To Bill and the List:
Interesting observations Bill, and, as were C. Manoli-Skocay's (and
Vivian's concurrence)-- spot on. You did give us much to chew on,
candy canes and all!! A manager who is self-absorbed, self-centered or
selfish often imposes his own values or short shrifts people by only
through the motions of "recognition." (I'm not talking about imposing
business standards, but rather the morale type of stuff we've been
discussing.) By contrast, a wise one knows how to bestow benefits,
intangible and/or tangible. Looks as if you've seen both types, Bill.
The worst part of it is, a manager who lacks awareness of people is
likely to err in other areas as well. In one link I posted this
weekend, the management consultant noted that ". . . . value and
personality-driven conclusions are destructive to any relationship.
They imply that unless a [fellow employee/manager] is or operates
exactly "like me" he or she is incompetent, uncaring, or an adversary.
Challenge these assumptions directly and encourage respectful
acknowledgement that people may be very different and still be
trustworthy." Without that, the atmosphere in the workplace can turn
toxic!
Fortunately, my current office works well together. But there was a
trend towards bringing in only chocolate cake with chocolate frosting
for birthday celebrations. A number of us don't happen to have that
as our favorite. So, after a lot of behind the scenes discussions,
right before my birthday one year, I mentioned in as low key a manner
as I could muster, "You know what? I'm not a big fan of chocolate, but
I love lemon or carrot cake. I really liked the yummy cake that Person
X baked and brought in [for a non-birthday meeting] last week." So
they brought in something other than chocolate for me and, more
importantly, started sussing out what others preferred, too!
Some people associate consideration of these intangibles or of morale
issues in general with the "touchy feely" 1970s and 1980s. But there
were people thinking about some of these matters way before that. K.
Brantley Watson, Vice President in Charge of Human Realtions for
McCormick, gave an insightful talk on leadership before the Industrial
College of the Armed Forces here in the DC area in 1959. Check out
"The Role of the Executive Today" at
www.ndu.edu/library/ic3/L60-035.pdf ; it may will open your eyes to
what some management experts were discussing during the 1950s.
My favorite part of Watson's 1959 talk: ". . . . People are different.
People can do different things relatively well or not so well. We have
to recognize those differences in individuals if we're going to
capitalize on their potentialities. The second one is the principle of
integration. It means simply that there's nothing that a person does in
a specific situation that can be understood fully except in reference
to the total pattern of his living. . . .maybe there is a borderline
where we shouldn't invade a person's privacy. But I can tell you this:
Unless we understand that person in the total pattern, integrated
pattern, of his living, we can't understand his job performance."
Wise words.
I remember an article from the early or mid-1990s that asked, "Do
people work for love [of what they're doing] or money?" There's a lot
of interesting survey data out there about what motivates people on the
job; it isn't the same thing for every person.
Maarja
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 8:00 AM
Subject: Re: Improving staff morale
Hello List,
Interesting discussion on improving staff morale I've been reading
lately. I think one thing that's important to point out, however, is
the fact that any gift/gesture of
appreciation that is given to recognize your employees should have some
measure
of sincereity and genuine sentiment attached to it.
Yesterday I attended a staff-wide picnic today that recognized the
employees and family members of the National Guard Bureau, the agency
where I work as a contract archivist for the Army National Guard. I was
struck how appreciative the officers of the Bureau were for all the
different agencies for their work of all types within the
organization. One of the Guard Generals even sent out an office-wide
e-mail that encouraged the different work divisions to attend this
function, which reached several hundred people. Civilian contractors,
like myself, were welcomed by the Bureau. This wasn't anything
elaborate, but it wa! s a nic e change from the usual midweek routine.
I was happy simply by the fact that my mere presence is appreciated;
it's not an issue of money or material goods.
By contrast, when I was recognized for 5 years of service to the
University Library for which I formerly was employed by this past
March, I received a small, crappy University logo magnet and two pieces
of chocolate. I thought it was a remarkably cheap and petty gesture on
the Library administration's part. For that length of service, I really
felt it was a pitiful "recognition" for my work. But I'm certain the
administrator in question logged this on to her service accomplishments
for the academic year to further pad her own vita. This debacle was
only tempered by the knowledge that I would only be working there for a
few more weeks. A"morale booster" like this was on par with the one
tiny candy cane and University paraphenalia that the Library's staff
received dur! ing the Christmas season last year, from the same
administrator. No one needs token gifts given to them under these kind
of pretenses. It's a transparent gesture.
I just can't believe the lack of respect a few people in high places
display toward their rank and file employees who, in actuality, move
along some important projects and make things go forward for the whole
organization without complaint. It shows a great deal of contempt.
True story. Just something to chew on.
Bill Boehm
Arlington VA
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