In yesterday’s Advisor, we got the first four of Rick Lepsinger’s “tickets to slide”; today, the rest of the tickets plus an introduction to a new, online leadership training system.
Lepsinger, president of OnPoint Consulting, is the author of Closing the Execution Gap: How Great Leaders and Their Companies Get Results (Jossey-Bass, 2010).
Ticket to Slide #5: ‘I Will Demotivate or Lose Them’
One of the challenges managers face is holding top performers accountable for behavior that is consistent with work processes and organizational values.
“You may be inclined to give these ‘superstars’ some leeway because you feel they’re too important to your team’s success and you don’t want to break their momentum or steal their mojo,” says Lepsinger. “Unfortunately, this sets up an undesirable dynamic among the team where people come to believe that it doesn’t matter how you hit the target—as long as you do, you’re not accountable for other aspects of performance.”
Ticket to Slide #6: ‘I Will Be Seen as a Micromanager’
Over the years consultants and academics have put the fear of micromanaging into the hearts of many leaders. We avoid the implication of it at all costs. In a world where a “collaborative” style is revered and a “command and control” style is frowned upon, the practice of monitoring has an undeserved bad name and has fallen out of favor.
“The truth is, the more you delegate and empower others, the more you need to monitor and track progress,” says Lepsinger. “Following up and monitoring progress are not synonymous with micromanaging. Monitoring, when done well, can be a constructive activity that provides an opportunity to make course corrections and praise good performance.”
You know your managers could do a better job if they were trained, and now there’s a convenient and reasonable way to get it done—BLR’s Leadership Library at the online, 24/7, Employee Training Center. Get More Information
Ticket to Slide #7: ‘It’s Easier If I Just Do It Myself’
Few myths are as wrong as this one, says Lepsinger. “When you don’t hold others accountable and you take on the work yourself, you become complicit in the cycle of poor performance and lack of accountability,” he explains. “If you do not break this negative cycle, you will always have to do it yourself because you’ve missed a coachable moment and an opportunity to set expectations.”
Obviously, managers need to revoke these “tickets to slide”—effective immediately. But they also need to learn how to set people up for success (so they’ll avoid the need to make excuses) and respond in constructive ways when something does go wrong.
“Don’t expect to eliminate excuse making and lack of accountability altogether,” he adds. “It’s just human nature, and no manager can change that. However, you can help create a work environment that enables people to operate at a higher level of responsibility.
It’s no secret, one of the primary reasons people leave their jobs is poor management. By developing good managers you can help reduce turnover, improve morale and increase production, and that’s to say nothing of avoiding expensive lawsuits.
How can you go about training your leaders? It’s never easy to find the time or the money, but leadership training has a tremendous ROI value for employers.
The Leadership Library provides you with a sensible (and economic) solution.
The Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors allows you to:
- Train on demand. Employees can complete training anytime from anywhere. All they need is a computer and an internet connection.
- Reinforce training topics with engaging graphics and quizzes to test their knowledge.
- Monitor and track the results of your training program with the built-in recordkeeping tool.
- Save costs. The more you train, the more cost-effective the training becomes.
The Leadership for Managers and Supervisors Library is a Web-based training tool that can be utilized by any organization. All you need is a computer and Internet access, and the library is open 24/7.
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The Leadership Library trains your managers on the fundamental skills required for successful team management and organizational communication.
The courses cover a range of leadership and managerial topics, including the following:
- Business Writing Skills for Supervisors
- Dealing with Change: How Supervisors Can Help
- Motivating Employees: Tips and Tactics for Supervisors
- Effective Communication for Supervisors
- Conflict Resolution and Consensus Building
- Workplace Ethics for Supervisors
- Encouraging Employee Input
- Negotiation Skills For Supervisors
- Time Management for Supervisors
- Professional Behavior: What Supervisors Need to Know
- Performance Goals for Supervisors
- New Supervisors’ Guide to Effective Supervision
- Problem Solving for Supervisors
- How to Manage Challenging Employees
- Coaching for Superior Employee Performance: Techniques for Supervisors
- Effective Meetings: How-to for Supervisors
- Leadership Skills: What New Managers and Supervisors Need to Know
This turnkey service requires no setup, no course development time, no software installation, and no new hardware. Your employees can self-register, and training can be taken anytime (24/7), anywhere there is a PC and an Internet connection. Courses take only about 30 minutes to complete.
The Employee Training Center automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. When the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So, when you want to see who has been trained on any subject, or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available.
Course certificates can be automatically generated from within the training center and are automatically retained for recordkeeping purposes.
Get started today on helping your managers and supervisors be the best they can be!
“The truth is, the more you delegate and empower others, the more you need to monitor and track progress.” This is an excellent point, I think–off your plate shouldn’t mean out of mind. Even the very best, most self-motivated employees need managerial progress checks and guidance from time to time.
really helpful post