Treating people right applies to the workplace as it does elsewhere. Employees who feel that they are treated right perform better and have a positive impact on their peers and it helps to create a healthy environment. Primarily, the middle management is responsible for modelling and encouraging acceptable behaviour. Treating people right means a lot of different things to different people but basically consists of the below.
A. Respecting people
B Being reasonable when setting expectations
C Being considerate
D Being fair
A. Respecting people
Respecting people is no rocket science. But in today's culture of disrespect, people need to be reminded that human beings are more than gadgets and a fair amount of discretion is to be exercised in all aspects of interacting with people.
Do's and dont's
1. Never reprimand your colleague in a team setting. It is extremely humiliating to be put down in front of people even when confrontation is inevitable. Deal with such cases one-on-one and set expectations.
2. Never walk over to your colleague's desk for a discussion without prior notice. People dread not having enough time for review and being caught off-guard when faced with questions. As much as possible, it makes more sense to have planned meetings rather than interrupting people while working.
3. Never interrupt meetings. Of course, this comes with an exception. For extremely urgent situations, It makes more sense to request the concerned person out of the meeting rather than interrupting and adjourning the meeting for no good reason.
4. Never yell at people even if you are angry. Use a professional tone for official discussions. Never raise your voice in order to improve the quality of your argument. For things that need immediate attention, specify the course of action with authority so that what needs to be done, gets done at the earliest. Hold back the retrospective and causal analysis for a later time. It helps everyone get a better perspective of the problem and work out ways to avoid it.
5. Never talk down on your boss in front of your subordinates even if you have an extremely difficult boss. Doing so gives them a cue that slandering and backbiting is acceptable. It won't be long before they start doing the same.
6. Never call a meeting that extends into lunch or just before the end of work hours. No one likes to miss an appointment or a meal and medication. Besides, they'd be distracted anyway.
7. Never call a meeting without making the timeframe and agenda clear. Stick to time and watch out for side-tracking from the agenda. If you are prone to losing the sense of time, get someone to alert you. Specifying the time and sticking to it, helps others plan their work better.
B. Being reasonable when setting expectations
Many people have unspoken expectations of people and expect them to read their mind. The best way to get people to meet your expectations to set realistic and reasonable expectations. In that way, people don't have to do any guessing and no one will have nasty surprises.
1. Always minute meetings and assign responsibilities and expected closure date for action items. Remember to follow up on action items from the previous meetings.
2. Be realistic. Never assign a task to someone at 5:00 PM and expect it to be done by the next morning. Try to jointly arrive at a realistic timeline.
C Being considerate
Most modern governments have policies to ensure that employees are treated considerately. Most of this has to do with employee's human rights.
1. When someone calls in sick, do not expect them to complete their work. Always have a business continuity plan in place for such contingencies
2. When someone is unwell and has reported to work, do not force them to work overtime. Try to reassign the task to someone else who might be able to take it up.
3. When someone has an emergency to take care of, do not expect them to finish any pending tasks. Always have a business continuity plan in place for such contingencies.
4. As much as possible when people are recovering from illness, encourage them to telecommute. It helps them recover faster and prevents them spreading the sickness to the rest of the people in office.
5. Do not micromanage people and check what they are upto every 15 minutes. It can be extremely annoying.
6. When people are late or miss the deadline once in a while, do not make an issue out of it. Do not major on the minors.
7. Some employees may not have a proper work life balance or personal commitments. Hence, not everyone can work after office hours, depending on personal constraints. Understand the strengths and limitations of your team.
D Being fair
All human beings want to be treated fairly. When people feel that they have been mistreated, they lose interest and performance drops.
1. Do not expect a person who has burned the midnight oil for a deliverable to be out to be in office promptly the next day. Make allowances in such cases. This will motivate them to go the extra mile, when needed.
2. Establish the evaluation criteria for your staff beforehand so that no one has surprises. Keep short accounts on feedback and do not wait for one whole year to pass by.
3. Make a conscious effort not to be biased. Evaluate incidents and work products objectively and have data to back your decisions. It will encourage your subordinates to do the same.
A. Respecting people
B Being reasonable when setting expectations
C Being considerate
D Being fair
A. Respecting people
Respecting people is no rocket science. But in today's culture of disrespect, people need to be reminded that human beings are more than gadgets and a fair amount of discretion is to be exercised in all aspects of interacting with people.
Do's and dont's
1. Never reprimand your colleague in a team setting. It is extremely humiliating to be put down in front of people even when confrontation is inevitable. Deal with such cases one-on-one and set expectations.
2. Never walk over to your colleague's desk for a discussion without prior notice. People dread not having enough time for review and being caught off-guard when faced with questions. As much as possible, it makes more sense to have planned meetings rather than interrupting people while working.
3. Never interrupt meetings. Of course, this comes with an exception. For extremely urgent situations, It makes more sense to request the concerned person out of the meeting rather than interrupting and adjourning the meeting for no good reason.
4. Never yell at people even if you are angry. Use a professional tone for official discussions. Never raise your voice in order to improve the quality of your argument. For things that need immediate attention, specify the course of action with authority so that what needs to be done, gets done at the earliest. Hold back the retrospective and causal analysis for a later time. It helps everyone get a better perspective of the problem and work out ways to avoid it.
5. Never talk down on your boss in front of your subordinates even if you have an extremely difficult boss. Doing so gives them a cue that slandering and backbiting is acceptable. It won't be long before they start doing the same.
6. Never call a meeting that extends into lunch or just before the end of work hours. No one likes to miss an appointment or a meal and medication. Besides, they'd be distracted anyway.
7. Never call a meeting without making the timeframe and agenda clear. Stick to time and watch out for side-tracking from the agenda. If you are prone to losing the sense of time, get someone to alert you. Specifying the time and sticking to it, helps others plan their work better.
B. Being reasonable when setting expectations
Many people have unspoken expectations of people and expect them to read their mind. The best way to get people to meet your expectations to set realistic and reasonable expectations. In that way, people don't have to do any guessing and no one will have nasty surprises.
1. Always minute meetings and assign responsibilities and expected closure date for action items. Remember to follow up on action items from the previous meetings.
2. Be realistic. Never assign a task to someone at 5:00 PM and expect it to be done by the next morning. Try to jointly arrive at a realistic timeline.
C Being considerate
Most modern governments have policies to ensure that employees are treated considerately. Most of this has to do with employee's human rights.
1. When someone calls in sick, do not expect them to complete their work. Always have a business continuity plan in place for such contingencies
2. When someone is unwell and has reported to work, do not force them to work overtime. Try to reassign the task to someone else who might be able to take it up.
3. When someone has an emergency to take care of, do not expect them to finish any pending tasks. Always have a business continuity plan in place for such contingencies.
4. As much as possible when people are recovering from illness, encourage them to telecommute. It helps them recover faster and prevents them spreading the sickness to the rest of the people in office.
5. Do not micromanage people and check what they are upto every 15 minutes. It can be extremely annoying.
6. When people are late or miss the deadline once in a while, do not make an issue out of it. Do not major on the minors.
7. Some employees may not have a proper work life balance or personal commitments. Hence, not everyone can work after office hours, depending on personal constraints. Understand the strengths and limitations of your team.
D Being fair
All human beings want to be treated fairly. When people feel that they have been mistreated, they lose interest and performance drops.
1. Do not expect a person who has burned the midnight oil for a deliverable to be out to be in office promptly the next day. Make allowances in such cases. This will motivate them to go the extra mile, when needed.
2. Establish the evaluation criteria for your staff beforehand so that no one has surprises. Keep short accounts on feedback and do not wait for one whole year to pass by.
3. Make a conscious effort not to be biased. Evaluate incidents and work products objectively and have data to back your decisions. It will encourage your subordinates to do the same.
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