{"id":1761,"date":"2008-05-21T16:18:42","date_gmt":"2008-05-21T15:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progmanager.wordpress.com\/?p=350"},"modified":"2008-05-21T16:18:42","modified_gmt":"2008-05-21T15:18:42","slug":"121s-common-objections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2008\/05\/21\/121s-common-objections\/","title":{"rendered":"121s – Common Objections"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I am talking with managers about the benefits of doing 121s they usually resist the idea and offer a range of objections:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I don’t need 121s – I speak with my staff ALL the time!<\/li>\n
  2. I would never have enough time to meet with each member of staff for half an hour every week.<\/li>\n
  3. What would we talk about if we met every week?<\/li>\n
  4. My staff would feel that I was micro-managing them – they just want to get on with the job<\/li>\n
  5. My staff aren’t interested in strategy or otherwise engaging – they just want to do a good job<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I don’t need 121s – I speak with my staff ALL the time!<\/h2>\n

    It is true that a lot of managers spend a lot of time talking with staff.\u00a0 The conversations are spontaneous, unplanned, unstructured, unfocused and often unproductive.\u00a0 They promote a conversation culture rather that is characterised by high levels of interruptions – ‘Sorry to disturb you but can an I just have a quick word with about….’ Managerial time is freely available and therefore barely valued.\u00a0 Prioritisation by staff is poor and managers are often diverted from more important tasks as they feel obliged to respond to staff requests for help.\u00a0 Such managers usually have gaping holes in their performance when it comes to areas such as innovation, creativity, strategy and planning as they are too busy ‘mole-whacking’.<\/p>\n

    I would never have enough time to meet with each member of staff for half an hour every week<\/h2>\n

    This translates direclty<\/span><\/span> to ‘I have more important things to do than work in planned structured way with staff on a 121 basis’. \u00a0 It also translates to ‘People are not our most important asset and therefore I can afford to neglect them’.<\/p>\n

    Company costs per full-time employee in the UK now stand at \u00a397,122<\/a>.\u00a0 Such costs typically include:<\/p>\n