The Biggest Management Misconception
I was at the jobsite of one of my projects about a week ago….ok, ok, I was at on the plumbers web site to have them come do a project about a week ago, and the
plumber was roaming around installing some drinking fountains. This guy had done work for the municipality in the past and had a prior relationship with some of the representatives of the town. He told me that the borough was very happy with my performance on the job, however, they would never tell me that. Now, why wouldn’t they tell me that? I just finally decided to hire drain cleaning kearny nj services.
This question has boggled my mind for years. People in position of authority would rather their employees think they are doing a bad job even if the contrary is true. I think the perception of the manager may be that if we are told we are doing a good job we won’t push for improvement and may even take our foot off the gas. While this conventional psychological assessment done by a manager may be true for some employees, I think it is in fact counter productive in the majority of occasions. And I know for a fact that it is not the way in which I will perform my best.
I can’t stand people yelling at me and telling me I’m no good. In my experience, managers are terrible at motivating people. They believe that the more they beat people down, the better they will perform. However, this could not be further from the truth.
I don’t know how or why this method of management has crept into the world of conventional wisdom, but I could venture a guess that it has something to do with the military and perhaps a certain general by the name of George S. Patton. Patton once struck a soldier who he regarded as a coward who was hospitalized for battle fatigue.
Some may say Patton was appropriate in his behavior and some may say he was not, but I do know that if I was the soldier in the hospital that day, George S. Patton would have been given a fist full of knuckles as a kind response to his gesture.
The bottom line is that while some may be motivated by a condescending manager, I believe that the majority do not. And I know for certain that I respond much more positively to praise and encouragement than degradation. But of course, that’s me.
If that’s been your experience then you can be a key into changing that. Let it ride, roll with it, although you can’t make bad managers good you can be a good manager who in turn will produce good managers. Change the industry one person at a time, it can be done.