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Tag Archives: Lead by example

What would you ask your employees, if you were given a chance to be an Undercover Boss?

Recently, when I was watching this show – Undercover Boss, I got to think, what would I have done, if I had an opportunity to be an Undercover Boss on the show. For those folks, who are not familiar with this show, please look at this link here. In a nutshell, this show is about how company’s CEOs and executives work undercover in their organization, and how they find opportunities of improvements through their experiences while working as a normal employee. If I were given an opportunity like this, then I would focus my questions on the following areas…

The whole picture: When you are in the field or working as a line employee, you want to find out two most important things about your employees and work culture, if you want to improve any kind of efficiency in your business. First, try to understand the depth of the knowledge people have about your organization as a whole. Second, try understand what kind of major misnomers are floating around the company regarding company’s perception and internal processes. By asking questions related to these area, you will get a rough idea on how educated is your workforce regarding your company’s functions, and what are some of the wrong assumptions that are made in their day-to-day work life.

The money flow: Not all employees need to understand all the details in the 10K (annual report) of your company. I don’t expect an IT Engineer to understand each and every financial detail about the company, but at the same time they should have some rough idea on how the business functions at its core. At least in the IT field, most people have never been taught how their business works, and hence, they fail to see importance of some critical decisions that we need to take to keep the business running. Thus, it is very crucial to ask your employees about company’s financials, and gauge their understanding on company’s core businesses, and how the company makes money.

Value of their work: As an executive/CEO, you should always make sure that your employees understand the value of their work. Then it maybe the IT Engineer, Janitor, or the field engineer; they should understand that they play a crucial part in your organization’s success. Thus, asking questions like.. “How is this job related to company’s overall success?” or “How is your job making a difference in this organization?” would be very helpful in understanding employees behavior towards their job, and how they perceive their work in the bigger picture.

What would you do here? I mean…. what would you ask, if you were given this opportunity? I would love to hear your perspective on this. So, keep on posting. Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi.

5 ways to become the best manager for your employees

29 Apr

In my last blog post, I have talked about few earlier signs of your management failures. And hence, in this blog post, I will provide you with a formula to handle each issue separately, and how you can turn around these situations in your favor.

Learn from the exit interview: As I have mentioned in my last blog, if you are having a higher turnover rate in your team as compared to your organization/department, then you might want to analyze your leadership style. Try to get as much information as you can through the exit interview. If these exit interviews are taken by the HR Department, then work with your HR personnel to include your questions in the mix. Try to include questions, which can give you some inside scoop on your leadership style. For example: Few problematic communication practices, managerial feedback, etc. Depending on their inputs you should try to change your leadership style.

Learn from your 360 review: Often 360 degree multi-rater assessments or employee’s feedback surveys will provide you with the valuable input about your management style in general. So, make sure that you take those survey results seriously, and take out some time to act on the improvement opportunities mentioned in the survey. Look for things like, your engagement rating with your employees, your general relationships with others, etc. At worst, it will provide you few pointers on where you are going wrong, and how to improve your management style.

Communicate effectively: As I have mentioned in my last blog, if you are having multiple employee’s disputes as compared to other teams, then you might not be a good manager. In order to improve your situation, you might want to increase your communication with your team members. Make sure that you clearly communicate your decisions to your team. Often times miscommunication can generate a sense of inequity or unfairness about these decisions, leading to disputes that tend to end up in the lap of Human Resources departments because they relate to the application of written company policies or procedures. Thus, you should try to communicate with each team member at least once a day. Make it a practice. Also, you should schedule at least one-on-one during a month, where you just talk about your employee’s personal growth and any concerns that he/she might have. This approach will help you to communicate with your team effectively.

Frequent performance reviews: Good manager will always schedule frequent one-on-one with their employees. As a manager, you should always provide your feedback to your employees on an ongoing basis, throughout the year or throughout the period for which the review is being conducted. So, when it’s the time of doing the performance review, its mere a documentation of what you have been talking about during the entire year. If you follow this approach, then you can at least reduce the amount of conflicts between you and your employees during the performance review period.

Lead by example: Let’s assume that you might be one of those bad managers and you might have developed a bad reputation for territoriality, or being “difficult to work with”. Even then, it is never too late to change. Though it might take some time to change other’s perception of you, you can do that. Just try to hold yourself to higher standards. When someone is completely bypassing you in the decision making process, try to talk with that person and identify their issues. It might take some communication and extra efforts in resolving these issues, but you can lead by example. You can show your team members and others in the organization on how you follow your company’s processes, and why your inputs are valuable in the decision making process. If you keep on following this practice, I am sure that you can regain their trust, and improve the work throughput.

I hope, my blog has helped you in seeing some of the general shortcomings of a manager, and helped you become the best manager for your employees. Please share your comments here, if you agree/disagree with my point of view.

Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi