Ask Miss Management

But You Said Your Door is Aways Open!

Only GOOD employees are company assets and then, only when managed by good leaders who understand how to move a company from mediocrity to great performance by investing in its strongest assets. ~Miss Management

This is my email signature and I have had several people ask me to send it to their bosses! I have had to get clever in how I send my signature line to other managers. For one person I sent a funny video in an email which she could then forward in hopes that the line would be read. So the question is- why don't these folks feel comfortable enough to speak directly to their managers; is it because the managers are not perceived as good leaders - approachable? Well then that would be awkward!

Employees who have good managers don't have the communication issues of those with poor managers. Good managers are open, approachable, are willing to receive feedback and pursue continual improvement without letting pride or power get in the way. But are they the norm or the exception?

It is sad and counterproductive when a message to leadership from the ranks needs to be sent subliminally or undercover for fear of retribution; signs of dysfunction and ultimately decreased productivity and morale. An open door policy and two-way communication are professed but one-way communication is practiced and the message is, "My way or the highway." Now what?

Do you have suggestions on how to directly reach your poor managers that you’ve tested and found to be successful? The key word here is directly. The ideas that come to my mind are a bit manipulative or even subversive; some may be successful but I would love to first discuss ideas for the straight shot approach. Leave me your feedback.

No Job too Small or Public Humiliation cont. (please read the earlier post 1st)

Thanks to Carol for your comments and I think you have some valid points. I also think there are some other things going on that are not as transparent. Perhaps management does not think the employee is pulling his or her weight, there is a gap in production, so the employee is called on to fill the gap. This can be a slippery slope in that IF the employee has time to pick up a substantial amount of additional work than perhaps he or she is NOT pulling their weight. IF the employee tries but cannot pick up a substantial amount of additional work than management will find out that he or she IS pulling their weight - theoretically.

If what I described above is driving the downgrading of the writer’s job responsibilities, then to management I say shame on you for not having an understanding of what your employees are doing, the amount of time their tasks take, and the value of the work being done! To the employee I say shame on you for allowing yourself to be devalued. I am not saying don't do the work requested but in addition you need to start informing management of your skills, workplace accomplishments, and value you bring to the organization. Don't assume that anyone else is singing your praises. Find ways or avenues to let a variety of people, especially managers know about what you are accomplishing; always in a professional manner. Some ways to do that include adding more information in the monthly report, mentioning an event or successes to managers in passing or at meetings, write an article for the newsletter about a client that you assisted, forward complimentary emails or volunteer for tasks and let people know you are volunteering based on past success with a similar project.

Managers can not just manage tasks and projects but the people performing and implementing them as well. Employees, if you feel devalued, ignored or underutilized then you need to look first at what you are doing to counter that treatment rather than simply rolling over and blaming management.

 

No Job too Small or Public Humiliation?

Recently someone wrote to tell me that they were asked to fill in at the office assisting with printing, making copies, creating files, data entry, and filing. Nothing wrong with that, there are times when we all need to pitch in right? Does it matter that they are middle management, have over 20 years experience in their field, an MS and a PhD?

Old school would say, “no job too small, we need to set an example and show the young staff that no one is above doing the most menial tasks!” Today’s generation may say something that sounds more like, “that’s not what I was hired to do; that is not a good use of my skill set and I think you should hire a temp to do this work.”

So who is right? Both sides seem to have valid points so let’s look a little deeper. This person has willingly taken up the challenge but has heard some of the younger staff talking about the awkwardness of giving a manager work assignments. This manager has felt undervalued and underappreciated for some time and this new assignment feels to them like a confirmation of those suspicions. So is this a message from upper management?

Is management trying to send a message to staff that everyone needs to have an attitude of no job too small (many of the Millenials in the office do not) or is management sending a message to the manager that they are not valued and should probably start looking elsewhere? Maybe there is no hidden message at all. By the way, did I mention that the manager has to leave home on Sunday afternoons, drive 5 hours, stay in their sister-in-laws basement, and then return on Friday afternoons, probably for at least a month?

Miss Management has some thoughts but would love to hear what you have to say first. Write in and share you opinion – what would you do in this situation as either the junior or senior staff?

Fire an American General but let BP Slide?

President Obama had only two choices, according to the media, for addressing the issue of General McCrystal's comments in Rolling Stone Magazine. The left said he should be fired and the right said he should just be slapped on the wrist. Miss Management has another suggestion.

First of all there are four options, ignore the issue, fire the general, discipline him, or find out the root cause of his actions and address the REAL problem. My daughter has the sweetest little, well behaved dog who suddenly started chewing things - specifically the babies' toys. Sarah had two beautiful babies 15 months apart. Do you think yelling at the dog and making her wear a time out, baby t-shirt is going to fix the problem - yes this is a loaded question? Perhaps giving the dog more attention and bringing her in on playful activities with the kids might be a better solution.

In Miss Management's opinion, the President and his staff should have unearthed the cause of the problem that drove the general and his staff to "act out" in such a manner. Were they insubordinate? No. Where they disrespectful? Yes - but why?

If the REAL problem is not addressed it will eventually resurface in a similar or different manner and then Obama will be back to square one. Here is an example, there is a leak in the ceiling of a first floor office so the maintenance person changes the wet tile and all looks good - until the next time it rains and the same thing happens. Changing the tile is not the solution, perhaps changing generals was not either, examining the roof and other potential points of entry for the rain, water seeks the path of least resistance, and patching the hole is the solution.

President Obama could have taken the time to speak with McCrystal to find out the root cause of his and his staff's actions, which I will admit takes time and skill but is critical for success. Miss Management is not going to speculate that perhaps McCrystal and staff are frustrated with Obama’s management style, lack of experience and understanding, my way or the high way attitude, living in extremely volatile and stressful conditions with no respite, or like almost every other employee in America just likes to dis the boss, are possible reasons for their actions. Perhaps McCrystal took the bullet for the disrespectful comments from his staff, like a true leader should, because the opportunity to get to a potentially endemic problem was not an option. Frankly, Obama should have taken the approach of firing McCrystal to show his assertiveness, command and leadership skills and used it on BP; and taken his standoffish, compliant stance with BP and applied it to the issue of the magazine article.

The hardest part about being a manager is not the tasks but the people performing them!

Google Presentation in NYC!

 

Google hosted a presentation about my Email Styles model for the Society o Women Engineers, which was open to the public, last night in its NYC office; and it was a wonderful event. I loved being back with NYCers for a spirited session on understanding E-Styles and how to read and write e-communications more effectively. NYC audiences are eclectic, curious, supportive, and very responsive! The Google facility was technically fabulous but managed, with good lighting and fun red chairs, to create a cozy and friendly environment. The food and drinks were also amazing. I wish I'd had more time to work with this particular group on further discussing some complicated issues and concepts - the time flew by so quickly mainly because of the energy of the audience. I hope I will be invited back and have to chance to present to some other groups. As one of the attendees said as he was walking out, "This is a timely topic!" Thank you Google, SWE and audience.

Baby Boomers and Gen Yers in the Workplace!

Baby Boomers are responsible for the attitude of Gen Yers! What should we expect from Gen Yers when it was Boomers who made them like they are – full of … self-esteem!

The Baby Boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964, gave birth to the Gen Yers, born from 1978 to 1989, and now these Boomers are sharing the workplace with the Yers and it is not easy! It is something like General MacArthur meets Serena Williams at the US Open. But the Boomers only have themselves to blame for the differences in attitude, having raised the Yers to be independent thinkers with high self-esteem and rewarding them for every little thing they did, rather than raising Yers as they were raised with the spare the rod; spoil the child mentality and knowing the importance of God as the focus of each family. The Yers weren’t spanked but instead were coddled and given everything. Gone were the days of, “When I was your age I walked 5 miles to school and got an orange in my stocking for Christmas!” Replaced by, “But Daaaaad everyone in my class has one!”

Boomers are told that command-and-control in the workplace doesn’t resonate with the Yers and that Yers need to be kept engaged, challenged and paid well. Isn’t that just exacerbating the problem? I think it is time for Yers to make some adjustments and learn from their elders about how to put their noses to the grindstone and work hard – the entitlement attitude needs to go! Yers - pay your dues, work up the ladder, stop whining, and focus on solutions instead of problems. If you don’t then you will be perpetually unhappy, you will not advance quickly, and when you are older you will be plagued by a generation twice as bad.

Yers take note - as a corporate recruiter I am now starting to look for candidates over 30 just to avoid the issues that Yers bring into the workplace. If you want to get and keep the good jobs then change your attitude.

I was recently questioned by a junior staffer regarding a task that they were given to do; they told me they thought the task should have been given to an administrative person instead. I explained that the reason they got the project was because they, 1) had the time and, 2) that I knew the job would get done quickly and correctly – from my perspective the assignment was a vote of confidence but was perceived as demeaning! Are you kidding me right now? What happened to a “no job too small” attitude?

Boomers it is time to take back the workplace. You’ll be doing the Yers a favor when you give them a real world environment to work in. Yers, you need to learn to adapt to the styles and demands of others, understand the importance of effectively working as part of a team and you will actually become as valuable as you think you are. And most importantly for both – treat each other fairly, honestly, and with RESPECT!

Bad Dog Emailer

It’s been awhile since my last blog posting so I apologize. Today I am writing about something that is really buggin’ me. First, a little background. There is a generation of young professionals in the workforce that has only ever communicated electronically. I started business communications on a typewriter – can you imagine a time when there was no spell check, delete, and backspacing to correct a typo only erased a few letters? How about White Out and correction tape! For those of you who do not know what a typewriter looks like, I have inserted a picture.

In those days the most common form of written internal, and sometimes external, communications was a memo. The memo (short for memorandum) varied some but generally had a pretty standard format:

MEMO (document title)

Your address

TO:

FROM:

RE: (Regarding or subject)

DATE:

Introduction

Text – blah, blah, blah

ATTACHMENTS

CC: (Stands for carbon copy – left over from the ancient use of carbon paper used for duplicating letters and documents) – names, and professional affiliations on external memos

Does this look familiar? Is should all the same components are in an email format but switched around a little. So email has the same components but not used with the same formal etiquette. For the benefit of those who send emails but have never sent memos, here are some tips, some of which can also be found in previous blogs.

ADDRESS: Regarding your address, when sending a business or professional email make sure to use a professional sounding email address, especially if you are applying for a job. Do not send a cover letter and resume from an email address like poledancer562@... unless that is the type of work you are looking for of course.

FROM: This is automatically transmitted as your email address.

TO: Now this is critical – emails are sent to the person or people from whom you expect a response, are issuing a directive, or need the information directly.

CC: People are cc’d for information only – to be kept in the loop. IF you are on the cc list as an email recipient then technically you should not feel compelled to respond, just file the information. If there is something egregious in the email that you cannot keep silent about , then respond ONLY to the sender and let that person figure out how to make corrections if necessary. This is not your email. In the olden days we could not just push “reply all” and throw in your 2 cents so don’t do it now unless totally appropriate.

BCC: I prefer not to use “blind carbon copy” unless instructed to do so. Plain and simple it is not good practice because it is sneaky, cahootish, and will more than likely bite you at some point. Make sure if you are using a bcc that you completely trust the person you are bcc’ing. BTW-this is my blog so I can make up words if I want to! Don’t bcc, just forward me the correspondence if you can’t list me on the cc line.

So back to what is buggin’ me. I received an email last week from a junior staffer in which I was the cc and everybody else, who was ever involved in the project , PLUS my supervisor were listed in the TO: line. The email was for me and started, “As I said before…” Ok – this is bad dog! First, the email should have gone to me with the current people involved in the project cc’d. My supervisor should not have been on the distribution list and you should not start an email with a reprimand unless you are the boss AND it is the 3^rd or 4^th time you’ve had to ask for something from a subordinate – even then I don’t scold anyone publically.

The person was making a good suggestion but presenting it badly, and actually, what he suggested was already done. When crafting emails, get into the shoes of the main recipient (s) and try to understand the impact of your words on them, and remember the words represent who you are professionally and personally. I got this email a week ago and I still have a bad taste in my mouth, and am certainly hesitant to include this person on future projects/communications. You will never make yourself look good by making someone else look bad – NEVER! So don’t do it.

Let me know what your communication issues and challenges are!

Miss Management

r u kidding me right now

I received a resume from a recent college graduate who used texting language in the cover email. "I" was not capitalized and the word "you" was not spelled out. Guess what I did with that resume? No way was I even going to look at it. No, no, no - if you want to project a professional image then present yourself professionally. I've said this before, especially in this economy when there is more competition for fewer jobs, you do not have the luxury to be anything less than spot on perfect with your cover letter, cover email, and resume! All the tools you need are literally at your finger tips - spell check, grammar check, and free resume and cover letter samples on the Internet. Project a bad first impression and you are finished in my book - don't care where you graduated from or what experience you have had! I'm surprised the email wasn't signed, " ttfn." LOL!

Distinct Email Styles - What is Yours?

Most miscommunications result from misunderstanding the tone or meaning of an email.The recipient can’t hear the voice or tone within these written exchanges; and recipients correctly interpret emails only about 50% of the time (Kruger & Epley, 2005). This often leads to misunderstandings, ill will, and the disintegration of trust and connectedness – all of which, if not managed or mitigated, negatively impact relationships and ultimately erode productivity.

How email-styling helps managers

My recent study1 analyzed the content of over 300 business emails submitted by 32 managers from a variety of organizations. It concluded that recognizing an employee’s email style and writing or adapting emails accordingly benefits managers in a number of ways, including: eliciting more responses and fewer reactions; showing respect to those of differing styles, for example “asking” rather than “telling” those who are less assertive, or focusing on business topics rather than personal topics with those who are less emotive etc.; communicating interpersonally, using social cues that increase the comfort level of the employees; and helping develop and strengthen professional relationships with off-site staff.

Visualizing the sender and recipient

One way to improve email communication is to first think about the person receiving or sending the correspondence. Try to visualize that person, put on their persona and hear their voice.

Writers set the stage with positive or neutral-sounding subject lines and try not to put the person immediately on the defensive.

Identifying the predominant email styles

The key for managers is to recognize each employees' e-style and then craft emails at appropriate assertive and emotive levels.

Straightforward employees often use short or no greetings or closings and get right to the point. They rarely mix professional with personal

conversation but if they do, the personal comments like “How are you and the kids?” are at the end of the email. They "tell" more than "ask".

Communicative employees will often present several topics in one email. They like to brainstorm, often write emails that are disorganized and verbose, use greetings and closings, and like emoticons and exclamation marks. They also "tell" more than "ask".

Logical employees are apt to be slow in responding, often ask for more information or clarity, usually use short or no greetings or closings other than names, prefer to speak of specifics rather than to brainstorm, and will present information in a well-organized format. They "ask" more than "tell".

Supportive employees use greetings/closings, will talk as much about you as themselves, are laid back and easy to direct and redirect, will usually "go-with-the-flow" putting other’s needs ahead of their own, and will ask questions in response to questions for example: “Where do you

want to meet?; “Where do you want to meet?” They too "ask" more than "tell".

Tips for recognizing email styles

With practice, identifying and adapting to an employee’s style can become automatic. Here are some clues:

Straightforward employees are more assertive and less emotive, so craft emails that start with the bottom line and do not refer much to people and feelings, but rather to impact, results and consequences.

Communicative employees are more assertive and more emotive; write emails with energizing words that appeal to and challenge these out-of-the-box thinkers. Use a balance of directness and friendliness.

Logical employees are less assertive and less emotive and generally require lots of facts and figures. So leave the bottom line for the end of the

email and be very precise with word choices.

Supportive colleagues are less assertive and more emotive; write emails that are friendly. Make suggestions rather than issuing directives and show your appreciation.

Email style test

Here's the same subject line written in the 4 different styles identified above – can you tell which style is being addressed in each different line? To confirm your answers send me an email – dr.firari@yahoo.com

a. Do you have time today to update the State account report?

b. Tell me what’s new and exciting about the State account.

c. Will you send current report on the State account metrics by COB?

d. Send update on State account today.

When desiring to communicate most effectively, it's not as important to correctly identify the styles of others as it is to have the knowledge that others have different styles to which you can adapt your communication.

Reference:

Email in Style: Improving Corporate Email Communications with Employees at Remote Locations: A Quantative Study. Firari, F. October 2007.

The Skill of Reading Emails

Most people do not put the same effort into reading emails as they do writing them. Or should I say, most people do not put much effort into reading or writing emails. How many times have you regretted pushing the send button! Email is a great venue of putting your foot in your mouth and once it hits the cyber waves – there is no taking it back. I once sent an email as a “reply all” in which I criticized someone I didn’t realize was on the distribution list – not a good feeling! Well, imagine being on the receiving end of the email that should not have been sent.

Reading emails as they are intended to be read and without misinterpretation is not as easy as reading into emails. We all have our own filters, and reasons for or ways of interpreting what someone is saying. 50% of emails are misinterpreted! What is difficult about emails is that they lack the verbal and visual cues we are so dependent on when we communicate face-to-face.

So here is my number one recommendation for minimizing reactions to what at first glance reads like a negative email. Hear the email sender’s tone of voice as you read their email. This will help diffuse emotions triggered by the content of poorly phrased or quickly written emails. Also, read the email 2 or 3 times and accent different words to make sure you understand the real intent of the message. For example, read through number one, “Where are you – your itinerary is not on the calendar?” Read through number two, (hear the voice!), “Where are you - your itinerary is not on the calendar?” There is a very subtle difference which changes the meaning from “I need to know where you are at all times!” to “Are you around today?” My third suggestion is to reread emails that trigger emotion, an hour or two later or once you have calmed down. If you are still upset then email a request for clarification or pick up the phone and talk to the sender directly. Going back and forth with pissy emails can result in what is called a flame war or worse, permanently damage your relationship.