Today I'm feeling very much like I hope that President Bush feels, like he's about to lose his job. I'm feeling really quite overwhelmed at work. I feel as though there is so much that I am supposed to be doing that I'm not it's crazy. I need to get organized. I'm spinning constatnly. How do I get my Associates to take ownership of their work? When I asked my Mentor that she told me that, that was my job! Then she told me that I just have to constantly follow up on what I ask them to do. In my mind that isn't so much helping them to take ownership as it is harrassing them until they do what I tell them to. Maybe I'm just missing something. I need to think outside of the box, I hate that phrase. Just feeling so frusterated right now. Need to take out some aggression on someone. I think I'll call Pam and yell at her for a while.
1 comment:
Bad mentor. She didn't answer your question. How to make sure the work gets done… yeah, okay, constantly following up does that. But how to get your peons to take ownership… that's something different. You've got to motivate them and motivation is often different for each person. Are your staff really salespeople who get a kick out of closing a sale and making their quotas? Are they there because they like cosmetics? Are they just there because they need a paycheque? Use that famous charm of yours and try to figure out what makes each of them tick… and you know, you can ask straight out. Sometimes people really appreciate that you're not just trying to manipulate them with whatever buzzword management practice is in the breeze. Two things I've learned so far: 1) Getting responsibility only works if you get the corresponding level of authority required. 2) Feedback is very very important. I know we hear that all the time but I also see a lot of higher-up types forgetting it. Particularly remember the need for positive feedback… you do need to correct abysmal practices but more often you should be encouraging them by telling them what they've done right.
So there's my two bits. Good luck!
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