2 posts tagged “management”

I ran across an an article about How to Make a Difference.  It's #49 of some articles or other about project management.  Surprisingly it is pretty well written and talks about figuring out things that matter, but not in the typical manager-manipulative-advice way of "if you compliment people exactly 23 times daily then they will seek to please you and be your slavish pets while you go sip Pina Coladas."  (Ok, I'm exaggerating, but you know the self-interested advice books I'm talking about that tell you how to be a really good manipulator.)

Some samples:

• "So why do we forget that it is these [small] things, not tools and toys, that hold the essence of making a difference?"
• "A little thank you note may have real power, especially if I don’t come off as a weirdo (e.g. avoiding phrases like "I want to live forever in your pants!" and "Here’s 75,214 pictures of the daily shrine I pray to naked in your honor") and have thoughtful things to say about how their work was of use, or made a difference."

Personally, I think I'll need to try this out.  I'm especially excited about the "I want to live forever in your pants" line.  Oops, I guess that's the line NOT to use.

Interesting reading, anyway and some good advice.

There are times I need to order things online and have them shipped since they're not available locally or not available at a reasonable price locally.  I know for certain that I will not be at home to receive any packages I order since all the major shipping services work exactly the same hours I do. I'm pretty certain this situation is common to most adults in the working world who have 9 to 5 jobs.

Yet my employer sends out nasty missives about "use of work resources" with regard to (**HORROR**) having personal packages delivered to work.  The particular division I work for doesn't seem to mind so much as long as the packages don't go through the US Postal service since they will then be intercepted by the evil reptiles who work in the mail room, who claim they will notify your supervisor. You supervisor will supposedly tell you that you've been a bad child and must be humiliated and spanked for daring to pretend you have any life outside of work.  How old are we again?  Why do we want to work here and get treated like children?

Meanwhile the leading companies in the area (such as Google and Yahoo!) go the other direction instead of playing punitive kindergarten time with their employees.  They have people on site to give hair cuts at certain times for your convenience.  They have nap rooms. They give various free foodstuffs to employees.  And they certainly don't give you spankings for having a personal package delivered to work now and again.  In other words, their philosophy is to treat you well and in return you'll want to treat them well by doing a good job at work and giving an effort because you like them and what you're involved in.

See, they get it.  They understand that certain things in life are difficult to do outside of work hours.  They understand that making nagging annoyances and errands fast and easy is a way to make employees happier.  They also understand that it's probably faster for someone to receive a package or get a haircut on site, rather than to have to go far off-site (generally during work hours) to do such tasks.  They understand that having the mail-room graciously handle a few personal packages for employees keeps the employees busily at work instead of having the employees worrying about it or ditching out for part of the day to receive a package. They understand that extra time for the mail staff in handling a few extra packages now and again is greatly offset by other (and probably much more highly paid) employees being more productive.  They want the best employees, and they know the best employees want to be treated right.

So there's my little rant.  I find it surprising that some companies are still stuck in a time warp and with a management style that was popular 40 years ago, but seems laughably out of place in 2007.