There are innumerable guides to effectively managing the human capital in your organization. Most small business owners would claim that they try to observe these practices as much as possible. Unfortunately, owners and managers are also human and can fall prey to a number of destructive habits that can subvert the best of intentions and ruin the morale and the productivity of even the best of staffs. Here are seven of the most insidious ones:
Give Responsibility but Provide No Authority
The delegation of duties is a necessary task in every business with more than one employee. The process works well when the delegator is also the person responsible for hiring, firing and making the schedule. Subordinates understand implicitly that there will be repercussions of some sort if they do not accomplish their assigned duties.
It works less well when there is an added layer of management. However, delegating the accomplishment of a task to a subordinate who has no perceived power is an exercise in futility. In many situations, employees will “push back” when asked to do a task outside of their comfort zone. If the supervisor in charge of a project has no realistic authority, the employees will not feel obligated to perform well. Be sure that subordinates understand that action will be taken if the manager’s direction is not followed.
Make Every New Task the Top Priority
In the ideal business environment, the people at the top will always allocate enough time, manpower and resources to accomplish a task before ordering the next one, right? No, in most instances, a host of tasks are sent and the manager is expected to prioritize and accomplish the most urgent first.
There are companies, however, which, by design or ignorance, imply that the latest task is always the most important. Middle level managers will often inquire about the latest task at hand and ignore the preceding ones. Only at the end of the month, when the final compliance reports are collected does management relays its expectations about which tasks were important and which inconsequential. Then, it is woe to the manager who could not read the minds of his superiors.
Only Watch for Failure Instead of Success
It’s said that an optimist always considers the glass half-full while a pessimist only sees the empty space. Practicality ensures that most managers are of the latter mindset since they will ultimately have to find a way to complete the project. Good managers recognized this fact and praise the progress that has been made. Poor managers, on the other hand, only see the potential problems and this situation jades their opinion of the job performed by most of their subordinates.
There is no surer way to demoralize a staff and to decrease their productivity than by constantly pointing out that they are not working hard enough. From their point of view, they are usually tasked with accomplishing more than time allows. The game is rigged and the rewards are negligible or non-existent and therefore there is no real incentive to enhance their performance.
Schedule Weekly Emergencies
Another “tool” used by ineffective managers is the creation of an imaginary emergency. The most common is the visit from the boss’s boss or even someone from the home office. The visit is announced for next Thursday, the team is urged to accomplish as much as possible and then the visit is mysteriously cancelled.
This tactic works exactly once and probably isn’t that effective in the first place especially if the manager himself goes home at his usual time. Employees can do the math. If the manager is not that concerned, neither shall they be impressed with the urgency of the situation. It also destroys any motivation for when the real thing occurs.
Arbitrarily Train the Staff
The failure to cross train employees across as many tasks as possible can lead to innumerable problems from scheduling issues to imperfect customer service. The dependence on a few people to accomplish the more complicated tasks while the rest of the staff fulfills the more routine duties is also demoralizing, disrespectful and breeds employee discontent.
Training is a fundamental process that should be highly formalized and thoroughly monitored. Employees will recognize if favoritism or bias is shown in the training and promotion process and the results can have a significantly detrimental effect on a business. From orientation on, all new hires in the same position should receive essentially the same training at the same stages of their career.
Solicit Feedback that Doesn’t Matter
Many companies will assemble the best people in their organization to develop a new process or procedure. Much time and effort will be devoted to finding and implementing the best possible solution. Afterwards, management, basking in the glow of their successful efforts, will deign to ask for the thoughts of those most affected by the new process or procedure. Isn’t that nice?
In fact, it is arrogant, self-serving and utterly useless and, worst of all, the employees know it. If management were truly concerned about their opinion, they would have asked for input before the product was developed and finished. This “feel good” exercise is actually designed as an engagement tool but only serves the purpose of reinforcing management’s own notions.
Fail to Formalize Performance Management
Every company has a performance management system. The most successful dedicate the appropriate amount of time every quarter to apprise their employees of their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, their managers are mandated to counsel employees in a set manner according to company policy.
Less successful companies rely on the tried and true method of dispensing bonuses and promotions when the money is available and a position needs to be filled. Not only are the employees left wondering if they are valued but they are unsure if they even have a future with the company. A company ignores this process at its own peril, any employee terminated or not promoted can make the case that there was discrimination of bias.
The Future
There isn’t one for any company that allows its managers to actively engage in these types of behaviors. In case you are wondering, avoiding these fundamental mistakes is not so much monitoring for poor behavior as it is encouraging good managerial styles.
The bedrock of any successful HCM program (Human Capital Management) is the development and communication of a sound HR policy. Whether you utilize an in-house HCM staff, automate portions of the process with HRIS software or hire a PEO to manage the process for you, it is imperative that you identify and encourage the right behaviors and discourage the others. Otherwise, failure mentioned in the title will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
