Management style

[Dave A]

Absolutely brilliant post, Alta. And can I ever relate to this...

I only ever signed up to run my business, never realizing at the outset that I will have to function as Human Resources as well, I really did not see that one coming, i thought that if I was doing my best in my area of excellence and did the financial management thingy, all would be well. I never realized how many areas I would have to cover. Now I can only appreciate how easy it is to program a system as opposed to humans.

Yep. Me too. I wonder how many more business owners and managers feel the same way?

[Christob]

HI
It looks to me like we are incorporating some performance management in with the management style and this is my hobby horse.
I believe that each and every person inherently wants to do a good job and wants to be accepted and feel some accomplishment for their job. This does not mean that they dont end up in the wrong job or that they dont go into a negative spiral at times but that is the base line.

On many occasions when talking to a "problem" employee" or a under performer I realize that this person does not understand what the expectations are - sure you have job description and a LOA etc. but they still dont understand what is expected.

Quarterly or even monthly performance management is great but everyday guiding and coaching will help you build a team that knows exactly what is expected of them and they will execute every time, there will still be mistakes but atleast you can fix these.

Otherwise use the very simple, legally allowed, CCMA approved and union proof dismissal for poor work performance route!

Alta we all feel like you do about the people management, it is not just HR it is marriage councillor, fin consultant, family councillor etc. etc. etc.

[Graeme]

Right on! After 14 years in HR and then 26 years in general management I could not say it better!

[Alta Murray]

Thank you, it is a reminder of what we *should* do, but sometimes I just feel that if you don't have a full comprehension of what is expected of you, you have a mouth, it is not just a pie hole, ask!

What we have now is a graph for everyone on the notice board, so you can see how you are performing, it seems to work well at this stage, but i have not had a change to study this long-term, and follow a trend on reactions. Just read studies on it, so I suspect whilst it will work well for some individuals, it might not work for others?