“Is he still the Director of Doing Nothing?”
“Is he still the Director of Doing Nothing?”
“Yeah, and so-and-so is still the Director of Writing Nasty Emails.”
Yes, this is from an actual conversation.
Some would argue that the only person who’s perception of you matters in the office is your supervisor’s. That’s naive. The office environment is not a vacuum. This is particularly true if you’re in a position of authority - if the perception is that you’re the “Director of Doing Nothing”, why would you expect your subordinates to be motivated to come in and give it their all for you? Why would you expect anyone to show you respect if they perceive you as the person who sits around all day shooting off nasty emails to everyone and their mother? Whether or not its true is immaterial - in PR101, the first thing you learn is that perception is reality. So how can you solve these problems? Here are a few ideas:
Transparency - With the last woman I worked for, I honestly could not tell you what she did all day. Could have been solitaire, could have been planning for the quarterly “moving of offices” where all her subordinates were shuffled around to new spaces for no apparent reason, and it could have been actual, legitimate work. I had no idea. If you asked her, you were met with an icy stare and a nonsensical answer. I’ll contrast that to my current working environment - I meet with my boss once a week to go over what each of us did all week and keep each other in the loop. I get a full report - I feel like I know exactly what she spent her time doing. I also have access to her office calendar at all times, so I can see what she’s doing. Now, it’s not as though I spend all day worrying about what my boss is doing, but this level of transparency is comforting. I don’t have to guess what’s going on - I know she’s not sitting in her office screwing around and passing all the real work off to me. There is absolutely no reason why an office can’t be transparent. Eliminate the unnecessary secrecy and you’ll find your employees are more motivated because they understand what’s going on.
360 Reviews - You can’t fix a problem if you don’t know that something is broken. Most places only have a person’s supervisor fill out their annual review. A much more effective, and enlightening, tactic is to take a 360 approach by including your supervisor, direct reports and colleagues you interact with often that may be outside the direct chain of command. You have to wonder how much better of an environment most workplaces would have if employees were not only responsible to the people they worked for, but also the people they worked with.
To all you supervisors out there, I challenge you to have an open and frank discussion with the people who work for you about how they perceive you. Don’t be defensive. Don’t even respond. Definitely don’t penalize them for giving honest answers. Just listen and take it in. Those perceptions are there for a reason, whether or not they are true. If the responses are less than flattering, that’s a problem you need to figure out how to solve.
What other tactics could offices take to eliminate perception problems? Leave a comment!
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January 26th, 2009
I’ve become a huge fan of the No Assholes Rule. Managers should never underestimate the impact that one asshole can have on office morale.
But I do think you are spot on with the concept of transparency. Transparency can relieve a lot of office stress. When things are right there on the table, everyone knows what they are responsible for and can also tell when others are falling off the job or drowning in the deep end. And it is important that office staff members hold each other accountable as well as pitch in to help.
January 26th, 2009
As a manager or director if you work hard, do your job well, communicate, give praise as well as constructive criticism, no one will worry about what you are doing hour by hour. If you are transparent and have nothing to hide the rest takes care of itself.
January 26th, 2009
Probably hard to underestimate the importance of transparency. Working for a secretive boss who tells you nothing hurts morale, productivity and ultimately the boss in every way. I never think I’m the world’s best supervisor, but I’m the first to admit mistakes that are inherent in being human. I try to give opportunities to workers or students whenever possible, outlining the details, rationale and expectations. It seems like a no-brainer.
Once again, great blog.
January 26th, 2009
I think some bosses feel like it’s none of their employees business.
But I think in the era of “We’re all on the same team,” it’s just good management practice for leaders to be open about what they’re doing and across campus, how contributions help to affect the bottom line.
Communication is even more important than transparency. I don’t have to always know what you’re doing and why, because it might not have any relevance to me, but if you’re communicating and are open with me, at least I’ll know where I fit into things and have a better awareness of what’s happening and are less likely to be blindsided.
January 26th, 2009
@Ron - While I agree with you that some bosses feel like it’s none of their employee’s business, to me that’s the mark of an immature manager and one that inevitably has a higher than average turnover rate. I think communication and transparency go hand-in-hand - usually environments that have more open communication tend to be more transparent by default.
@Paul - I think you hit on an important point - if you have nothing to hide the rest takes care of itself. Managers who are secretive about what they’re doing often have reason to be - they know that if their employees know what’s going on it’s going to piss them off. I’m not saying that managers should try to keep everyone happy at all times (you can’t please everyone!) but if its on an ongoing basis, then they need to take a step back and take a hard look at what they’re doing and the impact it has on their employee morale.
January 26th, 2009
I agree about transparency - we have someone I perceive as the Director of Doing Nothing because I so rarely see anything he’s doing, and we’re on the same level so I have no way of finding out. When other directors are open about what they do, I usually end up admiring them for those tasks I could never do. So lack of horizontal communication doesn’t protect your position IMHO, it damages it. And as for secretive bosses… the worst! That creates a whole culture of fences and empire building.
January 26th, 2009
Two things I’d add:
On transparency, you need openness internally and externally, especially if your organization or unit is customer focused. One of the most annoying things I run into on campus is units who are supposed to serve internal clients stuck in a bureaucratic, byzantine mindset where they will not expose their processes to the light of day. Put your business process online — in a wiki, CMS, whatever. Talk to your customers. If it’ll take a week, tell them it’ll take a week and explain why.
The other thing is that in a modern workplace hierarchies are inhibiting more than helping. I’m not saying get rid of all the hierarchies, but I do think that parts of the decision-making process need to move out of the director’s office and into the hands of people who best know the situation. And I think this is one big reason why universities are such a mess — faculty are all decision-makers and tend to fight with each other and make staff’s lives living hells by not comprehending and understanding the problem.
Some of the best director-level people I know are “Directors of Doing Nothing” because they have embraced transparency and put the power of decision-making in their subordinates’ hands. He/she trusts them, and they trust him/her to back them up and call them out if they’re wrong.
January 27th, 2009
taking the other person’s perspective! I’ve found this tactic invaluable in fixing perception problems. First I have to pull myself out of the ‘that person is an idiot’ mode and look at things through their lens for a few minutes. Usually even if people are doing something idiotic they don’t think its idiotic. The trick is to figure out why they’re doing what they’re doing, then you can communicate with them based on the same set of assumptions and understanding.
works wonders for me!
another point. Nothing should ever be said behind someone’s back. If you’re a manger and and someone comes to complain about a co-worker, bring that co-worker in and have the complainer restate the issue. Its the only way thing will actually get worked out instead of breeding a culture of backbiting.
January 27th, 2009
A 360 evaluation can be a valuable tool, but I would caution anyone against tying it to an annual review or any sort of official performance appraisal. There are too many opportunities to abuse the tool or game the system. I’ve found that if participants in 360s understand that it’s voluntary, designed for personal growth and self-improvement, and administered by a third party professional (our campus’s counseling office provides this service) — rather than as part of the official review — they will be more receptive to the instrument and more honest in their own assessments.
Also, a 360 between supervisor and staff isn’t really a 360, as it’s only two-way. Involve peers, customers, supervisors and supervisees. It’s amazing how perceptions vary based on relationships, and very enlightening.
January 28th, 2009
@Andrew - There are lots of companies that use a 360 annual review and link it directly to pay. They also have some of the happier employees that you’ll find out there. Coincidence? Honestly, what I read in your comment is “I’m a manager and I don’t want my employees to tell me how I”m doing and actually have it mean anything, because I don’t trust my employees to evaluate me fairly.” If you’re doing a good job as a manager, you’ve got nothing to worry about.
January 28th, 2009
Karlyn wrote:
Honestly, what I read in your comment is “I’m a manager and I don’t want my employees to tell me how I”m doing and actually have it mean anything, because I don’t trust my employees to evaluate me fairly.”
But of course. That’s precisely what I meant to say. Thank you for clarifying.
On a more serious note, I don’t know how I could have made my point any clearer. I was merely trying to point out the pitfalls of 360s. I’ve heard them ballyhooed by many as the panacea to evaluations. They’re not. They have a place and a function, as do many other evaluation and personal development tools.