Perspectives on Managing Employees Book

Introduction xv

Opening Remarks xvii

Part 1 The Starting Point 1

1 What Should a Hiring Manager Do to Ensure a Good Interview? 2

2 Is It Really Fair and Necessary to Ask Candidates to Come Back for More Than Two Interviews? 5

3 Can Complete Honesty by Either Side Ever Be Expected in an Interview? 8

4 How Can Managers Improve Their Interviewing Abilities? 11

5 Is Reference-Checking Beneficial or a Waste of Time? 14

6 A Simple Google Search Can Reveal a Lot About an Employee, a Manager, or a Company. What Should Everyone Do to Be Prepared and Protected? 17

7 A Candidate Has Accepted an Offer. What's Next? 20

8 Is It Necessary to Treat New Hires with Special Care on Their First Day of Work? 23

9 What Are Some of the Small Things a Manager Can Do on a New Hire's First Day to Make Him or Her Go Home Happy? 26

10 How Long Should a New Hire Be Expected to Take to Really Understand the Company Culture? 29

11 Is It True That Every Employee in Every Company Delivers an Experience to the Customer, Regardless of His or Her Position? Or Is That Just Something Managers Like to Say? 31

12 Does It Matter Whether Employees Know Who the Company's Competitors Are? 34

13 What Degree of Professionalism Should Be Expected of Employees? 37

14 Is There Such a Thing as "Universal Etiquette" That Should Be Expected of All Employees? 40

15 Does Dress Code Matter? Should There Even Be One? 43

16 What Is a New Employee Expected to Know on the First Day? 45

17 What Is a New Employee Not Expected to Know on the First Day? 48

18 When and How Should Expectations Be Set for a New Employee? 50

19 Is There a Difference Between the Company Culture and the Company Brand? If So, DoEmployees Need to Know the Difference? 53

20 Should the Employee Care about the Company from Day One? Or Is This Just a Way to Pay the Bills? 56

21 Is It Important for New Employees to Know the Manager's Vision and the Vision of the Company? 59

22 Training Is Important, but We're All Busy. How Much Does It Really Matter? 62

23 Is It Appropriate to Include Humor and Fun When You Are Getting to Know a New Employee? 65

24 What Can Managers Do That Would Quickly "Turn Off" a New Employee and Make Him Rethink His Decision to Join the Company? 68

Part 2 Building the Relationship 71

25 Should the Manager Be a Boss or a Coach? Is There a Difference? 72

26 How Can Managers Make Meetings an Effective Tool for Relationship Building? 75

27 How Can a Manager Build Trust? 78

28 Is Goal Setting Just a Formality That Companies Require? Or Can It Really Be Useful for Both Employees and Managers? 81

29 What Experiences from Social-Relationship Building Can Managers Integrate into Professional-Relationship Building? 84

30 As Time Goes On, Will Employees Get a Different Perspective on Their Role in Delivering a Great Customer Experience? What Is the Manager's Role in Shaping That Perspective? 88

31 Do Professional Relationships Have to Be Strictly Professional? 91

32 How Can Managers Be Effective in Helping Employees Communicate Better with Each Other? 94

33 Is Consistency Always the Best Policy to Managing Workplace Relationships? 97

34 Is There Any Risk to Asking Employees for Feedback on Manager Performance? 100

35 How Can Charity or Community Events Be Incorporated into Relationship Building? 103

36 How Closely Do Employees Watch and Observe Their Managers' Actions? 106

37 Should Managers Expect Employees to Make an Effort to Build a Relationship with Them? 108

38 Where Does Follow-Up End and Micromanagement Begin? 110

39 What Daily Activities Can Managers Start Doing, or Stop Doing, to Be More Operationally Effective? 113

40 When a Problem Is Detected, Is It Enough for an Employee to Surface It with a Manager and Expect That the Manager Drives the Ultimate Solution? 116

41 The "Team" Approach Is Proven Effective and Useful in Business. Are There Times When Focused, Individual Contribution Is Even More Effective? 119

42 Is Telling the Truth Ever a Bad Choice? 122

43 How Can Industry Organizations and Associations Be Used Effectively? 124

44 Why Is Cultural Diversity Essential? 127

45 How Should Managers Approach Building a Relationship with an Employee Who Is 20 or 30 Years Older or Younger? 130

46 Following a Merger or an Acquisition, Managers Will Be Faced with Uncertainty and Worry Among Employees. How Can This Be Managed Effectively? 133

47 As Companies Plan How They Will React to Natural and Civil Disasters, What Is the Manager's Role in Basic People Planning? 136

48 What Are the Benefits and Risks to Using Online Social-Networking Tools to Build and Cultivate Relationships? 139

49 Can We, and Should We, Try to Measure the Strength of Our Relationships? 143

Part 3 Celebrating the Good Times 145

50 When Is the Right Time to Start Celebrating...Anything? 146

51 Should Celebrations Be Unique to the Occasion or the Individual Employee? Or Should They Be One-Size-Fits-All? 148

52 An Employee Did What She Was Hired to Do. Is That Worth Celebrating? 151

53 Is It Possible to Over-Celebrate? 154

54 What's a Better Motivator: Celebrating Large Events or Having More Standard, Everyday Office Celebrations? 156

55 Is It Worthwhile to Celebrate with a Remote Workforce? 159

56 What Types of Gifts Are Appropriate for a Workplace Celebration? 161

57 Are Employee-of-the-Month Programs Valuable? Do They Mean Anything to Employees? 164

58 We Always Celebrate the Winners of Our Contests and Competitions. Isn't This Enough? 168

59 When It Comes to Rewards, Gifts and Notes Are Nice, But Isn't Cash the King? 171

60 There Are So Many Ways to Celebrate People. Where Do You Start? 174

61 When Should the Spotlight Be Taken Off the Superstars and Shined on the Rest of the Team? 177

62 How Can Managers Avoid Having Celebrations Become Stale and Tired? 180

63 Can a Manager Really Be Too Busy to Celebrate Great Performance? 183

64 E-mail Is a Way of Life in Business Today. Does That Include Celebrations? 186

65 Do Younger Generations of Employees Want to Be Celebrated Differently Than the Boomers Sitting Next to Them? 189

66 Should Managers Consider Celebrating Employees a Strategic or Tactical Responsibility? 192

67 Will Celebrations Be "The Thing" That Keeps Great Employees On Board? 195

68 Is Celebrating Employees a Science Requiring Learned Skills or an Art Requiring Inherent Talent? 198

69 Can a Well-Planned Celebration Ever Have a De-motivating Effect? 201

70 Should Managers Always Look to Promote from Within Before Looking to the Outside World? 204

71 Should Significant Life Events Be Celebrated in the Workplace? If So, How? 207

72 Is There a Dependent Link Between Celebrations and Relationships? 210

73 During Tough Economic Times, Why Is It More Important Than Ever to Keep Up Celebrations, Even Though It May Feel Wrong? 213

74 Do Employees Still Want to Be Celebrated for Their Tenure with a Company? 216

Part 4 Managing Through Problems and Issues 219

75 In Spite of Endless Coaching, Are There Some People Who Have No Drive to Succeed or Improve? 220

76 What Steps Can Managers Take to Prepare Themselves for Managing Through Problems? 223

77 Is a Formal Education Necessary, or Even Helpful, for a Manager to Be Effective in Resolving Disputes? 227

78 Why Would a Well-Developed and Agreed-Upon Performance-Improvement Plan Fail? 230

79 When Managing an Employee Issue, How Critical Is Choosing the Right Words to Deliver the Message? 233

80 Does Body Language Really Matter If the Manager's Message Is Clear and Direct? 236

81 Why Do Some Managers Deliver Discipline More Effectively Than Others? 239

82 One Bad Apple Can Spoil the Barrel. But What If the Bad Apple Is Adored By Customers? 242

83 What Should an Employee Expect from a Manager When Receiving Coaching or a Difficult Message? 245

84 Is It Appropriate for a Manager to Tackle Office Gossip Head On? 248

85 True or False: Employees Don't Leave Companies, They Leave Managers. 251

86 How Should a Manager Respond to the Resignation of His or Her Best Employee? 254

87 When Dealing with a Resignation or Termination, Why Is Communication with Co-workers Important? 257

88 What Should Be Done When a Talented Employee's Skills or Personality Don't Fit Well with a Manager's? 259

89 If a Manager Socializes with Employees After Work and Uses the Social Experiences to Build Bonds, Will Employees Still Respect His or Her Authority? 262

90 After an Employee Resigns or Is Terminated, What Can Be Learned from an Effective Exit Interview? 266

91 During Times of Business Change, Even When the Changes Are Positive, What Should Managers Be Focused On? 269

92 What Do's and Don'ts from Managing Conflicts in Our Personal Lives Should We Incorporate into Resolving Workplace Conflicts? 272

93 When an Exceedingly Difficult Customer Affects the Performance and Motivation of an Employee, How Should Managers Respond? 276

94 Is an Open-Door Policy a Good Policy? 279

95 Can Some Issues Be Resolved with Good, Old-Fashioned Friendship? 283

96 How Do Effective Managers Turn Issues into Opportunities and Successes? 286

97 How Can Managers Prevent Simple Issues from Turning into Disasters? 289

Closing Remarks 293

Index 295