Does My Bum Look Big in This?
If a good manager asks his workforce for their opinion of him he will receive their expressions of approval and be satisfied that he is doing a good job.
If a bad manager asks his workforce for their opinion then he too will receive their expressions of approval because as we all know, the best way to get a bad manager off your back is to agree with him.
The problem for the manager is how to find out if he is good, and adding value to the organisation, or if he is bad, interfering and preventing the workforce from performing tasks that they are perfectly capable of doing well on their own.
To get honest feedback we have to be able to look in the mirror.
The problem the boss faces is that his own behaviour distorts the reflection away from the true one towards the one that the workforce thinks he wants to see.
If a boss asks his workforce what they think of him the answer will be coloured by the fact that the boss is the person who decides wage increases, promotions and allocation of work.
The employee is going to find it very difficult to tell his boss something that he does not want to hear.
The responsibility therefore lies with the boss to create the environment in which the employees can provide a true reflection
This requires an understanding of what behaviour the boss exhibits that stops the employee providing a true reflection and the discipline to once having identified this behaviour, stop doing it.
What is the required answer to the question, Does my bum look big in this?
And what is the real answer.
The behaviour of the person asking the question determines the answer they get, not whether it is the right answer or not.
The behaviour of the Manager towards his workforce determines whether the workforce tell him the truth or not.
The Soft Skills that enable the Manager to behave so that what he hears is the truth, are the key skills for a Manager.
Juggling numbers has no value if the numbers that are being juggled do not represent the system they are alleged to model.
Peter A Hunter
Peter Hunter's career started on a nautical theme. After leaving school he spent six years as a navigating officer in the Merchant Navy working within a strict hierarchy. It was not until he joined the Royal Navy in 1988 that he began to realize how valuable people really were when they were allowed to be. Peter studied for his master's degree at Cranfield Institute of Technology before going to Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth as an Instructor Office in the Royal Navy. He rose to become Head of Department at the RN Strategic Systems School, Faslane where he further developed the concept that "management is a two way thing". After 8 years with other consultancies Peter formed his own company on the West Coast of Scotland. Hunter Business Consultancy associates are now based all over the United Kingdom and are expanding into Europe. Peter is the Author of the book "Breaking the Mould".
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