bought into it. So what is the number one factor that keeps employees from achieveing happiness at work? Their immediate supervisor.

How many times has it been said, reported, repeated, regurgitated, reissued and rebuked: people don't leave a company - they leave their immediate supervisor. Well, it's absolutely true.

Look, if you want to improve customer service levels, improve your first-line managers (the immediate supervisor to the employee whose performance you are trying to improve). If you want to reduce attrition levels by both customers and employees, improve your first-line manager. If you want to increase initiative, creativity and communication, improve your first-line manager.

If the first-line manager is an idiot, your people will hate working there. They will, in turn, offer lousy service because they could care less about the job. That department will also have higher employee turnover than other departments of your organization - which sucks more budget money for recruiting and training.

Don't you DARE put someone into a supervisory position that has lousy people skills or contempt for the people they work with. And don't you DARE stick a front-line manager into a position before he has been properly trained. Sticking any old body into a supervisory position WILL lose you your staff and your clients.

The first-line supervisor is like the linchpin of a rail-car coupler - the one that locks in your employees, customers and culture of your organization. Even in a fabulous corporate culture, the one jerk-supervisor will still turn over staff and customers.

Get it right. This is far too important to miss. Wherever that first-line supervisor is in the organization, everything right below him either works or it falls apart.
--
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 Résumé Is Dead

What is a résumé? It’s nothing more than a collection of things you’ve done in your work life – a sort-of “eulogy” at work. Oh sure, it may also point out some skills that you were allowed to use while on the job but it really gives no indication of your aptitude, your natural talents nor your values and attitudes toward the work world.

Michael Bloomberg, NYC Mayor, once said, “You are not paid for what you have done in the past. You are paid for what you’re about to do in the future.”

Isn’t it interesting that you (boss or HR professional) decide who you want to interview is based purely on what your candidate may have done in the past – not what they are about to do in the future.

Why is the résumé dead?

• There is no indication from a résumé of what heights could have possibly been reached – only what someone has been given the opportunity to do.
• There is no indication from a résumé of what a candidate is capable of learning – only what they have learned in the past, what school they graduated from and what pieces of paper (degrees) they may hold (relevant or not).
• There is no indication from a résumé that a particular candidate could be the next great leader for your organization – especially if never given the opportunity to lead.
• There is no indication from a résumé of how brilliant a mind may be when hidden behind average grades and average positions in an organization – especially if the candidate was kept down by a tyrant boss.
• There is no indication from a résumé of values and ethics being paramount – especially if only ever given a lowly entry-level position and no opportunity to provide input.
• There is no indication from a résumé that a candidate is a decent human being – credentials on a wall don’t make you decent.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: The workforce is changing. Baby Boomers are retiring and Gen Y is here to stay. In a few years, Gen Y will be taking over management positions and leadership roles and the organizational structure that we know today will be dead – along with the résumé.

The great leaders of tomorrow and those who will change the world, including your organization, will be the people with ideas and those who will challenge the standard workforce strategy. They won’t be hired because of their résumés. And as long as you continue to believe that the résumé is the best way to find a suitable candidate to fill a position, you will be eating the dust of the organizations who have found a way to attract people with brains, ideas, values, ethics and a shared-effort philosophy. These people are found in chat rooms, blogging, e-networking, texting and hanging out with those of like-mind.

Who do you think would bring your organization a higher degree of greatness: a person looking for a job (armed with a résumé) or one who is already sharing ideas with others (armed with a Blog, followers and a huge network)? Which of the two choices do you think would give you better results in the future?

The résumé is dead.

Featured Expert in Safe Supervisor Magazine

Safe Supervisor magazine is a monthly publication dedicated to helping Occupational Health & Safety managers, supervisors and foremen become more effective in their jobs.

Last week, Dave Duncan of Safe Supervisor, interviewed me on a host of topics related to safety in the workplace. Primarily, our discussion centered around how to get non-complying workers to come around and to embrace the on-the-job safety procedures.

Safety Naggers Need a Bag of New Tricks
This is a two-part series on how supervisors can deal with workers who have an “attitude” and resist working safely. The first segment will look at how supervisors can approach such workers in a manner that doesn’t involve nagging. Part two will examine what supervisors can do to rein in workplace “cowboys” and what can be done when words aren’t enough to budge a bad safety attitude.

The interview is a two-part series that will be published in both the February and March 2009 editions of Safety Supervisor.

Safety IS an Attitude!