Management Made Simple: Management by Quotation
Jack Hayhow shared 2 quotes from management guru Peter Drucker on management made simple that started my management brain thinking:
Make sure your people are doing work they find meaningful and satisfying.
Do everything you can to help your people make progress.
I read these and I thought to myself, “Thanks for sharing these Jack. Now HOW do I do them? I know I need to do those things. My question has never been WHAT but rather HOW do I do them?”
What do YOU think?
How do you make sure your people find meaning and satisfaction in their work?
How do you do everything you can to help your people make progress when you have so many competing priorities in your work life?
Also, don’t forget: you have until July 6th to leave a comment on this post to win a copy of Barry Moltz’s latest book Bounce.
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POSTED IN: Phil Gerbyshak, management by quotation
3 opinions for Management Made Simple: Management by Quotation
Steve Shapiro
Jun 30, 2008 at 6:33 am
Interesting question. There are quite a few things I do. But there are a few that seemed to help them most.
1. During the annual review process, I would ask, “What do you want to accomplish over the next year…in your personal life?” We tend to only ask questions about work goals. I find it useful to understand the whole person so that we can find hidden talents or interests.
2. I align people in their role with their “preferred” personality style. People tend to love what they do when it fits their style - and are frustrated when it doesn’t.
3. Align company/group vision with personal vision. We focus too much on “what” we do, but often not enough on “why.” If people see the impact of their work, they are often more engaged.
4. At the end of the day, I find that MY job satisfaction has less to do with “what” I do, or “why” I do it, but rather “who” I do it with. So, as sappy as it sounds, creating a strong team environment has always been important to me.
Aaron Stannard
Jul 1, 2008 at 10:41 am
Making sure that people do work that they find meaningful and satisfying - honestly I don’t know how much control over that a manager has. If someone accepts a job for a position that they weren’t really that interested in then I don’t know if they will ever find their work meaningful.
However, most people are generally interested in their work and the best way to make them feel that what they do is meaningful is to TELL THEM. Giving them a pat on the back and saying “good job” is perfunctory at best; instead give them some information that measures the effectiveness of their work. “Hey Jim, nice job redesigning that landing page - your work has actually result in a 10% increase in sales for those search terms. Good job!” THAT creates satisfaction.
Doing everything you can to help your people make progress deserves a whole book unto itself.
Nick McCormick
Jul 1, 2008 at 8:36 pm
To make sure people have meaning and satisfaction in their jobs, it’s helpful to explain to them why their jobs are important. Explain to them who is impacted by their jobs, who they are letting down if they don’t do them well, what they gain by doing them well. It’s also important that the manager take an interest in the workers lives. Show them that they care. A level of trust is required.
I think Pat Lencioni has great advice about this in his book, “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job.” Eliminate the feelings of Anonymity (the feeling that workers are unknown and not understood as an individuals), Irrelevance (the feeling their jobs don’t matter), and what he calls, Immeasurement (the inability to gauge success)
He demonstrates how people working at a pizza place can take pride and achieve fulfillment in their work.
How do you find the time to do all this? If you want to have a good team, how do you not?
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