Office politics

Improve your employees standards by improving you own standards

I have met many managers who demand the best out of their employees but they themselves fail to live up to those standards or be a role model. What hinders the development efforts in many organizations, especially in the developing world, is the huge gap between management and employees; management demands certain quality of work but without providing a clear guidelines or standards to employees.

In several companies where I worked or where I visited I saw almost no training giving to employees not even new employees were giving an introduction to the company’s operation.

In many countries around the world, the culture of isolation between management and the rest of the employees is still very much alive, managers mostly view themselves as superior who seldom make mistakes and have no need to improve their standards.

A successful manager must always set himself as a role model to the rest of his employees, he must lead by example, he must know that his employees will only have faith on him if they see his standards are continuously improving.

Will you accept lower pay for big job title?

Do salary and benefits have to match the job title? Will you accept lower pay for bigger job title? I know people who are taking more responsibilities at their job in hope to add to their professional credentials and create better network for better future jobs.

I personally think you must be compensated fairly for the position you were hired for, if your job title is CEO or General Manager, then you should be paid as such.

What prompted me to write this article is a trend I have been witnessing in this part of the world, Arab world and the Gulf area, where people with humble educational backgrounds are giving job titles of General Manager or Chief Engineer but their pay scale only matches that of a junior staff member.

Unfortunately, job seekers with the right educational and experience backgrounds have to compete with applicants with less than educate experience for the same job title, this bring down the quality level in the entire industry.

Don’t expect less than what you deserve, and if you don’t find someone who is willing to hire you, then go back to school or write a book instead of giving your skills for cheap.

We always have done it this way

Business survives on innovations and the willingness to try new ideas and new ways of doing things, successful managers are always working on methods to improve business processes, they look for ways to cut cost and improve quality.

In some companies managers are trapped under ceiling that says “We always have done it this way”, a management that is not willing to try new ideas because their current business process is working fine, Japanese companies relentless pursuit for innovations put it ahead of the competitions by many years, take Toyota and GM as an example, Toyota took the lead from GM as the world number one vehicle manufacturer.

It’s true that some companies used business plans that served them well for years and there is no need to change these plans, but that doesn’t not mean those plans shouldn’t be closely examined periodically to look for room for improvements.

Its sad to see, when traveling through the developing world, how people suffer to get the basic services just because no one is willing to examine the old ways of doing business and think of ways to improve old processes.

The power of simple management

What all great CEOs have in common? Besides their clear vision on what they want to accomplish for their companies, they all have simple management style.

Simple management is the ability by managers to communicate effectively with employees using the most simple but meaningful words. Simple and effective communications that produce results requires great deal of communication skills that not many managers seem to have.

With they wide spread us of e-mails, there is an explosion on the amount of information exchanged and managers who fail to communicate clearly spend longer time writing e-mails.

When I first joined my current company, I was shocked by the amount of e-mails that were sent back and forth between the company and its’ clients, it proved one thing to me, “the message is not clear and things were not simple to understand”.

When a CEO or a manager is able to explain company’s goals in few effective words, it demonstrate his deep understating of the subject, great words of wisdom are composed of few “words”, but they guide us in times of need.

In the early years, Microsoft management goal and message were real simple “to put a PC on every desk”, Google’s search engine page only consists of few words, and the idea is clear “to help you search the internet”.

Simple management usually holds behind it greats ideas.

How to deal with an angry boss

With all the labor laws that were put in place in many countries to protect workers we still see bosses and managers who abuse workers or even threaten them. A work contract is a contract between two people or between an entity and a worker which basically states the terms and conditions of the contract, no where in any work contract that I have read so far says that the boss or manager can abuse his employees.

So how do you stop an angry boss or manager from abusing you?

First, you must know that in almost any country in the world there are laws to protect workers right, read this law and become familiar with them.

Second, inform your boss or manager (politely but firmly) that you don’t appreciate his anger and abuse and will not tolerate it, have it in writing.

Third, if the treatment continues, call the Dept of labor and ask how to file a complaint against your company.

Forth, stay calm and keep full confidence in yourself

Fifth, know that there is always another opportunity around the corner, if you lose one job, the next will be waiting.

Management must be based on facts and not on Public sentiments

Public opinions play important role in shaping corporate policies in many organizations, more than facts and statistics. This doesn’t only apply to organizations but also to governments.

Some areas where decisions, mostly, are based on sentiments rather than facts:

Foreigners taking jobs from locals: ongoing debate I have experienced in many countries where public sentiments about foreign labor drive corporate and government decisions making process about hiring foreign labor.

Terrorism: the constant fear environment that has been created on the last few years and how many government passed laws based on perceived terrorism rather than actual terrorism.

Public profiling: some people are subjected to more search, at airports, than other based on their names or origins.

Racism: the notion that some races are smarter than others or certain group of people can work better than other group.

Gender equality: certain jobs are seen to be better performed by men than women.

Every public sentiment mentioned above is based on perception rather than reality, a successful company or even a successful government must base decision on facts rather than sentiments.

Please keep your degree at home

In my all years as manager, I was never impressed by degrees and certificates as much as I was impressed by talents. The best managers are not MBA graduates, the best managers are people with vision, skills, attitude and free mind that is able to manage without being restricted by theories.

I am not down playing the importance of formal and quality education, but in all the job interviews I made, I never asked any candidate to show me his/her degree, all I would demand that he or she show me what they claim they can do.

As most of the readers may already know, the best CEOs around us have very less to show when it comes to formal education and top rated degrees.

As one famous CEO told graduating MBA students, “it’s too late”, he was referring to the extensive class room training that they received made their minds setup in a way that will be very hard to change.

Never chit chats with your boss

Although we all like to have friendly and supportive bosses who are easy to reach, never get into the habit of freely chit chatting with your boss. Several times I have worked for close friends (they were my bosses) and as a friend I would freely discuss work issues with them or even openly criticize some management practices only to see them completely get offended. Other times I would freely discuss with my boss some tips to improve quality and generate more revenue for the company, and again, only to see my ideas get implemented and I would not be giving any credit for it.

Doesn’t matter how friendly your boss is, always keep boundaries and never let down your guards.

The opposite is also true, if you are the boss, don’t get into the habit of chit chatting with your employees, you can be supportive and approachable but don’t be too easy. In fact, I sometimes distance myself from my employees in order not to give them the chance to tell me things that may get them in trouble.

Friendly and supportive work place is a great place to work, but learn to always keep your distance.

The hidden talents in your company

How many times you sat with your employees and had a real intimate conversation with them about their backgrounds, something that they don’t write in their resumes?

The majority of employees don’t write good resumes, they only talk about skills that fit the job requirements, many employees think that talking about some other skills they may have will distract management from hiring them, which maybe true at sometimes.

After you hire an employee, have another job interview with him/her and you may discover a wealth of other skills and experience this employee can provide the company.

I remember a janitor who used to work in my team, I didn’t have much interaction with him, but one day I sat with him only to find out that he was an artist and a graduate of an art school.

Skilled executive secretary, a must for successful business

As a business consultant working in many projects and ideas, I find it bit difficult to keep up with my paper works and communications, I even find it hard to keep my ideas and thoughts organized. I lose valuable time and opportunities when I spend time going through paper works or e-mails.

All kind of business productivity software are no match of a skilled executive secretary. If you are running your own business, half of your work load could be handled by a skillful secretary; the salary you invest in hiring a secretary will be paid off in form of more productive work environment.

A skillful secretary will:

1-Screen your e-mails and phone calls
2- Organize your papers
3-Take notes as you speak
4- Remind you of your appointments
5-Keep you updated of important events
6-Make your travel arrangements
7-Send greeting cards to your clients
8-Give your company the professional image