This is three-part series by guest blogger William Dann. Read 3 Types of Supervisory Problems, Part 1: “Can’t Do” Problems
As we discussed in the previous post, Ken Blanchard has said that there are two categories of problems in supervision, a “Can’t Do” and a “Won’t Do” problem. I add a third category, “Confidence” problems that falls somewhere in the middle. In the last post, we discussed “Can’t Do” problems. In Part 2, we’ll dig into “Confidence” problems.
On the borderline between “Can’t Do” and “Won’t Do” is the employee’s inability to operate independently, initiate change or take risks.
A lack of confidence or fear of failure can be the source. That could arise from an employee’s perceptions of the supervisor (e.g., fearing that making a mistake will bring a strong reprimand). Or employees’ past experiences could have lowered their self confidence. In that case, employees are responsible for taking the steps to overcome fear of failure and low confidence. However, if employees lack confidence because they worry about your reaction to their mistakes, you need to own the problem and make changes to your management approach.
As an example, at a welcome party for a new office manager I once hired, I became curious as to why the new employee was so distant when we had made such a great connection during the hiring process. When I inquired, he responded with “You are now my boss.” I replied “Yes, that is the hat that I wear, but I am me, and we are in a social setting, so why the change and avoidance of me.”
He responded with “You now have control over my life.” I learned that he had been the victim of punishing, arbitrary supervision in the past, and he was anxious about starting work with an unknown boss. We worked it out quickly, but had we not, he would have avoided making decisions and his performance would have fallen well short of his potential, which was enormous.
We had a shared responsibility to overcome the challenge. The employee brought in baggage that could have negatively impacted his performance or the speed of his development. In a sense, he was responsible to make that known to me, and he certainly controlled whether or not he would come to trust me as his supervisor. My responsibility was to spot changes in his attitude and take positive steps to show him that our manager-employee relationship would be different than what he had known in the past.
Bottom line: While a supervisor should contribute to overcoming confidence barriers, the employee must play a key role too. Encouragement and two-way communication can go a long way here, but ultimately, the employee has to make the leap. Think of it like taking the training wheels off your child’s bicycle. Eventually, you have to let go. If your child refuses to take the risk and operate the bike on his or her own, there is little you can do.
Most employee orientation programs are deficient and many supervisors complain that they simply don’t have enough time to supervise employees adequately enough. However, when there is turnover in a position, research shows it takes 6-9 months to regain the level of performance in that position, so you don’t want to simply fire people, hoping to replace them with better employees. You need to fill in the gaps in training, direction and coaching and by providing feedback and rewards for performance to solve “Can’t Do” problems and “Confidence” problems.
Ask your employees my 7 Questions to Ask Your Direct Reports to diagnose areas where employees may need help and to shorten the time required to get a new employee up to speed.
What can you do today to build each of your employees’ confidence levels?
Check back in on April 13 to read 3 Types of Supervisory Problems, Part 3: “Won’t Do” Problems.
William Dann spent 13 years as a CEO before launching his consulting business, Professional Growth Systems, LLC, in 1981 – an organization that has served over 200 organizations in the US and abroad, using proprietary solutions to accelerate performance with as little time and resources as possible. Additionally, Dann has taught for several years at the graduate level at Boston University and is also the founder of BoardGrowth.com, a website devoted to advancing the effectiveness of governing boards. Dann currently resides in Anchorage, Alaska with his family.
Creating High Performers is available in paperback on Amazon.com.
Learn more at www.professionalgrowthsystems.com
Photo Credit: www.freeimages.com/profile/shrubby
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