6 Simple Steps to Dealing with Difficult ManagersWritten by Martin Haworth
Managing teams is tricky enough, but when you have a challenging manager to deal with as well - I guess you could do without it. But a structured approach can mean success for all sides.The challenge of managing difficult managers can be rather daunting, especially when you inherit them! If they are your own born and bred, then hopefully they would have evolved into great managers! Experience shows that difficult managers are difficult because they are angry and frustrated about something or somebody (even themselves - especially where they are, or have become, a square peg in a round hole of a job), so steps to take are these:- - Always a first is to build great relationships with your people. This involves protected one-to-one time, where they feel valued. Get to know them. 'Getting to know name of their dog' has a good feel to it! Get them talking about anything and everything that is important to them - this deflects 'difficult' bit and creates a common place for you to communicate. It also builds all those things like trust and valued-ness etc.
- Get really clear on standards for all of your managers and get them involved in process. Itinerant trouble-makers usually fall in if majority do. Do same with personal objectives based on their best skillset, not their worst. It's easier to get success from things folks are good at then waste energy on things that are very tough for them (in fact, frankly, they are in wrong job).
- Ensure that everyone complies with these standards consistently and fairly and be flexible if they don't work. It's OK to be a bit tolerant, though only in 'how' things are delivered as long as outcome (the 'what') really happens.
- If these measures don't work, it's time to get emotional (no. not tears!). The phrase, 'I need your help...' is a great way to go - as is 'I wanted to tell you how I felt after...'. Both are EQ dialogue, aimed to find out what's wrong and how you can help. If push back is to 'stop hassling them', then groundwork you did with standards proves it's worth.
| | Comparing Corporate and Personal goal attainment programs that have developed over thousands of years with modern day programs. Written by Dr. Jason W. Armstrong
Comparing Corporate and Personal goal attainment programs that have developed over thousands of years with those of modern day legends such as Covey - “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”By Jason Armstrong, Ph.D. Copyright 2005. In 1990s Stephen Covey’s name became famous through publication of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. As many know “7 habits” are not a group of new concepts but age-old approaches to success represented in a way that can be clearly applied to modern day personal and corporate development. These precepts are taught in a number of ancient development, and achievement arts which have been practiced for thousands of years. Although many of these concepts have been lost and misinterpreted, they exist and can be translated in non-extreme forms, from such arts as: Zen (which is not a religion, but a path for self discovery and growth), “Art of War” by Sun Tzu (the classic text on strategy which is often regarded as most definitive text on topic), and Tao de Ching (the “book of change”). Profound lessons for leadership, change, victory and non-conflict have arisen from bodies of work such as “Art of War”, because learnings came from life and death scenarios. Obviously today’s corporate world does not induce a mechanism for change, and success, anywhere near as strong as these ancient arts as consequence of failure is far less. This is why groups such as Samurai, and post-war Corporate Japan, adopted highly refined lessons from Chinese Zen and “Art of War”. However, modern Asia is very different from its past. Today such cultures as Japan often see an environment which is one of most materialistic and rapid success oriented cultures around, quite a contrast to its approaches of past. Today many Western corporate cultures are now embracing past strategies to avoid conflict and gain success. The strategy text “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, is often incorrectly viewed as an aggressive approach to victory. However, it is essentially a master text on “Conflict Management” and “Win-Win” scenarios (“Win-Win”, habit 4 of Stephen Covey). It also discusses partnering in detail (“Synergize”, habit 6 of Stephen Covey), project planning (“begin with end in mind”, habit 2 of Stephen Covey) and has many direct relationships to goal attainment in corporate and personal development contexts.
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