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Congratulations to the Stop Hate UK Team

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I am currently training as a volunteer for STOP HATE UK who had their official launch in Leeds this afternoon. STOP HATE UK raises awareness and understanding of discrimination and hate crime, encourages its reporting, and supports the individuals and communities it affects.

It was really inspiring to listen to victims of hate crime talk about their experiences and describe the importance of the support that STOP HATE UK has been able to offer. I can’t wait to complete the training and start to get more involved.

But why do people hate in the first place? How could we engage with those who might become perpetrators of hate crime and prevent them from offending?

I am re-reading Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed which I first read when I did teacher training over 20 years ago. It reminds us that the oppressed, in turn, tend to become oppressors. My admittedly limited experience of hate crimes fits this pattern. The perpetrators are themselves victims of oppression both economically and socially. In order to find some power, status and esteem for themselves, they in turn oppress.

I believe that the same effect can play out in the workplace.  Old school managers strive to keep employees effective within roles that are tightly defined by job descriptions, targets, objectives and quality standards. The potential and aspiration of the individual comes a very distant second to their pre-ordained utility in the business.  Over time this distorts and inhibits their development as a human.  Essentially this style of management de-humanises and hatred, frustration, alienation and anger grow.  At best, people retire on the job.  At worst they express their alienation more powerfully through harassment, bullying and deception.

Progressive Managers on the other hand focus on the development of human potential.   Their role is to help people to exploit the opportunities that the organisation provides to further their own development as a person.  They build remarkable teams driven by the realisation of human potential – rather than the efficient but de-humanising fulfilment of a job description.

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Making it Easy to Say Thanks

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Sometimes saying thanks can be just too much work. You know you should drop someone a thank you card – but it is just too much effort to get to the shops and somehow it never gets done. So you just fire off an impersonal e-mail.

Instead, make it really easy to say ‘Thanks’ by setting up an emergency ‘Thank You’ kit. It should include some beautiful cards or notepaper, some postage stamps, and a selection of small but interesting gifts (I tend to give books or toys!). If you have to regularly thank chocolate loves you might want to look at this new service from Thorntons. (Big Thanks to Jayne Pickard from Encompass Marketing for the idea!)

You might also want to think about recording just how often you say thanks – and who to!

The Benefits of Slow Learning

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I was looking at a competitor’s Management Development Conference one day programme. The conference promises to ‘make you a better manager’ and ‘help you to get the most out of your team’. Much of the content looks excellent – not a million miles away from what I teach on the PMN – feedback, coaching, delegation, goal setting, management style etc.

However this conference teaches in a day what I teach over a series of four half day sessions spread out over several months. I think that very few managers would be able to absorb all of this content in one day and then to apply it successfully. It looks like it has been put together more for the convenience of the trainer than the learner.

Feedback from PMN members has shown the importance of not trying to learn too much too quickly when it comes to developing your performance as a manager. How much you learn is far less important than how much you can put to use at work.

Learning something, putting it into practice and becoming comfortable with it is important before trying to learn and implement the next thing. Leaving enough time between learning sessions to incorporate what you have learned into your practice makes a lot of sense.

Try to make too many changes too quickly and things can quickly go pear shaped.

Learning new skills as a manager is one area where the tortoise really will consistently beat the hare.

From Good to Great Manager – Part 2

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Great managers make people feel good about their work.

They catch people doing something right and thank them for it far more often they catch them doing something wrong. Affirming feedback outnumbers adjusting feedback by about 5:1.

They spend time with their team members observing them working and providing plenty of feedback and praise based on what they see. This is very different to many managers roles that are explicitly designed to ‘manage by exception’. ie the manager only gets involved when something has not gone as planned.

Great managers, when presented with ideas listen carefully for the tiniest germ of potential. Seizing that germ, they talk it through – teasing it, tweezing it, rearranging it – until the team member produces something workable.

Most importantly great managers make sure that team members know that their work is important.  That it makes a difference.  That they contribute.