Avionics News December 2013 - 56

BUSINESS BASICS

Continued from page 55

sub-par work. But it's another to
warn about upcoming performance
reviews, remind them that they're
replaceable or play the "I sign your
paycheck" card. All just make them
anxious and distrustful. Focus instead
on open communication, with levelheaded feedback on expectations
and objectives, ways to resolve the
mistake and strategies that allow
the employee to learn and improve.
6. Lack integrity. Your employees
watch you. To go the extra mile, they
must see you do it, too. This does not
include saying one thing and doing

something else, nor does it include
violating company norms, standards
and values.
In practice, watch out for taking
credit for success when it's due elsewhere, as well as placing blame when
you're the one accountable. Stand
up for your people when they're
under attack from other stakeholders, and avoid trying to one-up their
ideas and efforts. When an employee
comes with a suggestion, don't try
to improve it with your ideas. This
indicates you think you're smarter and
your ideas are better. Instead, coach
them through implementing their idea,
help them identify where shortcomings might occur, and give them a
chance to get a win on their own.

7. Micromanage. According to
NFIB, employees need to feel trusted
and valued to succeed. Micromanaging
- sweating the details of how your
people do their jobs - tells them exactly the opposite: that they're worthless
without your oversight. Unfortunately,
this is eventually what you'll get,
according to Dranitsaris.
This is true even if you limit micromanaging to a more insidious style:
looking for problems under the guise
of "quality control," said Sid Smith of
Achieve Coaching. Sure, you got to
where you are by mastering troubleshooting, but if that's what invigorates
you now as a manager - instead of
instilling the role of quality in your
shop's culture - your people will feel
like you're on a witch-hunt to find
their mistakes.
Likewise, if you're delegating tasks but providing incomplete
instructions, objectives and expectations - especially when you know
specifically
what
deliverables
you want - nothing your people
do will ever satisfy you. And there
goes anything but minimum effort.
8. Have a bad attitude. Whatever
you expect from your people, you
- and the rest of your shop's senior
managers - must model that behavior
first. This is particularly true when
it comes to your attitude; both good
ones and bad ones are contagious, so
don't expect employees to be more
enthusiastic, more customer focused,
more cooperative or more anything
than you are. In other words, if you're
not motivated, you'll never motivate
them.
At the same time, recognize if
you bad-mouth co-workers, customers, vendors, neighbors, the delivery
driver or even your spouse, then
you're not only tacitly permitting
similar behavior, you're also turn-

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Avionics News December 2013

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