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February 14, 2010
WHAT DO YOUR EMPLOYEES THINK OF YOU?
Hello everyone.
"And the beat goes on.............."
NOTE: Scroll down for last week's Interview with NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman.
MANAGING THE WORKPLACE / BEING A BETTER BOSS :
I see lots of courses on marketing, fundraising, board development, and even strategic planning and how to adjust and adapt to the changing economic times. But I see virtually nothing about that whole other side of being an effective leader – how to manage people and the whole workplace environment. The focus group project I did for the Hewlett Foundation on Youth Involvement in the Arts brought to light a litany of complaints from Millennial and even Generation X employees about the lack of skills level of their “bosses” in the nonprofit arts sector in just relating to the ‘perceived’ needs of their younger employees.
Here is a list of common complaints of younger employees across the whole of American business as set forth by Jeff Schmitt in a January 26, 2010 Yahoo online article entitled “BAD BOSSES, WHAT KIND ARE YOU?” as provided by Business Week magazine (included are a some additional thoughts of mine based on my experience in our field and from the focus groups in the Hewlett study).
ARE YOU GUILTY?
1. You Don’t Know Your Job:
“You’re out of touch with how the organization really works on a day to day basis. You can’t run the whole organization until you have more of an understanding as to how each of the parts of the organization function, and you seem to have little interest in learning that”. You don’t keep up with cutting edge changes and your own training is years old.
2. You Don’t Listen:
“You interrupt constantly to make your points. And you roll your eyes and grow impatient—unless you're talking. No matter, you disregard our input anyway. So we've given up; we don't come to you anymore. And we both suffer for it. If you want to succeed, rebuild that goodwill. It'll require time and toil, but the best relationships always do.” Saying you have an open door policy isn’t the same thing as actually having one.
3. You’re Close Minded:
“You're gifted and accomplished, the best and brightest. And that has made you susceptible to pride. Now, you're quick to reach conclusions. Everything is one-sided, with no room for discussion, differences, or dissent. You may view yourself as all-knowing, but conditions change. And talent doesn't stand for "my way or the highway.” We don’t want to be exclusively the instrumental pawns in your grand scheme of things. We want to have a voice and contribute. You tell us to think outside the box, but all the decisions are made inside the box, and we aren't allowed access to that place.
4. Poor Preparation:
Another emergency meeting. Drop what you're doing, they need it now. We're changing direction and working late again. It's always last minute, make it up as you go along. Maybe it fosters teamwork and creativity sometimes, but you can only cry wolf so many times. In reality, the unexpected drama reflects your inability to set expectations, plan ahead, and think it through. And it's just wearing us down.
5. You Don’t Help Us Build Our Skills:
"People are our most important asset." Well, it's empty rhetoric here. Maybe you want to be hands-off or encourage self-reliance. Whatever the intent, you're not helping us grow. And that's your real job as a manager: to broaden our outlook, push us beyond our comfort zones, exemplify the (organization’s) values, and focus us on learning, serving, persevering, leading, and advancing. Don't take that responsibility lightly.” If we can’t expand our skills level, and become better managers ourselves, you’ve just removed one of the big incentives to being here at all.
6. You’re Overzealous:
“History remembers the tyrants but rarely the subjects who did the heavy lifting. It's no different here. You've created a divide-and-conquer atmosphere, all stick and no carrot, where everyone should be the same workaholic reflection of you. Eventually, your bullying and rah-rah intensity produces one question: "Why?" You may think we should be in "for life," but what are you giving back in return for that blind loyalty?” Maybe you don’t have (or want) a life outside this job, but we do, and we want to live it now, not when we retire.
7. You Don’t Maintain Discipline:
“All the workers come and go as they please, living according to their own rules. No one knows who is where or doing what, and the result is chaos. Maybe you want to be our buddy—or experience how a sweat shop atmosphere fosters only resentment. Either way, coddling does no favors to anyone. Like it or not, you need to set rules and hold people accountable.” And while we’re at it, having your own favorites breeds contempt and suspicion among those of us who aren’t in the ‘club’.
8. You’re Tactless:
“Your talent and tenure shields you from scrutiny. Sadly, your lack of self-awareness results in everyone—superiors and reports—maligning or marginalizing you. Brains take you only so far; eventually, you'll need to build and nurture relationships. And that requires people skills: listening, charming, understanding, and compromising”. It would go a long way, if you could at least try to remember what it was like down here in the trenches.
9. You Lack Influence and Credibility:
“It's funny how we're usually last to get face time and resources. Look at your variables: appearance, body language, and speaking and writing styles. Do you always convey the image of a polished professional who can work in a team and get the job done? If you can't, you'll never get anyone's ear.” Actions speak louder than words.
10. You Blindside Us:
“Ah, there's nothing like a surprise. Whether you're singling us out in public or ambushing us in private, you're not afraid to render judgments and deliver lectures. Despite our qualifications and track records, you still treat us as servants. Instead of dropping the news all at once, give us fair warning when our performance doesn't meet expectations. Always take action immediately—and discreetly.”
Since the publication of the Hewlett study, there has been a groundswell of activity in directing resources and energies at providing services, infrastructure, guidance and counsel to the next generation of arts leadership – all across the country. But I don’t yet see much energy, resources and thinking directed at educating the current leadership as to how they might better and more effectively manage the generational divide in the workplace of the average arts organization. I applaud the direction foundations and others are taking in supporting the efforts of the next generations to organize and mobilize themselves as a smart way to insure we pay attention to the issues that will determine how well we provide access to future leadership within our structure. But I caution that for us to make real progress on a faster track it will also be necessary to provide some resources and energy directed at informing, educating and training those who are now the “bosses” as to how to be better bosses and in so doing help to make sure we are fostering the best environment we can to attract, recruit, train and keep the next generation of arts leaders.
Have a great week.
Don't Quit!
Barry
Posted by msaunders at February 14, 2010 11:18 AM
Comments
Please forgive this long post. I found myself inspired:)
With all the negative criticism, it’s no wonder bosses don't listen to the next generations. And that is a pity. I would advocate that HOW we communicate is just as important as conveying our generation’s perspective and needs. No generation will benefit by alienating another. At the end of the day, I want to be inspired and I want to benefit from the experiences of those that went ahead of me as well as the perspectives of those behind me. So from another angle, from the perspective of a "submerged" leader-already emerged into the middle but with few resources and opportunities provided to continue to develop leadership skills- here are some of the most memorable things I have learned from leaders and mentors in the last decade:
1. Inspire by including everyone in the big picture and by working as hard as your employees rather than creating a double-standard. If you take every Friday afternoon off, or work from home as needed, your employees should be able to as well.
2. Apologize when you are wrong. Many will respect you more when you admit you don't always have the answers.
3. When interpersonal conflicts occur, find out both sides of the story BEFORE making a judgment or taking action.
4. Expand your "kitchen cabinet" to include those outside of the arts field.
5. There is a lot to be learned by "failure" and it is important to admit and examine the “whys” when it happens.
6. Encourage intergenerational transfers of knowledge in your organization and allow young leaders to participate in strategic planning, by observing board meetings etc. so that they can grow along the way.
7. Do a 360 review instead of focusing exclusively top to bottom.
8. Ask your brand new employees to give their perspective on your current website, marketing tools etc. They often bring valuable outside perspectives that may never be expressed as they try to conform to the culture.
9. Celebrate the little successes.
10. Maybe most important; Don’t make assumptions--about anything. Take the time to communicate properly at the beginning and likewise make a genuine attempt to get to the bottom of a problem before it becomes an even bigger one.
Finally, I love that more resources are being directed to emerging leaders, but it is a rare emerging leader that is ready to graduate quickly to lead at the highest levels. Let us not forget all of the important middle stages of development. I would love to see more training and mentorship for the field in general rather than just at the top or for the newbies.
Posted by: Aimee at February 14, 2010 01:02 PM
I don't think it's meant to be negative criticism Aimee, but I can appreciate that it is critically important in how we communicate amongst generations. For my part, I would hope we could develop wider and deeper lines of communication by and between the generations in our workplaces, because right now we have too little communication. I think all arts leaders would be wise to embrace the ten lessons you have learned - good advice indeed. And finally, I completely agree with you that we ought to be providing professional development options and opportunities for all arts administrators from new hires to seasoned veterns. My lament is that what we have is currently a sort of a dysfunctional, incomplete, and inadequate ad hoc, de facto system for providing professional training to any of our leaders. We simply aren't coming anywhere near meeting the unmet demand and need for such training. We have to do better if we hope to become better managers and more competitive business people.
Posted by: Barry at February 14, 2010 02:37 PM
Wow. This is so completely right on that I can't even handle it. I am continually shocked at how few resources there are (even in business school!) to help people become better managers. It's like we're supposed to know it by birthright or something. Screw that. Managing is hard and requires a COMPLETELY different skill set than most people's functional job descriptions entail.
Posted by: Ian David Moss at February 14, 2010 03:13 PM
What a fascinating and timely discussion. So what resources have people found helpful to educate managers? We should stop just expecting them to be born knowing how to manage people.
Posted by: Liz Sharp at February 16, 2010 08:36 AM
I've had my share of managers unwilling to give me the authority I need to exercise my responsibilities. But I've also met a succession of (for example..) Comptrollers who are also the director of HR and the paymaster. It was never a surprise to find that many of them were alcoholics. This article should acknowledge other research about today's youngest workers. They expect to be given raises and promoted after six months. Because their soccer-parents always told them they were the greatest (and used their house as an ATM to buy them everything they wanted) they can't adjust to real life at an impoverished N-F-P, or even a regular corporation. They've never heard the word "No" before. They haven't had the experience of a missed payroll or a budget shortfall. Get ready, kids.
Posted by: Tim at February 17, 2010 06:28 AM