In the Corner Office section of The New York Times Adam Bryant interviewed Kathy Savitt, founder and C.E.O. of Lockerz, a social networking and e-commerce site. She gives some excellent managerial advice about avoiding cynicism in the office. Savitt compares cynicism to cancer and says that it can bring down even the best company. She says that people become cynical when “a team member has a great idea or has a big issue with a customer experience and no one responds, no one even acknowledges it, no one gets back to them. The idea festers, problems continue to mount, no one listens.”
We studied these issues when we learned about being a good manager and the importance of communication; actively listen to your employees and acknowledge them.
She also gives some examples of questions that she asks on an interview. I always think that it’s useful to read about how different managers interview candidates.”Some of the questions I ask all the time include, what did you love most about the work you just finished doing? And if you could design your life in terms of work, what would that job actually be? If you could take 100 percent of your abilities and create a job description, what would it look like? You learn a lot from people when they answer that question. I like to ask them who’s been the best manager they’ve ever had and who’s been the worst manager they’ve ever had — not their names, of course, but their qualities.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/business/05corner.html?_r=1
Catherine Crawford
I read the article and this ties closely to the ones I posted yesterday re: Effective Communication in the Workplace. I think she bring up a good point when discussing what she looks for in an interview; a person might have all the qualifications in the world, but a certain attitude or "sense" might cone across that makes someone recognize right off the bat that it would simply not be a good fit. Ultimately a manager has the responsibility of creting and maintaining a harmonious work environment and s/he cannot overlook the simple question of just how a person would/would not fit in the office. I have witnessed first-hand just what happens when someone is hired because they possessed the one skill others did not, but no one bothered to wonder how they would mesh with the group. The result was someone who did not last very long.
ReplyDeleteOn the idea of cynicism, I think she is absolutely right that it spreads like a cancer. It can begin by hiring the wrong person and introducing tension in a team but it can also begin as she notes, with lack of proper acknowledgement/reward. Once you gain a certain impression on either your boss or the overall tendencies of your job, it becomes very difficult to change those opinions. In a way, those ideas and notions become part of the symbolic fram that can describe your workplace -much like the exercise in class, where we were asked to describe our respective jobs from the viewpoint of an outsider.
Valeria Bonanome
Gossip and Grudges and Gripes - Oh My! 3 Steps for Improving Workplace Communication by Kristin Baird
ReplyDeleteThis article also emphasizes the importance of healthy communication in the workplace. Baird focuses on the gossip in the workplace, presence of which she says cannot be denied. As Catherine mentions several questions related to communication that she has in mind, author of this article, xxx, states hers: "ask yourself if you're part of the problem or part of the solution". Taking Catherine’s questions, if we ask people what they loved most about the work they just finished doing, and if they could design their work, what would that job actually be; we can integrate people’s commitment in the work. Starting this involvement helps each employee be a certain part of the solution. Baird approves that, when employees start to initiative and participate in honest communication they become part of the solution.
A good approach to organizational change in terms of communication should, as we mention in the class, be a comprehensive one that considers all the frames:
Structural frame would then see communication as transmission of facts and information; HR frame would see it as exchange of information, needs, and feelings; political frame would see it as influencing or manipulating others; and symbolic frame would see it in telling stories. No matter which frames leaders use to create a positive organizational change of communication, listening to others and valuing others’ opinions seems to be the key to begin the process.
You can find the article here:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Gossip-and-Grudges-and-Gripes---Oh-My!-3-Steps-for-Improving-Workplace-Communication&id=5492078
Isil