The Boss' MATH Skills Need Some Help
My friend David quit his job recently – right in the middle of a big project with an important deadline. He had been unhappy for quite some time and was trying to do the professional thing – stay until the project was complete. The problem he stated was the “MATH skills” of his boss.
“Math skills?” I asked. ”Was there a problem with pay, how he was calculating your pay or your hours?”
David said his pay was fair, competitive and always delivered on time. He never worked more than a forty hour week.
So now I was puzzled and asked him to clarify what he meant by MATH Skills.
Management’s A
ttitude Towards Help he shared with me. Then said some words that I chose not to write here.
I love it. MATH SKILLS!
So here we go….A short list of MATH Skills that might engage employees, retain employees and increase employee morale:
- Communicate at a comfortable decibel level.
- Buy a pedestal. Recognize people for their contributions.
- Be a good role model – like how about showing up on time if you expect that from others.
- Shut Up for a few minutes. Be a good listener.
- Turn off your brain every so often. Be open to new ideas.
- Gulp. Make one of those painful faces and admit when you are wrong. This one is big and earns lots of respect.
- Don’t empower people to do things until you fully understand the definition of empower. Yes, this might mean you will have to let go. Very difficult for the Control Freak personality.
- Teach; don’t criticize and discipline.
Well there are more; but here’s a good start based on my talk with David. A good start to keeping people happy and working hard.
And for those of you who may be reading this but are not in a boss/manager/leader role right now, remember you might be some day. You also might be guilty of some of the above in your current role.
