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BEING a BOSS |
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Nadeem Yousaf |
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Being a Boss, you can be a President, Chairman, Managing Director, CEO Director, General Manager, Head of Department, Head of Section of an organization. All such managerial positions put you in a status of leadership within your domain of authority. As you go up on the hierarchy, your responsibility of managing people increases. Managing people demands more patience, energies and tactical mind because you are not dealing with rational machine but an active mind, which responds according to its on perceptions and past experience. Your success very much depends upon how you manage these active minds working under you. You cannot be a leader if you are unable to build team of committed subordinates who are having, at least, harmonious working relationship if not very friendly. In a way, harmonious relationships are more beneficial for the organization than friendly.
Being a leader of your domain, it is not an easy task to create harmonious working environment because your attention will constantly be drawn to the matters, which not only are poisonous for your efforts towards team building but also for the growth of a company or an organization. To be an effective leader, you might not like ignoring the situations mentioned below for not only they can produce negative consequences for your efforts towards team-building, raising commitment among subordinates and employees’ turnover in your department and organization but also reduce your credibility as a manager and a leader. Become a fair mediator whenever a conflict is between subordinates This is a very common and inevitable phenomenon that your subordinates will have conflicts with each other for various genuine, bogus, fake and false reasons. Subordinates leg-pulling is not uncommon phenomenon either. Interestingly all conflicts are played in the name of organization and professionalism. Effective handling of conflicts between employees will be a test case how far you are accepted as a leader. Solution lies in your fairness in the process of mediation. Good listening abilities play a key role in these situations. So listen attentively to all the parties; take notes, if necessary, so that you can refer to these notes before making up your opinion. Don’t be bias in forming your opinion Factors that Bias Your Opinion and Judgment. Your friendship, likeness and pre determined mind-set can tremendously influence your opinion. Mind it, you are human being; hence you can like some of your subordinates more than others due to various reasons such as a subordinate is a flatterer or sycophant, your similarities in views and personality traits with your subordinate. Under all these odd elements, it is important to remember that you are a superior for everyone working under you and you would not like to lose your credibility as a person and a boss. Whenever you come across a conflicting situation consider yourself as a judge and judges do not make judgment on personal likeness or friendship but on facts. A fair handling of conflict will give enhance your impression as a trustworthy and honest person among your employees that is mostly desired by most of managers and leaders.
Inducting new subordinates Another crucial occasion is inducting new employees in your department and organization. Inducting new faces does not mean merely telling them their duties, introducing with other subordinates or showing them their offices rather it means that you provide a supportive environment to newcomers and keep an eye that old pals don’t sabotage it by unsettling new pals. It is more likely that a sabotaging behavior is shown by one of your confidant – so keep watching. It is an interesting question why do old pals will unsettle new pals? Your confidants could feel threatened either at the competency level or/and fear displacement at the social level or due to any other implicit reason or agenda. However, as a boss, you must appreciate it that it is a unique situation for both old and new subordinates. Old subordinates try to assert their superiority because they are old in the system and new employees could be impatient in showing their guts, which brings the rift between the two. Give confidence to both parties by behaving impartially. Subordinate of a Subordinate Directly Approaching You Another interesting situation takes place in organization when a subordinate brings a complaint about the immediate boss to the member of a senior management. It is though an awkward situation but not unusual because it happens in all organizations when a subordinate feels dissatisfied from her/his immediate boss. Don’t run away from the situation by ignoring the complaint or giving the impression as the subordinate has committed a sin by violating so-called code of conduct. Theses situations generally occur in those organizations where strong grievance procedures either do not exist or practice. Being a senior position-holder, you must appreciate that no one wants to have a bad relationship with the immediate boss unless one really wants to leave the organization or one is really upset with the immediate boss. Bring complaint to you is more likely that the employee wants to stay but dissatisfied. Take it as an opportunity to know more about the actual practices that are talking place directly under your nose but you might don’t know it. REMEMBER TODAY’S SUBORDINATES ARE TOMORROW'S BOSSES.
Sunday July 20, 2008 http://management.corporatemanagementsolution.com/beingaboss.htm © Corporate Management Solutions
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