It’s Your Business
- Author: Terry Greenhut, Business Editor
- Subject Matter: Shop management
- Issue: Apply what you learned in sales
Shop management: Second in a series
Noting the difference between a production employee and one who manages others. As a production employee you had the luxury of only having to think about the work you were producing, at the moment, and how doing so benefitted you and the company. As a manager you now have to think about how the work that everyone does benefits all of the employees, the customers and, of course, the entire business. You can no longer function on the “What’s in it for me” mentality. Once again, as a manager, you will be a success when you lead everyone in your care to be successful.
One of the ways to achieve a successful working relationship with those in your charge is to apply some of the same techniques we have learned over the years in selling. When you think about it, getting someone to do what you want them to is all about them accepting your concepts and procedures. To make that happen you have to sell people on the idea that your way is OK to follow, not that it’s always the right way and not that you are inflexible if someone can teach you something new, but that it’s OK to follow you.
You may recall from sales training that to get the information you need and have the customer follow you down the path to the sale, one of your strongest techniques is to ask questions as opposed to making statements. Statements push, questions pull. Your goal is to pull the information you need from your people and to pull them along with you, not push or try to force them into doing what you want them to do. If you choose your questions carefully and ask them with the right attitude, you can give employees the feeling that they came up with the idea as opposed to you telling them what to do. Whenever anyone feels they are working on their own creation, they will give it more effort simply because it’s theirs.
Encourage questions
Remember the old saying, “The only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.” So there are no dumb questions, not on either side. If you want employees to respect the questions you ask them, be sure to respect every question they ask you. You can never belittle anyone for asking a question no matter how dumb it may seem to you or how many times you have already answered it. If someone keeps asking the same question several times, it means they still don’t understand. Then you, as the teacher, need to find another way to explain the answer.
Sometimes the same questions are asked repeatedly because people aren’t really listening. This also leads to them making mistakes. If you suspect that someone isn’t listening or paying full attention to your instructions, ask, “Did you understand what I just told you?” If the response is positive, say, “Good. Then tell me what I just said.” If they can’t repeat it back to you, they either weren’t listening or still don’t get it. If you use this technique, after a short time, employees will listen more closely because they’ll realize there will be a quiz coming.
Some of the general questions you might put to your employees could be:
- You’ve been doing this job for quite a while now. What do you think the company might be able to do to make it easier for you?
- Who do you call when you run into a problem with which you need help?
- What do you like most about the job you are doing?
- What do you like least?
- If you could, what would you change or improve to make your job, or the company in general, better or more productive?
- Hey Bob, That’s a great technique you just used. Would you mind very much teaching it to the other guys?
- How do you think we might make the system simpler to help productivity?
- What do you need from me?
Be very careful in choosing your words when asking questions. Always make employees feel that their questions and the answers to yours have value. Don’t ever make them feel as though they are being put on the defensive or that you are in any way attacking their honesty or integrity. Make them understand that your only goal is to improve conditions both for them and for the company.
Meet with your team on a regular basis. Ask that they come prepared with any questions or suggestions they might have. That way it won’t be a spur-of-the-moment situation in which they’d feel forced to blurt out whatever they could think of on the spot.
When you first begin having these meetings, many employees will be reluctant to make suggestions or even ask questions for fear of sounding foolish or incompetent to you or other employees. Also understand that even though you may not have any trouble speaking in front of a group, many people do. If they can work up the nerve to speak and are put down for what they have to say, they may never choose to do it again. It’s your job to create an atmosphere in which every comment or question is OK.
Two of the best responses you can give to an employee’s suggestion are, “I’ll take that under advisement” or “Let me think about that for a little while.” Don’t ever cut anyone off who is making a suggestion by saying, “That’s a dumb idea” or words to that effect. Don’t say, “That doesn’t work, we’ve already tried it.” Sure, you’ve tried lots of things over the years. The employee who makes a suggestion may not know what you’ve tried in the past. Don’t make him or her feel bad for bringing it up. A better response would be, “We did try something like that once, but at the time it wasn’t the right fit. Maybe now would be a good time to revisit it. Let me think about that for a while.”
Praise as a tool
Please take the word “stupid” out of your vocabulary. It may not sound like it to you, but it’s a very offensive word. Even if you aren’t using it directly as in accusing someone of being stupid, it’s still offensive if you say, “That was a pretty stupid thing you did.” You may think you are attacking the act, not the person, but people don’t see it that way.
Praising people when they’ve done something right or well is the best way to go. They tend to thrive on it. If they enjoy being told they are doing a good job, they will want to do more of it to get more praise. Jumping on them for mistakes just leads to more mistakes and animosity. An angry worker will never be very productive or care about putting out a good product; a happy, appreciated one will always try harder.
Praise only works well when it is sincere and when it is given for good reason. If you walked around the shop all day telling everybody they were doing a great job, your praise would be meaningless. When an employee does do something quite well or shows a vast improvement in a certain area and you recognize him or her for it by telling them exactly why they are being praised, then it’s real and they can see and accept it.
I used to love to come back from a successful final road test and be able to tell my rebuilder and installer that they did a terrific job, but I would always follow up with a reason for saying it. “Great job John. That transmission shifts so well. I wish I could make them all shift like that.”
One pitfall though about giving praise is that you can’t just do it once or twice and then forget about doing it. Once you’ve done it people will come to expect it when they feel like they’ve done a really good job. You need to be constantly on the lookout for legitimate reasons to praise them:
Praising improvement
Let’s say you have an employee who is often late for work. You question and find out that there is no real reason for it other than the fact that he doesn’t leave his house early enough to get to work on time. You discuss the issue with him and notice that the following week he shows up 10 minutes early every day instead of being late. The praise might be, “Thanks John, for coming in on time. It sets a really good example for everyone else.” You never have to follow praise by saying something like, “Keep up the good work.” It isn’t necessary. They know that’s what they need to do if they want more praise.
Leave your ego at the door
Nobody likes an egotistical boss, so don’t be one. Here are a few tips:
- Avoid using the pronoun “I” and get into the “we” mindset.
- Become a patient and caring listener when people have problems or concerns and don’t interrupt when they are speaking.
- Ask people for their opinion more than you give yours or tell them what to do.
- Don’t brag about yourself, how good you are, or your past successes. Let your intelligence and competence become obvious by the quality of your decision making and understanding.
- Ask your people for feedback about how they think you are doing your job and take their comments with an open mind.
Finally, always give credit where credit is due. If someone comes up with a good idea, let that person own it. Don’t ever try to take credit for what others have come up with or accomplished. Remember, a good manager of people shines when his or her team does.
