109 WAYS OF GETTING TO THE TOP
COURTESY TOWARDS ALL:-We show courtesy willingly and automatically to strangers but very little courtesy to people with whom we have to work day in and day out. We often forget their names. We often interrupt the conversation of people who work for us or half listen to them. People appreciate courtesy from the boss, and they are quick to notice the lack of it too.
HELP OTHERS:-You have to know how to criticize people properly. The purpose of criticism is not to punish people or to make them feel bad. Its purpose is to make them understand what they did wrong and to make them anxious to do better next time. Sometimes it is best to soften your criticism with praise. Criticism is a lot easier to swallow when there is some praise mixed with it.
Before you criticize, give a person a chance to criticize himself. If he is aware of his shortcomings, he might prefer to admit them himself rater than have you point them out, and when you criticize anyone, do not act superior. Talk as one sinner to another. We all make mistakes. Soften your criticism. Use it to help people, not to punish them.
DO NOT SHOUT- EXPLAIN:-Why shout at someone? “ I am disappointed.” “ You have always been such a good worker”- these surely are far better ways of telling off someone than yelling at him in heat of moment. Remember, the whole purpose of reprimanding is to improve someone, to help him not to repeat the same mistake . Shouting at someone will make him determined to make the same mistake again, if only to annoy the boss.
A PROMISE IS A PROMISE:-People appreciate a boss who is straight and honest with them. They will never respect a clever, slippery leader who does not keep his word. If a boss is completely honest and fair, his people will be willing to put up with a lot of his shortcomings- and every boss has some.
DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD LIKE THEM TO DO UNTO YOU:-There are always lots of people with different and strong opinions. But they usually manage to live peacefully side by side and without any trouble. Suppose you do not agree with somebody, so what? Why be unpleasant and argue about it. Everyone has a right to his own opinions and beliefs. It is a waste of time and energy arguing to bring them to your point of view. Let them keep their point of view and you keep yours. Arguing is useless and never succeeds in winning people over. It only creates tensions.
LISTEN TO COMPLAINTS:-
When a person complaints for the first time or tenth time, listen patiently and attentively. Some times all a man really wants a little more attention. His complaint may be entirely unreasonable but do not brush it off. Nod your head and say “Is that so” The listener will be most impressed because nobody wants to think he is unreasonable especially if he is unreasonable. How often one gets excited over little matters and makes an issue out of them.. Sometimes it is best to leave things alone and not make an issue out of things unless it is absolutely essential and we just have to do it. Human beings are emotional and excitable. Give them time to cool off and to save face.
FOR A SENSE OF HUMOUR:-A sense of humour is a fine thing. But be careful not to overdo it. Some people are sensitive and just can not take it. In such cases, humour becomes ridicule. In dealing with people it is essential to have a sense of humour. By sense of humour, we mean having a sense of proportion and the courage to smile. It is ability to take care of yourself and your problems with a grain of salt. The ability to smile at yourself and the world as well.
GIVE A GENTLE PUSH UPWARDS :-Good boss never consider himself above his subordinates. Of course he should not let his juniors walk in and out of his office as they please, but he lets it be known that he is always available to listen to their problems and grievances. After all, if his men are unhappy, their work will suffer, the organization will suffer and inevitably, he will suffer. It is very important – particularly as a business grows larger- to keep the lines of communication open at all levels. An organization is always better off, and a lot of trouble is avoided if ideas and complaints move quickly and easily in both directions.
MEN, NOT MACHINES:-A common failing with many managers is that they often consider themselves superior to their men. They don’t appreciate their view point or make any effort to understand their hopes, fears and problems. If you treat your men like machines they will respond like machines: which means they will work just so much and no more. On the other hand, If you show your concern for them as human beings, they will feel obliged to help you and the organization. Remember a manager only achieves his objectives through people. That’s why we say that dealing with people- their knowledge, their peculiarities, their temper- is one of his main jobs. Management is human relations.
NO MISTAKES, NO INITIATIVE:-When something is going wrong, investigate, ask, don’t accuse. Give the men a chance to tell his side of story. Like this, he will be far more willing to recognize and accept responsibility for his mistakes. Try to avoid mistakes happening at all. It takes far less time and effort to prevent mistakes from happening than it does to correct them.
PROBLEMS WILL OCCUR- :-Problems will occur especially when you are dealing with people. Therefore, a good manager should make a habit of acquainting himself the thoughts and ideas of the people who work for him. He should encourage them to say what they think. In this way, the management will have continuous and accurate information on attitude and opinions of its employees.
DISAGREE WITHOUT ANGER:-If you do this, and do this sincerely, people won’t be offended at all when you don’t agree with them. It is an open minded approach and encourages others to be open minded too. You will be surprised how often most of us tend to fly off the handle. But this is something which we must try to avoid at all costs. Anything done in anger will always lead to bad results. Keep your personal feelings and prejudices right out of picture that is the secret of getting along with people successfully and takes a lot of self control. The fellow who is good at controlling others must first learn to control himself.
There is a tactful method of disagreeing with someone. Start out by asking the person to explain his views fully. Listen to his views. Agree wherever you possibly can. And than when you cannot convince yourself in front him that he is right, point out why. Show him why you can not go along completely with him on what he says and than ask him to consider your point of view. Surely, this is an effective way of getting people to come over to your opinion.
MONOTONY BREEDS LACK OF INTEREST:-Doing the same job day in day out doesn’t necessarily mean that it is most efficient way of getting things done. People aren’t like machines. Many of them get tired of doing the same thing over and over again with the result that they do it badly. Good manager is to take the boredom away from a job and make it more interesting. He can delegate, ask for suggestions, contact people and get people to use their brains. All this helps to take away boredom.
WHY ARGUE? TRY TO UNDERSTAND:-Have you noticed that the people who are really smart rarely get into arguments. They have learnt that arguments are a complete waste of time . The best way of settling differences is to show other fellow that you understand his point of view. Stress the point on which you agree with him and than quietly and calmly point out where you can’t agree. Never flatly contradict him. Even if you know he is wrong, never act as if he is obviously ought to agree with you. Never, get into an argument. Even with the best lawyer in the world, you won’t be able to convince him that black is not white if he does not want to be convinced.
BE BRAVE- FACE UP TO MISTAKES:-When we make a mistake, most of us are scared and try to wriggle out. But why not admit a mistake? We can’t be right all the time: A man who is right only 60 per cent of time can be a tremendous success- if he is quick to correct his mistakes the rest of time. If there is no mistake there is no initiative. Not to admit a mistake is plain foolishness. You’d be surprised but people respect a man who is quite open about his own mistakes.
MEET THE BOYS FACE TO FACE:-That’s what they do in Japan, and that’s why they are so successful. They settle things face to face and on spot. No separate offices. No long memos. To obtain the best results when dealing with people, do it in person. If you can’t see a man in person, telephone him. A phone call is more personal and persuasive than a letter.
THE WISE BOSS IS A FRIEND:-The main function of a leader is to help his people to produce more. That surely is main job of every boss- to help his people to do a better job: through guidance, interest and appreciation. The boss’s efficiency is not measured by the work he does himself, but by what his people have done. That’s why it’s so essential for a boss to know how to handle people and get them to do their best.
REMAIN LEVEL- HEADED WHEN THINGS GO WRONG:-That’s what you will have to do, when things go wrong. There is always temptation to find out who is responsible and give him a piece of your mind. But this doesn’t do much good, except to relieve your own feelings and aggravate somebody else’s. When something goes wrong, hold your fire. First find out why it happened. When people do poor work, there is usually a reason. When you find cause, attack the reason, not the man himself.
CAREFUL LISTENING ELIMINATES MISUNDERSTANDINGS:-Most people are afraid to admit that they do not understand. As a result you don’t even realize that they haven’t got your message until everything is all messed up. One way to be sure that your meaning has gone home is to ask your listener to repeat the message back to you in his own words. Like that, you can be sure that you are both on the right wavelength and that your listener understand your message and not his own interpretation of it. Be more careful with your instructions. Check back in early stages of the job to make absolutely sure that it’s going properly.
UNDERSTAND YOUR CASE:-
I MAY BE WRONG, BUT--,
DON’T YOU THINK THAT--,
ISN’T IT LIKELY THAT--,
ONE WAY TO LOOK AT IT IS THIS…,
IT’S POSSIBLE THAT…
These phrases are most effective way of getting your ideas accepted. Soft pedal your opinions. Use phrases like these and you will find people more willing to listen and less quick to bristle. Even when you know you are right, it’s important to show that you have an open mind and this encourages others to accept your decision, but there is no law which says that people have to agree with your thinking.
BE MILLITANT, BUT ONLY AS A LAST RESORT:-For emergency use only- try force. If we seem to talk a lot about a friendly and constructive approach, it’s because we believe that we can always get better work out of people by making them want to do good work, than by trying to force it out of them. Some times, however, this approach doesn’t seem to work. In such cases, take the matter up bluntly and directly with the person in question. If a man doesn’t respond to a constructive approach, face the issue and find out why. Try to straighten him out without resorting to punishment and penalties. Failing that, get rid of him as soon as you can. You’ll have a healthier organization if you do so.
ENCOURAGE INITIATIVE AND TOLERATE ERRORS:-All bosses profess to encourage initiative among their employees. But what happens when someone does take initiative and make a blunder. Do you deluge him with blame and criticism or do you take as much of the responsibility as possible on yourself and try to soften the blow. This fear of taking initiative and then being criticized for being wrong is the greatest initiative killer of all. The manager who wants to encourage initiative among his assistants has to expect and be tolerant of errors. Otherwise, many people would prefer to do nothing- they’d rather pass the buck than risk being wrong.
A COMPANY LIKE A PUMP, REQUIRES THE RIGHT PRESSURE:-One of the problems of leadership is to know what degree of pressure to apply: to what extent should the boss repeatedly control and check his subordinates. Pressure is not necessarily bad but excessive pressure certainly is. A manager should be able to gauge how much pressure to apply on his subordinates.
REMEMBER, THE OBJECTIVE CONTROLS THE MANAGER:-Under a system of management by objectives, it is the manager who controls his own performance, and not his boss. The manager’s task is made easy because, he has actively participated and given his agreement and taken responsibility for objectives of his unit. Once the objectives are settled the manager should be allowed to get on with the job of achieving them any manner he thinks best, but, of course, within the general framework of rules of an organization.
WORK IS FINE, BUT RESULTS ARE BETTER:-The focus of the executive must be always being on contribution. The focus of his efforts should be on results rather than work. Most executives are flooded with papers. They have no time to think and plan. They are all too occupied just working, but not thinking about the results of that work.
An all round squeeze produces good results:-
It is best to give managers a tight budget and minimum number of staff. They will raise hell to start off with, but under pressure they learn to simplify and than produce much more and at lower cost.
ANTICIPATION IS BETTER THAN CRISES:-The organization which accomplishes the most is usually a quit, rather boring one where there is never a crisis because everything has been anticipated and made into a routine. This is a far better atmosphere for an executive to get down to his job which he thinks out plans for the future and also to develop his subordinates.
DECENTRALISE AND PROFIT:-Give the man on the spot as much authority as you possibly can. Experience has proved time and again that not only will he live up your trust but that the work will be done far better, and you will hardly ever be let down.
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE:-The secret of effective leadership is to concentrate on and develop the strength of an individual- his strong points. Individual have many facets but for average individual there is usually only one area where he might be very capable. Concentrate on that area and forget about his weaknesses because if he is normal person he is bound to have them. If a man has no weaknesses, it may well be that he has strong points either and will nothing more than a mediocrity. All well –known leaders have their failings, but important thing- and this is what really matters- are that these people produce results.
PRESERVANCE ALWAYS PAYS:-
One is bound to succeed in the end if one keeps on at it! It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. Remember what happened to Robert Bruce of Scotland. It is not the brilliant fellow that gets on in the long run, but the fellow that has the capacity and the patience for going at it again and again and not giving up. Who was it who said that, Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration.
THE WELFARE OF YOUR STAFF COMES FIRST – ALWAYS.The Organization of the armed forces of most countries can tell us a great deal about man management. Why is it that soldiers follow their officers through a hail of shrapnel and bullets? It is not because they are especially well paid It is not because they will be punished if they malinger. It is because they the way in which discipline has been built up the armed forces. There officers see to it that their man are properly settled fed before they attend to their own needs; they see that they write home to their families; they try to help them to study so that they can improve their position. An officer makes it his business to spend time and effort over welfare and health of his men. This could apply equally in civilian life too. Let your men feel that you really are concerned about their welfare. If you do that you can be sure that they in their turn, will do everything possible to be loyal to you and the organization.
A GOOD TIP PAYS OFF IN BUSINESS:-In some organizations a suggestion is looked upon as a slur on the manager. The manager thinks that people will ask why he did not think out this suggestion himself. This whole attitude is, of course, entirely wrong. Every employee must be actively encouraged to make suggestions for improvement and he must know that his suggestions will be carefully considered.
THE RIGHT TOUCH:-And it was just a little touch. But he’ll think of her for days on end. That’s all very well, but you’ll be astonished at what a big difference such little touches make in one’s day to day life. If one of your men looks unwell, ask him about it. If he takes leave to look after his ill wife, find out how she is when he comes back. If he walks with a limp, enquire how it happened. Ask about his daughter’s progress at school. Good human relations do not normally take up much effort But how very often otherwise experienced and clever managers entirely ignore such an approach.
DOWN WITH SYCOPHANTS:-One of the biggest dangers for the average executive is the yes -man type subordinates: the subordinate who is always buttering up the boss. A good executive needs men around him who have the strength to give dissenting opinions. He must be able to see through the yes-man and shoe-licker as quickly as possible. Otherwise they are bound to land him in trouble. It is so easy for a busy executive to jump to wrong conclusions. That is why it is important for an executive to have independent thinking men around him- so that they can correct him
ONLY FATHER CHRISTMAS CAN GRANT WISHES:-A good executive must have courage to say ‘no’. And this could be one of his most difficult tasks, because he is under enormous pressure. Everyone always wants something from him- his friends, his relations, and people in high positions. He will have to exercise all his self-control to resist such requests.
DO NOT ACCUSE- INVESTIGATE:-When you sense that something is going wrong, get to it straight away. If you deal with problems while they are still small, the chances are you eliminate the problem from becoming big. Root out misinformation and poor attitudes before they take hold.
Most problems are caused by lack of proper communication. People are often disturbed because they do not have the facts, so they do not understand the real situation. The faster you put these false impressions right, the better off will you be. The thing to do is to nip trouble in the bud before it builds up and become serious. There are enough real grievances in the world. So there’s no point in people getting upset over imaginary problems that can be put right straight away if you give them the true facts.
HAPPY AT HOME, BETTER RESULTS:-People tend to work the way they feel. Their productivity depends to a large extent on their frame of mind. A good supervisor gets to be an expert in spotting people who have trouble at home. He knows its lot smarter to help a man get his personal problems off his chest than to let him spoil a day’s work. Under such circumstances, scolding the person and tearing a strip off him can do only harm.
EVERYONE LOVES RECOGNITION:-
Everyone has an ego, a desire for recognition and craving for attention. Why-goodness knows. Maybe it’s caused by some overactive glands but this is something which has to be recognized if you want to be successful in handling people. If people can get attention by doing something constructive, they’ll get it by doing something destructive. A really good supervisor simply must realize this.
MAKE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS CRYSTAL CLEAR:-
You’ll be surprised how often instructions are misunderstood. ‘I thought you said that’ or ‘I didn’t realize this is what you wanted’. These phrases are used again and again and things are always going wrong. If you want your instructions to be properly understood, you have two jobs to do: one is to explain yourself simply and clearly, and the other is to go out of your way to make certain that you are correctly understood. If you don’t do this, things are bound to go wrong.
TALK STRAIGHT:-No matter how unpleasant the task, be direct. Don’t let anyone get the idea that you are going behind his back on anything. Put your cards on the table and keep them there in plain straight. Don’t avoid questions, hide facts, or try to evade an issue by clever tricks. Avoid cleverness as you would the plough; otherwise people won’t trust you. As the boss, the best possible impression you can give your staff is that you are sincere and fair. The fellow who thinks he can fool people indefinitely is fooling himself.
IN MOMENT OF CRISIS REMAIN COOL:-When somebody is dead wrong, there’s always temptation to bang your fist down and tell him so on in no uncertain terms. But it’s not good business- not if you want to retain his goodwill and win real co-operation. There are critical moments in dealing with people. If you disagree with someone, do so gently. The more aroused he becomes, the more determinedly he’ll stick to his own opinion. If you adopt an open-minded approach and encourage people to be open-minded too, it gives you an excellent chance of winning the other person over.
SLEEP OVER IT:-Let’s admit it- dealing with people can be an exasperating and frustrating business. Every once in a while we are bound to get discouraged and ready to throw in sponge. But whenever things look bad and you find yourself discouraged and resentful-stop. Look at what’s wrong. If you can’t see the good side, drop the matter temporarily and get a good night’s sleep first. Don’t get excited and worried by difficulties.
HANDLING PEOPLECORRECTLY IS AN ART:-People get their most of impressions through eyes; not their ears. If you want to sell an idea- or even a sense of discipline to people who work for you- you have to set a personal example. The minute you try to sell them something you don’t really believe in, something you don’t practice yourself, you have got a job on your hands. There’s no question about it. If you want results you have surely got to set an example yourself.
THROUGH MISTAKES TO SUCCESS:-That’s really what experience means. A fellow might work in the same organization for say 20 years, but it might be one year repeated 20 times. He learns nothing. But with another fellow, every year is an additional year’s learning. Every mistake he makes, he notes down, thinks about it and thinks again about it. Why did the things go wrong? How could it have been prevented? If you do this often enough, there’s no stopping you. The sky is the limit. Mistakes can be your most effective teacher.
*******************
