The importance of giving immediate feedback

Janet is a manager in a marketing company with ten workers under her care and supervision. Every manager in their organization looks up to her because she is always able to surpass her sales target.

She was asked by her CEO this question during a testimonial given to her and her subordinates:  “How come you are always able to surpass your sales target/s?” Her immediate reply was this: “I immediately give my subordinates’ feedback about their sales performance be it positive or negative feedback.”

Giving immediate feedback to your subordinates is a very important tool for them to achieve, even exceed their targets. For example, if a worker exceeds her/his target or performing exceptionally well in her/his assigned task. An immediate feedback should immediately be given to them.

This could be in a form of praise or any form of recognition to highlight the exceptional performance. Why give an immediate feedback? This is to reinforce the positive work behavior so that could be sustained. 

The same should apply when giving feedback to the laggards, their attention should immediately be called as well. So that they are made aware that they need to immediately do something to improve their work performance.  Otherwise, sanctions allowed under the rules of the organization would be forthcoming to them.

While positive feedback should be given in full view to further inspire and motivate. Negative feedback should be given in private this is to avoid embarrassment, humiliation and further demotivation. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

Is your boss overloading you with work?

Alex is a first level manager in a manufacturing organization, every now and then his boss would assign him work that is not in his job description. He simply accepts it and does not give much attention to it until he is through with his work that falls in his job description.

One afternoon, his boss went to him to ask about the additional work that he gave him. Alex told his boss that he has not touched it yet since he is already overloaded with work that is directly assigned to him.

What should you do when your boss is overloading you with work that is not in your job description? Should you immediately refuse it? Or accept it with the thought in mind that you would do it after you are through doing your officially assigned task?

When you are being overloaded with work it doesn’t mean that your being bullied by your boss. It simply means that your boss sees you as somebody who is competent and well rounded. Otherwise, he would not assign you additional workload if you cannot do the job well.

Every additional work that is given to you even if that work is not directly within your job description is a testament of your intelligence and competence. Else, you would not be given additional work if you cannot do the job and if your boss does not believe in you.

However, there are also bosses who are abusive, lazy and incompetent they love to delegate workloads even if they are designated to do it. If this is the scenario you have to gently remind your boss about it otherwise he would continue to dump you with more workloads.

What if after sounding off your boss that you are already overloaded yet he/she continuously dumps you with more work? It’s about time to say goodbye to your boss and transfer to a new department. If this is not possible and you are confident of your competence you can start to look for another Job.

Otherwise your health and your family’s wellbeing would suffer for the reason that you are overloaded with work. – Marino J. Dasmarinas     

On designating an Officer-in-charge

Nancy is the division chief/manager/leader of a government office every now and then she attends live-in seminars that last for three to five days. In lieu of her absence she would designate an officer-in-charge to temporarily lead, manage and run the daily activities of her division. 

Should there be rules or guidelines to follow when designating an officer-in-charge? Of course, there should be so that the office would function properly otherwise there would be disorder or disorganization.

Here are four guidelines to follow when designating an officer-in-charge.

1.      Designate someone who is competent

2.      Someone who you can trust

3.      Someone who is humble

4.      Someone who is not abusive and arrogant

After selecting that someone based on the guidelines, clearly define the scope and limits of his/her authority. This is done to avoid abuse of authority and a problematic situation in the office.

Why is there a need to follow these guidelines? For the simple reason that following these guidelines would assure the smooth flow of the operation of the division/organization. Thus, when the division chief/manager/leader returns he/she will have less issues and problems to take care of.

How do you designate an officer-in-charge in your office? – Marino J. Dasmarinas   

Do you want to become an inspiring leader?

Who is an inspiring leader? He is a leader that is loved and not feared by his followers. Many leaders lead by fear foremost of these are autocratic or dictatorial leaders. These kinds of leaders lead and govern thru fear they do this by projecting themselves as strong leaders.

They create an extraordinarily strong personality and identity which plant fear in the hearts of his subordinates. These kinds of leaders don’t know how to inspire their  followers for the simple reason that their authority emanates from the feeling of fear.

How do you become an inspiring leader? The first requirement to become an inspiring leader is to eliminate fear in your menu of leadership qualities. Why? This is for the reason that when a leader is not feared he becomes more approachable and available to his subordinates. He is always there to lend a hand whenever his subordinates need him. 

When a leader/manager is approachable and always available he creates a climate of confidence and calm among his subordinates. This simply means that there’s no dividing wall that separates the leader from his subordinates.

Thus, his subordinates will always be inspired to work because their leader is always there to support them. In whatever way possible subject to the limits of the organization's rules and regulation. 

Another important quality of an inspiring leader is he always model his leadership to the hilt. This simply means that he walks his talk and he leads by example, he does this with utmost humility and sincerity. And last but certainly not the least, an inspiring leader is someone who knows his job well.  

Are you an inspiring leader? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

I teach Human Behavior in Organization topics via Skype for 30 mins. for free!

I teach Human Behavior in Organization topics via Skype for thirty (30) minutes free!

My emails: mjdasma@gmail.com   mjdasma@yahoo.com

A good Leader/Manager is also a good follower

There is a story about Mario a newly hired clerk in advertising company. One of the many qualities that were very evident about Mario was his competence, obedience and follower mindset. With these positive attributes Mario rose from the ranks and eventually became a manager and a leading voice in their organization.

Many organizational managers/leaders rose from the ranks as such they are used at following orders. They don’t only follow they also do with competence whatever task that they are assigned to do.

It may seem unthinkable for many but the reality is managers/leaders are also followers not only in the sense that they rose from the ranks. The truth of the matter is every leader has also that somebody who leads him/her. Who would tell him/her what to do and who would demand output as well.

Let us take for example a first level manager or supervisor who leads his operating employees. He/she is also accountable to his middle manager. As such he follows directives from his middle manager.

The middle manager takes order from the top management and he sees to it that he implements with competence the task assigned by the top management. The top management is accountable to whom? He’s accountable to the board of directors and he implements also the collegial decisions of the board.

We see that every leader in an organization takes direct or indirect orders from persons who occupy a higher position than her/him. What is the relevance of a leader follower relationship?

A good follower sooner or later will eventually become a manager/leader. It may take time but it will surely come. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

On disciplining your subordinates

Margaret is a newly hired manager in a call center company. Being younger than his subordinates he was in a quandary on how he would discipline them whenever they violate the established norms of their organization.

Employed properly, without bias and swiftly a disciplinary action could straighten an errant behavior. Employed with the intention to simply shame a subordinate a disciplinary action  could immediately backfire to the one who is imposing it. 

So how would you go about in disciplining an errant subordinate? The first that you should do is you have to discipline in private with you present and the errant subordinate only. Your action should focus on the offense alone and not the person involve. For example, if the offense is his/her being noisy in the workplace which disturbs the concentration of his/her co-workers.

By all means focus your disciplinary action on his/her being noisy never try to delve into his/her personal character.  For the simple reason that a disciplinary action must always point to the offense and not the person involve in that offense. 

After all has been said, ask the person involve on what solution he/she could suggest to heal the offense. After listening to the suggestion and if you are satisfied treat it as a closed issue and move forward.

If you are not satisfied with the suggestion it is incumbent upon you as a manager/leader to craft or create a useful solution that would solely focus on the offense and not the person. -  Marino J. Dasmarinas