The Management and Employee Development Review

Competitive Advantage through Transformative Teamwork and Evolved Mindsets

Kelly Graves

• Publisher: Productivity Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781138216204
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351642972
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

New, and experienced managers alike, typically repeat behaviors they observed or were subjected to when they were employees, which perpetuates unhealthy and unproductive management methods.

The Management and Employee Development Review: Competitive Advantage through Transformative Teamwork and Evolved Mindsets combines accepted psychological theory with practical business reality to help managers get the very best out of themselves, their employees and teams.

The central objective of a great leader and manager of people is to touch your employees at their core so they see and believe in your vision as fervently as you. To achieve this higher state, one must climb inside the mind of their employees and tap into their intrinsic motivation. Employees who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to engage in the task willingly as well as work to improve their skills, which will increase their capabilities. Employees are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they:

• Attribute their results to factors under their control, also known as autonomy
• Believe they have the skills to be effective agents in reaching their desired goals, also known as self-efficacy beliefs
• Are interested in mastering a topic, not just in achieving it for some outside force

This book reiterates that organizations are only as good as the people within it, and these people must be hired, trained, coached, and promoted in the right way, with focused intent, so the organization can learn, improve, and grow. This book provides a step-by-step game plan to help organizations develop employees with an eye toward sustained excellence.

If employed correctly, the principles in this book will transform not only your business but you as well.

IIDeveloping the Person

3From Being Hired to Adding Value in 90 Days or Less

Human behavior is extensively motivated and regulated through the exercise of self-influence. Among the mechanisms of self-influence, none is more focal or pervading than belief in one’s personal efficacy. Unless people believe that they can produce desired effects and forestall undesired ones by their actions, they have little incentive to act or to persevere in the face of difficulties. Whatever other factors may serve as guides and motivators, they are rooted in the core belief that one has the power to produce desired results. To be an agent is to influence intentionally one’s functioning and life conditions. In this view, people are contributors to their life circumstances, not just products of them.

Albert Bandura

Structural paths influence perceived self-efficacy and positively or negatively affect motivation and performance attainment. Managers and other major influencers can impede or assist goals and outcome expectations (Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1Structural paths.

Social cognitive theory, as defined by psychologist Albert Bandura, refers to “self-efficacy as one’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. One’s sense of self-efficacy can play a significant role in how one approaches goals, tasks, and challenges” (Ormrod 2006).

“Social learning theory describes the acquisition of skills that are developed exclusively or primarily within a social group. Social learning depends on how individuals either succeed or fail at dynamic interactions within groups, and promotes the development of individual emotional and practical skills as well as an accurate perception of self and acceptance of others. According to this theory, people learn from one another through observation, imitation, and modeling. Self-efficacy reflects an individual’s understanding of what skills he or she can offer in a group setting” (Ormrod 1999, Human Learning 3rd ed).

Getting Hired: What Happens during an Employee’s First Week

When a new employee gets hired, he or she goes through very predictable patterns of thoughts and behaviors, which require the manager to adapt his or her management style to gain maximum trust and communicate so that performance can be leveraged to the fullest. Let’s start with the feelings and thoughts new employees often exhibit.

Feelings and Thoughts

The primary emotions for a new employee are excitement and anticipation, coupled with anxiety and perhaps even a bit of fear at the prospect of figuring out a new manager and fitting into a new social structure or department. Along with these will be a feeling of pride at being chosen for this position over the other candidates. Once these initial feelings and thoughts run their course, the next phase of internal dialogue that generally presents itself includes

• Why am I here?
• Why are they here?
• What is expected of me?
• How much influence will I have?
• How much influence will my manager and my colleagues have over me?

Observable Behaviors

Anticipating and being aware of behaviors provides a relatively accurate road map into the mental patterns of the employee. Knowing these indicators helps the manager have a higher probability of choosing from various management styles to ensure successful integration of the employee into the organization. It is imperative for the manager to be just one-half step ahead of the new employee regarding training and behavior development. This awareness makes it much easier for the employee to keep up and follow the manager’s lead, and much easier for the manager to quickly make midcourse adjustments.

A high degree of politeness will be one of these observable behaviors, perhaps with a touch of standoffishness. This guards the new employee against the unknown. Reserved interaction with the manager and sporadic participation with others in his or her group is also reasonable. At this point, the employee is extremely agreeable and will have an acute need for the manager to precisely define tasks, along with clear expectations and time limits for their completion. Being very specific reduces anxiety for the employee and provides necessary structure in the early phases of his or her immersion into the new organization.

Employee Needs

From the very beginning, define the big picture for your new employee. Does the organization or department have a mission? Providing this overarching vision works as a beacon, giving the person a stable goal orientation. Remember, he or she is coming into the new organization primarily “culture blind.” Even if he or she is a specialist and knows their skills very well, there will almost certainly be a lack of awareness of the cultural norms with which the organization and department (as well as the manager) operate. The new employee requires

• Very clear goals and objectives
• A measurement system and precise timeline
• Knowledge about when feedback is expected and in what form
• Well-defined roles and responsibilities, both personally and for the broader department or team

Management Style and Requirements

At this stage, the manager must first establish trust and communication through dialogue. One idea that works very well to break the ice is to ask the employee to share one or two hobbies or non-work-related topics that he or she knows well enough to teach others. Ask for a three-minute example. This provides insightful information that aids in relaxing the employee and allowing him or her to talk and the manager to listen. Most of the time a new employee’s time is spent listening and being overwhelmed with new information, so being encouraged to share in this way reduces anxiety, increases bonding, and provides the manager with the employee’s learning preference. This relates to the general systems theory, which has a powerful use in a business setting.

General systems theory, developed by biologist Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, states that knowing one part of a system enables us to know something about another part. A cross-sectional approach deals with understanding the patterns between the two systems. Once known, systems thinking can be applied to all types of systems. Said another way, general systems theory states that learning can be made much easier, and subsequently quicker if the manager attaches new material to the employee’s previously known material. In this manner, the person simply unpackages the metaphor he or she is already familiar with (e.g., golf, tennis, knitting, etc.) and adds the new skill to his or her mental filing system. All of us speak in metaphor, and it’s invaluable to learn the subordinate’s metaphors. If the person uses golf, then explain new lessons using golf metaphors; if skiing is the chosen sport, then reference skiing when explaining a new concept or task.

General systems theory tunes the manager into listening, and it is through listening that the manager can genuinely understand how to quickly and correctly manage a new employee and get a quicker return on the investment in that person. Building on general systems theory and taking it a step further allows one to build on the power of metaphor.

Metaphors are an excellent way of taking something known and comparing it to something unknown. If you use your words in this way, you could make difficult concepts clearer to those who might be struggling to understand them. For instance, people often get into a hurry and the faster they go the more mistakes they make. Thus, using a metaphor related to a hobby or sport the employee is intimately familiar with can help bridge this gap.

For example, let’s assume the employee John gets his work done quickly but sloppily, with significant gaps in his research. During discussions around this issue, his boss Mike must provide additional guidance, do the research himself, or send John back to do it over. Mike has told John to slow down and think it through, but this hasn’t been effective. Another way for Mike to coach John would be to utilize John’s love of golf. Mike might say, “What steps must a golfer take before he hits a drive off the tee?” John would then begin to describe addressing the ball with the correct stance, focusing on the backswing, keeping eyes on the ball, leading with the hips, guiding the club with the leading arm, and driving through the ball. Only when all of this is done properly and in the right sequence, with the right timing, can the ball be hit accurately with the desired distance. Mike might respond by saying something like, “So what you’re telling me is that preparation beforehand is far more important than the actual act of hitting the ball?” When John agrees, Mike can use these steps as his metaphor to explain the preparation John must undertake before completing a project. In this way, Mike is helping John take something he know...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Author
• Section I The Current Antiquated Management Model
• Section II Developing the Person
• Section III Department Development Leads to Company Success
• Appendix
• References
• Index