Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
Da He worked in this company for a year and a half, during which time he performed well and had a very positive attitude. Recently, the head of the department resigned, so he replaced him and was promoted to head of the department. It was something to be happy about, but I would have encountered trouble within a week of being promoted, and complained to me:
"Hey, being a management is much more difficult than being an employee, and my colleagues refuse to accept my discipline."
It is very common for new leaders to encounter problems that are difficult to manage when they take office. So I asked him what was going on, and after he explained it, I immediately knew what was going on.
It turned out that in order to facilitate the understanding of the team's work, he sent a WeChat message in the department group:
@Everyone, thank you for your support, in order to better understand everyone's situation, please go back and do a work summary for me.
Unexpectedly, after a week, no one submitted the report. He felt that these employees did not take him seriously, so he mentioned this matter to everyone on Monday:
Have you finished the summary of the work you asked you to do last week? Why has no one sent it to me?
Several colleagues looked at each other, you look at me, I look at you, and finally an old employee said:
I haven't finished it yet, I will send it to you as soon as it is finished.
When he heard someone's response, his face became much better, and he left the sentence "as soon as possible" and let his colleagues go back to work.
As a result, when I was about to get off work last Friday, I only received a work summary from a colleague, and it was written in a mess and without focus.
Because of this, he was deeply distressed. He didn't know whether it was because his colleagues became subordinates and they were not convinced, or because he was inexperienced and didn't know how to manage it. He came to me two days ago to tell me about it.
After listening to his experience, I first calmed his emotions, and then patiently analyzed the main reasons for the problem with him.
Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
In fact, what Da He has encountered is a situation that many new managers will encounter. Although the role has changed from an executor to a manager, he still regards himself as an executor subconsciously and does not stand in a higher position. To look at the problem, to think about the problem.
The most typical is to assign tasks, because everyone understands the information is not the same.
New managers often think: "How can you not understand such a simple thing?"
And seasoned managers usually know: "How should I explain this thing clearly to make sure they can achieve my goals."
In management, there is a well-known communication theory called "Johari Window".
This theory was originally proposed by American psychologists Joseph and Harry in the 1950s, comparing the information of interpersonal communication to a window and divided into 4 areas: open area, secret area, blind area, Unknown area.
Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
Open area: Information that you know and others know. Usually some public information, such as name, position, etc. at work;
Blind area: information that you don't know and others know. The most typical one is dealing with others, showing a low emotional intelligence that one is often unaware of, and the people who get along with him know him better;
Hidden area: information you know and others don't. Everyone has their own secrets and experiences, and it is understandable that they do not want others to know. But in the workplace, it is necessary to open the hidden area moderately, so that others can feel their sincerity.
Unknown area: Information that neither oneself nor others know. It belongs to an information black hole, and it may be possible to understand the specific situation through some chance opportunities.
New managers usually regard "blind area" and "hidden area" information as "open area" information, and Dahe is a particularly typical type.
He subconsciously thinks that employees should know the importance of things, will complete the tasks assigned by him as soon as possible, and know how to do this, so he omitted a lot of information in the process of expressing, as shown in the figure:
Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
But in fact, these information are in the blind area for employees, who do not understand Da He's ideas, so they can only work according to the information he conveys.
Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
Coupled with the ambiguity of Da He's statement, the implementation is not in place. The reason behind it wasn't even that the subordinate wanted to show him color, but that he didn't know about it at all.
Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
Most of the problems in the workplace are communication problems, especially the conflicts between superiors and subordinates, most of which come from communication.
Leaders do not understand the thoughts of employees, and employees do not report when they have ideas, which eventually intensifies conflicts and leaves.
So, in Da He's case, how can he change these problems?
You can use the five-step work deployment method to strengthen communication with employees.
The first step is to clarify specific matters.
Due to the habit of everyday speech, many people often use ambiguous words when describing things, such as "whatever", "as soon as possible", "anything", but these words are a disaster at work.
For example, "Give me this document as soon as possible", how soon is "as soon as possible" in the sentence? Do it right away? Or do other more important things get done?
The most serious mistake that Da He made was that he did not specify the work items. If he said:
Da He: "Dear colleagues, please sort out a personal work summary and give it to me before this Friday. The summary should include your current work issues, achievements, and thoughts on your work."
Does this make it a lot clearer? At the same time, employees can also arrange work affairs on their own according to the time node.
This step is particularly critical. The time node, content and requirements of the task must be accurately described.
The second step is to ask the employee to repeat the matter.
The second step is also very critical. There is a communication funnel in interpersonal communication. The other party may not fully understand what we say. Let the other party repeat it again, so that we can check and fill in the gaps in time.
Example:
Da He: "Xiao Zhang, please repeat what I just mentioned."
Xiao Zhang: "Director He, you just asked us to submit a personal work summary before Friday. The summary needs to include my current work items, work achievements, and personal thoughts."
If there is any omission, remind the other party in time; if there is no omission, proceed to the next step.
Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
The third step is to discuss the purpose of the matter with the employee.
As a team leader, you should not only expect employees to get things done, but also expect them to get things done.
Listening to the tasks and requirements clearly can only be completed on time, but it may not be able to achieve a good level. To improve the quality of work results, it is necessary for employees to understand the purpose and meaning behind the affairs. At the same time, the discussion process needs to think from the perspective of altruism, not just self-interest.
Example:
Da He: "Xiao Zhang, then why do you want to do this?"
Xiao Zhang: "Because I want to know our work situation, it is convenient for you to manage your work in the future."
Da He: "This is just one of the reasons, do other colleagues have anything to add?"
Colleague: "Unexpected."
Da He: "What Xiao Zhang just said is just one of the reasons. After all, I have just been promoted, and I don't know the work situation of my colleagues. More importantly, everyone can sort out the matters since their work and see their own work by summarizing their work. At the same time, I can see my own shortcomings in order to better improve myself, and I can also provide you with some help from my experience..."
Only when employees realize the importance or self-interest of things will they be more willing to give and do things better.
The fourth step is to communicate and make a plan for the matter.
Various emergencies are usually encountered in work, but if every detail has to be reported to the leader, the efficiency is bound to be low.
Therefore, it is particularly important to analyze what may happen after the task is carried out, which things should be reported, and which things can be decided by oneself, and discussed in advance, so as to achieve the purpose of avoiding risks.
But in Da He's case, there is no risk even if this matter is not completed, but in order to make it better for everyone, some "punishment" and "incentive" can be symbolically done.
Example:
Da He: "I hope my colleagues don't forget that they will be handed over to me on Friday. If they fail to be completed, explain the reason to me in advance, and invite everyone to have a meal together. If everyone submits it on time, after get off work on Friday, I will give it to me. Please have a meal."
The fifth step is to ask employees to articulate their views around the matter.
After completing the first four steps, it is basically foolproof, but everyone has their own cognitive limitations, and often very simple things can’t be thought of by themselves.
Sometimes some solutions are simpler and more effective than what I advocate. Let employees express their views on the matter, just to see if there are new solutions, and at the same time, it can also make employees feel your respect for him and stimulate his sense of identity. .
Example:
Da He: "Okay, what do you think about this matter? Feel free to speak up."
Colleague A: "Supervisor, can you make a unified form and send it to everyone? I haven't done a work summary before."
Colleague B: "I wanted to write a weekly report in my previous company. I sent the template to everyone to see. If there is no problem, just use it."
Just promoted as a leader, old employees are not obedient? Do these 5 steps, employees will definitely be convinced
This method seems to take a lot of time, but doing so can more fully ensure that both leaders and employees understand the nature and importance of the matter, and work together in one direction to maximize the quality of work and avoid information. Ineffective work caused by omission.
It should be noted that any method and tool will have certain limitations. If you have to communicate in this way, it will not be worth the loss and reduce work efficiency.
For example, some routine affairs are not applicable. Take the finance department as an example. Financial-related data reports must be submitted every month. These things have become part of the daily work. Suppose the 10th of each month needs to be submitted for the previous month. Financial reports, financial managers need 3 days in advance, just explain the event directly, there is no need to discuss in depth why.
If it is necessary to repeat the discussion in this way even when submitting a report, the work efficiency will inevitably be low.
The five-step work deployment method is more suitable for some unconventional tasks, or some more complex work tasks.
Although these methods and tools have their own limitations, they can still provide us with some solutions to help us complete our work more efficiently.
The essence of management is actually communication. The problems encountered by new managers are actually communication problems.
Before the promotion, they were the receivers of the information, but after the promotion they became the senders and receivers of the information, and it was difficult for them to realize the problem for a while. Only by seeing the problem clearly and changing the problem can we set sail on the road of the workplace and go further and further in the management position.