Jathan Janove is an employment lawyer whose book, Managing to Stay out of Court (Berrett-Koehler/Society for Human Resource Management), includes the following proactive management tips that you can teach your managers and supervisors.
‘That Was Then, This Is Now’ is a good way to effect change in an organization. Grant amnesty for all past mistakes but set new standards and stick with them.
Make a date. When employees approach a manager with a complaint or question at inconvenient times, such as when the manager must finish an urgent task, instruct managers not to brush the questions off (as in, “Don’t worry about it”). Instead, they should say, “I can’t answer you now, but come to my office at 3:30 today and we’ll discuss it then.”
Don’t stay mum. In almost every situation, including impending layoffs, it is wiser and more effective for managers to share all the information they have with their subordinates. Otherwise, what Janove calls the Law of Employee Speculation kicks in. The only exceptions involve confidential employee health or other personal data.
You know your managers could do a better job if they were trained, and now there’s a convenient and reasonable way to get it done—BLR’s Leadership Library at the online, 24/7, TrainingToday. Get More Information.
React immediately. A manager who sees a subordinate do something praiseworthy or less than satisfactory should say so right then, following up soon with the same feedback in writing. Janove advises direct, immediate, and specific feedback.
Avoid misguided benevolence. Janove tells several stories that led to lawsuits. All are characterized by managers’ unwillingness to openly acknowledge a subordinate’s problems and deal with them in a straightforward way. A manager’s evaluations should always be an honest assessment of job performance. It’s just as bad to give satisfactory reviews to someone who is not performing adequately as it is to terminate the person and lie about the reason.
Be honest about terminations. If you say it’s a layoff when it’s not, or simply assert that the individual was an at-will employee, you’re telling lies that may catch up with you. Use specific performance- or behavior-based reasons.
How effective are your leadership training efforts? How effective are your company’s training programs at developing supervisors and managers into effective leaders who are proactive in their management style?
There’s no doubt training can be a hassle—authorizing, planning, delivering, tracking—and it’s easy to let this critical priority slip.
To solve this problem, BLR® has created a unique and helpful solution called TrainingToday.
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This turnkey service requires no setup, no course development time, no software to install, and no new hardware. Your employees can self-register, and training can be taken anytime (24/7), anywhere, with nothing but a PC and an Internet connection. Courses take only about 30 minutes to complete.
Just as important, TrainingToday automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. When the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So, when you want to see who has or hasn’t yet trained on any subject or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available to you, your boss, an inspector—even a plaintiff’s attorney.
These are all motivational, actionable programs—for both employees and supervisors—in such key areas as sexual harassment, the FMLA, diversity, communication, USERRA, recruiting, and many more. The courses are kept up to date to reflect federal and state regulatory changes, and what’s more, we continually add new programs.
The Leadership Library, for example, provides you with a sensible (and economic) solution.
The Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors allows you to:
- Train on demand. Employees can complete training anytime from anywhere. All they need is a computer and an Internet connection.
- Reinforce training topics with engaging graphics and quizzes to test their knowledge.
- Monitor and track the results of your training program with the built-in recordkeeping tool.
- Save costs. The more you train, the more cost-effective the training becomes.
The Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors is a Web-based training tool that can be utilized by any organization. All you need is a computer and Internet access—the library is available 24/7.
The Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors allows you to:
- Train on demand. Employees can complete training anytime from anywhere. All they need is a computer and an Internet connection.
- Reinforce training topics with engaging graphics and quizzes to test their knowledge.
- Monitor and track the results of your training program with the built-in recordkeeping tool.
- Save costs. The more you train, the more cost-effective the training becomes.
The Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors is a Web-based training tool that can be utilized by any organization. All you need is a computer and Internet access—the library is available 24/7.
The Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors allows you to:
- Train on demand. Employees can complete training anytime from anywhere. All they need is a computer and an Internet connection.
- Reinforce training topics with engaging graphics and quizzes to test their knowledge.
- Monitor and track the results of your training program with the built-in recordkeeping tool.
- Save costs. The more you train, the more cost-effective the training becomes.
The Leadership Library for Managers and Supervisors is a Web-based training tool that can be utilized by any organization. All you need is a computer and Internet access—the library is available 24/7.
The Leadership Library trains your managers on the fundamental skills required for successful team management and organizational communication.
The courses cover a range of leadership and managerial topics, including the following:
- Business Writing Skills for Supervisors
- Dealing with Change: How Supervisors Can Help
- Motivating Employees: Tips and Tactics for Supervisors
- Effective Communication for Supervisors
- Conflict Resolution and Consensus Building
- Workplace Ethics for Supervisors
- Encouraging Employee Input
- Negotiation Skills for Supervisors
- Time Management for Supervisors
- Professional Behavior: What Supervisors Need to Know
- Performance Goals for Supervisors
- New Supervisors’ Guide to Effective Supervision
- Problem Solving for Supervisors
- How to Manage Challenging Employees
- Coaching for Superior Employee Performance: Techniques for Supervisors
- Effective Meetings: How-to for Supervisors
- Leadership Skills: What New Managers and Supervisors Need to Know
This turnkey service requires no setup, no course development time, no software installation, and no new hardware. Your employees can self-register, and training can be taken anytime (24/7), anywhere there is a PC and an Internet connection. Courses take only about 30 minutes to complete.
TrainingToday automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. When the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So, when you want to see who has been trained on any subject or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available.
Course certificates can be automatically generated from within the training center and are automatically retained for recordkeeping purposes.
Get started today on helping your managers and supervisors be the best they can be!