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  • LAVA Moderator: streaM Freak

Management tips.

be respectful of people. don't treat them as if they are idiots or slaves.

I know this sounds like obvious advice but in my experience most people either have apparently never heard it or chose to ignore it.
 
bravo-6 said:
Because if I’m smarter them the manager them I should have his job. That’s who I got to be service manager.
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Judging from this statement there are very few people whom you surpass in intelligence.
 
The managers that I grew to have contempt for kept things ongoing that needed decision or closure. Someone makes a suggestion or submits a request; a bad manager says I'm going to back to you on that. Two months pass, issue resubmitted, again ; we are looking into that. Sometimes managers need to say no. You can say I like that idea but I can tell you it will not be implemented in the foreseeable future. You can not tell people continuously that what they are rooting for is on the horizon when it isn't.

Along the same lines do not threaten things you aren't going to do. If your promises or statements of consequence are flimsy you will be bypassed and disrespected. I realize sometimes you have to look into things before you give an answer but don't forget all about it til someone asks again.
 
Having an open door policy by taking suggestions and asking for feedback from your employees will make them feel appreciated and give them a reason to try harder. It'll also make the job more enjoyable for both you and them and there will be a lower turnover rate.
 
Pennywise wrote:Judging from this statement there are very few people whom you surpass in intelligence.

Why don't you pick up a dictionary and look up the meaning of intelligence. But you probably don't have one so here's the definition.
With a statement like that obviously you must not know what the definition of intelligence is.
Unlike you I didn't Forest Gump my way through life.

Intelligence is an umbrella term used to describe a property of the mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to learn.
 
always for the lulz

hitlerwn7.jpg
 
spork said:
Having an open door policy by taking suggestions and asking for feedback from your employees will make them feel appreciated and give them a reason to try harder. It'll also make the job more enjoyable for both you and them and there will be a lower turnover rate.
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The key part to this is actually trying to implement feedback. If you can't, then provide a valid and understandable reason why you cannot. I used to work middle management in a large call centre and the most frustrating thing in the world is presenting alternative ways of doing things only for them to be dismissed out of hand.

Another thing i would add to that is to seek feedback before implementing any large procedural or policy changes. Chances are that the people who have been actually doing the job can help you fine tune them so that everyone's happy.

Re: The don't know debate. It's fine to say "I don't know" as long as you promptly find out. Nothing worse than giving wrong information.
 
or as an alternative to saying 'i don't know' - that's a good question. i don't know the answer to it, but i'll work on finding out the answer


the most key aspect of a good manager is communication, imo, i used to have a stellar manager who communicated with her entire team very well. even the ones she didn't like. now i have a manager who can't be bothered. as such, i'm disillusioned.
 
Alright I'll contribute something useful.

An example of bad leadership I've seen recently.

A General Manager who is a stickler for his staff coming in on time, that is being in the door by 9am... he got into a big argument over flexi-time recently.

The problem is that he is often not in by 9am, let alone 10.30am and quite often doesn't even bother to show up at all, or sends an email around at 9.30am saying that he'll work from home that morning (something none of us are allowed to do).

Do as you say. Don't ask of your subordinates something you wouldn't yourself do and lead by example. Try and be in before they are, and leave after they do... be someone they look up to and respect.

I disagree that you can't be friends with your subordinates, but always be fair in how you treat them.
 
don't let people think that you're a push-over.

They will exploit you to their own ends.



well, i would anyway ;]
 
bravo-6 said:
The best advice I can give you is be there manager not there friend. I am a service manager for a big computer company and I replaced the old service manager because he was like that. He was every body’s friend and no one took him seriously because of that. And when he got mad and started to flex his authority every body resented him for it. Everybody was talking behind his back and just didn’t like him anymore and nothing was getting done. When I started there I really didn’t make any friends at work I adopted the mentality that I am there to do a job not make friends. That doesn’t mean that I’m not nice to my co-worker or that I don’t give them respect. But I told them is a staff meeting that I am there to do a job and they are there to listen and learn from my experiences. The second piece of advice I can give you is to never say I don’t know or I’m not sure. These words will make people question your ability’s. I don’t know if you have staff meeting but if you do always start out with what good things have happened in the past week and then go into what can be done to improve performance. And try not to single out people that are not doing that well in a staff meeting that is very destructive to the person and others. Pull them in to your office and talk to them. I hope this helps you. I have been a service manager for 4 years now and these are the things that I have learned through the management course I took and experience. Good luck my friend.
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It is so typical of people in the IT industry to never admit not to know. :-/ I don't agree with that. I prefer the method of being honest that you don't know, but adding that you will look it up asap. I understand where you're coming from though because IT people are cocky assholes and managing an IT Team is so difficult. I've been a network admin and recently a software developer, so I see it every day.
 
hoptis said:
A General Manager who is a stickler for his staff coming in on time, that is being in the door by 9am... he got into a big argument over flexi-time recently.

The problem is that he is often not in by 9am, let alone 10.30am and quite often doesn't even bother to show up at all, or sends an email around at 9.30am saying that he'll work from home that morning (something none of us are allowed to do).
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oh god, is his name Raj? lol
That sounds like my manager from a few years ago. I am compulsively late, but at least I showed up to work. He used to "work from home" but you would never hear from him all day. Or he would just take the morning off and show up at various times in the afternoon. However, if we were more than 9 minutes late to work, we were tardy. And yeah, we even had to clock in...we were salaried employees who had to clock in. lmao
 
Lysis said:
It is so typical of people in the IT industry to never admit not to know. :-/ I don't agree with that. I prefer the method of being honest that you don't know, but adding that you will look it up asap. I understand where you're coming from though because IT people are cocky assholes and managing an IT Team is so difficult. I've been a network admin and recently a software developer, so I see it every day.
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Probably because a flatout "I don't know" without any substantiation is the biggest indication of ignorance or lack of knowledge. I worked with a system admin who wouldn't know anything when it was conveinient. We recently had a critical internal web server that hung twice in an hour and implemented thorough change control measures each time, yes we didn't get an exact reason for failure because the test site executed the change perfectly. But out of that mess comes an opportunity to learn about these specific failures. But do you announce to the whole organisation the truth as if you were on trial, course not. The truth in detail is fine so as the organisation respects each others efforts and work, but for the majority you have to deal feindish and empire building assholes who want crush any other department into the ground to make themselves look superior.
 
I'm hoping that my boss will start having sex with me soon. Best way to manage a child like me.

Not that helpful, but you know, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take.
 
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