THE SITUATION
My 13 years of studying and working experience in the Marketing, Learning and Development fields are concluded in this sincere sharing blog. Hope that you and I have the same point of view with the situation of the current employee.
Part 1: the boss is “always right”?
Before catching the employee’s mistake, I and you try to look back at what mistakes the managers often make. When the boss knows he/she was wrong and corrects mistakes, it will affect their employees very much. They will be more self-aware, get more serious and have more respect for their boss.
No one is perfect and the boss is either. There are some mistakes they realize but some are accidents. When talking about one’s mistakes, I don’t judge by my own one-sided direction but I judge by what I saw and faced and I used to go through that mistake in the role of the manager. From that, I conclude there are 5 mistakes a manager usually made:
1. The boss say it for fun
This is the typical mistake of many managers. No fewer employees I work with said that their boss “promised” many times. They promised and didn’t do anything, even sometimes their boss promised just for fun. This is very dangerous because when the boss broke the promise, it will create a no more respect mindset in the employee’s head. From that on, every word the boss said will be lost weight and the employee would establish the listen-for-nothing mindset, the manager’s self will also lose influence to the collective and the working process will be seriously affected.
=> the boss does not need to promise many times, but once, you must carry out the promise. If the request is appropriate and reasonable, you can make a promise to the employee to increase the working motivation.
2. The boss too focuses on the work and forgets about the development of the employee.
The CEOs of start-up or SMEs companies usually or “have to” make this mistake. They hire employees just to focus on working with the purpose to develop the company but don’t care about the development of the employees. We agree that we still pay wages and bonuses for them fully but those factors can be replaced anytime, and it can come from the rival company or from the movement and human resource thirst of the market, many other companies willing to pay higher to own the talents are working well in the rival company (or partner company). With an employee who has a clear onboarding, the working environment with no development will make them easy to discourage. From that, your company continues to repeat the brain drain circle, directly affecting the working process.
=>” Clearly with SME companies focus on the revenue is the most important thing. The development of the employee, with the size of the company, so probably don’t need or haven’t needed, bosses also don’t have time to care for each member. I agree and I also focus on the revenue of my company. However, I have to question myself and find the solution: “I’m a boss, care for the company is very busy, I don’t have time for developing the employees, as long as doing my job well is enough.”, and the question: “ so when am I “less” busy to care about this problem, the problem that the employees would leave and take much time and money to re-recruit new employees and of course many other problems will happen…?”
Besides time for a job, to achieve the goal and revenue of the company, you have to make a plan to spend a certain time developing your employees. You have to remember: “your employees develop, your business develops.”
3. Boss doesn’t admit mistakes
Cao Cao has a quote: “Recognise and acknowledge your mistake, but never admit your mistake.” – maybe when being a boss, admitting a mistake before your employee will affect the image of a manager. However, being arbitrary is not good. No one in this life is completely right, if your employee tells you what is your mistake then you should listen and skillfully adjust to suit the final goal. That is the essence of a leader.
4. Lack of Transparency at work
With effective and responsible employees, they get favors from the managers are understandable. But the manager usually makes misunderstandings to other employees by being partial with effective employees. It shows through workload, rights and authority. However, you don’t make a clear process of reward, review and notification, it would be disastrous and accidentally make employees feel separated, even confronted, dissatisfied with each other for unknown reasons.
=> You should have a straight conversation with all members to understand each other and also let your employee see that you are a clear person. Then, your credibility in the collective will be improved and employees who do not work well enough have a target and motivation to change and correct mistakes.
5. Manage employees by the “brother and sister” model
This is a very dangerous mistake! I give this advice to any manager who has a problem with employees. If you are using this model, then consider and change immediately! Apparently, a company is a solidarity collective, especially with SME companies. We are small so we have to unite to be a second house to go further. However, this house needs discipline, rules and working processé. You can behave lovely with your employees but don’t let your employees understand wrong about the responsibility of the job and work process is the most important. The workspace needs to have rules and don’t let employees “I do whatever I want”, miss the deadline, or not follow general rules. Even companies that work in creative, entertaining fields, have deadlines, processes to make sure the plan is completed. So, we have to respect the company’s rules to develop in the right direction.
=> Being a boss, you have to be strict with the company’s rules. You shouldn’t allow or pass the delays or mistakes because they are “brothers and sisters”. Operating the company with that model, employees in the company can’t develop and even the company itself also can not develop.
