Perspectives on Managing Employees

Table of Contents......Page 10
Introduction......Page 16
Opening Remarks......Page 18
Part One: The Starting Point......Page 22
1 What Should a Hiring Manager Do to Ensure a Good Interview?......Page 23
2 Is It Really Fair and Necessary to Ask Candidates to Come Back for More Than Two Interviews?......Page 26
3 Can Complete Honesty by Either Side Ever Be Expected in an Interview?......Page 29
4 How Can Managers Improve Their Interviewing Abilities?......Page 32
5 Is Reference-Checking Beneficial or a Waste of Time?......Page 35
6 A Simple Google Search Can Reveal a Lot About an Employee, a Manager, or a Company. What Should Everyone Do to Be Prepared and Protected?......Page 38
7 A Candidate Has Accepted an Offer. What’s Next?......Page 41
8 Is It Necessary to Treat New Hires with Special Care on Their First Day of Work?......Page 44
9 What Are Some of the Small Things a Manager Can Do on a New Hire’s First Day to Make Him or Her Go Home Happy?......Page 47
10 How Long Should a New Hire Be Expected to Take to Really Understand the Company Culture?......Page 50
11 Is It True That Every Employee in Every Company Delivers an Experience to the Customer, Regardless of His or Her Position? Or Is That Just Something Managers Like to Say?......Page 52
12 Does It Matter Whether Employees Know Who the Company’s Competitors Are?......Page 55
13 What Degree of Professionalism Should Be Expected of Employees?......Page 58
14 Is There Such a Thing as “Universal Etiquette” That Should Be Expected of All Employees?......Page 61
15 Does Dress Code Matter? Should There Even Be One?......Page 64
16 What Is a New Employee Expected to Know on the First Day?......Page 66
17 What Is a New Employee Not Expected to Know on the First Day?......Page 69
18 When and How Should Expectations Be Set for a New Employee?......Page 71
19 Is There a Difference Between the Company Culture and the Company Brand? If So, Do Employees Need to Know the Difference?......Page 74
20 Should the Employee Care about the Company from Day One? Or Is This Just a Way to Pay the Bills?......Page 77
21 Is It Important for New Employees to Know the Manager’s Vision and the Vision of the Company?......Page 80
22 Training Is Important, but We’re All Busy. How Much Does It Really Matter?......Page 83
23 Is It Appropriate to Include Humor and Fun When You Are Getting to Know a New Employee?......Page 86
24 What Can Managers Do That Would Quickly “Turn Off” a New Employee and Make Him Rethink His Decision to Join the Company?......Page 89
Part Two: Building the Relationship......Page 92
25 Should the Manager Be a Boss or a Coach? Is There a Difference?......Page 93
26 How Can Managers Make Meetings an Effective Tool for Relationship Building?......Page 96
27 How Can a Manager Build Trust?......Page 99
28 Is Goal Setting Just a Formality That Companies Require? Or Can It Really Be Useful for Both Employees and Managers?......Page 102
29 What Experiences from Social-Relationship Building Can Managers Integrate into Professional-Relationship Building?......Page 105
30 As Time Goes On, Will Employees Get a Different Perspective on Their Role in Delivering a Great Customer Experience? What Is the Manager’s Role in Shaping That Perspective?......Page 109
31 Do Professional Relationships Have to Be Strictly Professional?......Page 112
32 How Can Managers Be Effective in Helping Employees Communicate Better with Each Other?......Page 115
33 Is Consistency Always the Best Policy to Managing Workplace Relationships?......Page 118
34 Is There Any Risk to Asking Employees for Feedback on Manager Performance?......Page 121
35 How Can Charity or Community Events Be Incorporated into Relationship Building?......Page 124
36 How Closely Do Employees Watch and Observe Their Managers’ Actions?......Page 127
37 Should Managers Expect Employees to Make an Effort to Build a Relationship with Them?......Page 129
38 Where Does Follow-Up End and Micromanagement Begin?......Page 131
39 What Daily Activities Can Managers Start Doing, or Stop Doing, to Be More Operationally Effective?......Page 134
40 When a Problem Is Detected, Is It Enough for an Employee to Surface It with a Manager and Expect That the Manager Drives the Ultimate Solution?......Page 137
41 The “Team” Approach Is Proven Effective and Useful in Business. Are There Times When Focused, Individual Contribution Is Even More Effective?......Page 140
42 Is Telling the Truth Ever a Bad Choice?......Page 143
43 How Can Industry Organizations and Associations Be Used Effectively?......Page 145
44 Why Is Cultural Diversity Essential?......Page 148
45 How Should Managers Approach Building a Relationship with an Employee Who Is 20 or 30 Years Older or Younger?......Page 151
46 Following a Merger or an Acquisition, Managers Will Be Faced with Uncertainty and Worry Among Employees. How Can This Be Managed Effectively?......Page 154
47 As Companies Plan How They Will React to Natural and Civil Disasters, What Is the Manager’s Role in Basic People Planning?......Page 157
48 What Are the Benefits and Risks to Using Online Social-Networking Tools to Build and Cultivate Relationships?......Page 160
49 Can We, and Should We, Try to Measure the Strength of Our Relationships?......Page 164
Part Three: Celebrating the Good Times......Page 166
50 When Is the Right Time to Start Celebrating…Anything?......Page 167
51 Should Celebrations Be Unique to the Occasion or the Individual Employee? Or Should They Be One-Size-Fits-All?......Page 169
52 An Employee Did What She Was Hired to Do. Is That Worth Celebrating?......Page 172
53 Is It Possible to Over-Celebrate?......Page 175
54 What’s a Better Motivator: Celebrating Large Events or Having More Standard, Everyday Office Celebrations?......Page 177
55 Is It Worthwhile to Celebrate with a Remote Workforce?......Page 180
56 What Types of Gifts Are Appropriate for a Workplace Celebration?......Page 182
57 Are Employee-of-the-Month Programs Valuable? Do They Mean Anything to Employees?......Page 185
58 We Always Celebrate the Winners of Our Contests and Competitions. Isn’t This Enough?......Page 189
59 When It Comes to Rewards, Gifts and Notes Are Nice, But Isn’t Cash the King?......Page 192
60 There Are So Many Ways to Celebrate People. Where Do You Start?......Page 195
61 When Should the Spotlight Be Taken Off the Superstars and Shined on the Rest of the Team?......Page 198
62 How Can Managers Avoid Having Celebrations Become Stale and Tired?......Page 201
63 Can a Manager Really Be Too Busy to Celebrate Great Performance?......Page 204
64 E-mail Is a Way of Life in Business Today. Does That Include Celebrations?......Page 207
65 Do Younger Generations of Employees Want to Be Celebrated Differently Than the Boomers Sitting Next to Them?......Page 210
66 Should Managers Consider Celebrating Employees a Strategic or Tactical Responsibility?......Page 213
67 Will Celebrations Be “The Thing” That Keeps Great Employees On Board?......Page 216
68 Is Celebrating Employees a Science Requiring Learned Skills or an Art Requiring Inherent Talent?......Page 219
69 Can a Well-Planned Celebration Ever Have a De-motivating Effect?......Page 222
70 Should Managers Always Look to Promote from Within Before Looking to the Outside World?......Page 225
71 Should Significant Life Events Be Celebrated in the Workplace? If So, How?......Page 228
72 Is There a Dependent Link Between Celebrations and Relationships?......Page 231
73 During Tough Economic Times, Why Is It More Important Than Ever to Keep Up Celebrations, Even Though It May Feel Wrong?......Page 234
74 Do Employees Still Want to Be Celebrated for Their Tenure with a Company?......Page 237
Part Four: Managing Through Problems and Issues......Page 240
75 In Spite of Endless Coaching, Are There Some People Who Have No Drive to Succeed or Improve?......Page 241
76 What Steps Can Managers Take to Prepare Themselves for Managing Through Problems?......Page 244
77 Is a Formal Education Necessary, or Even Helpful, for a Manager to Be Effective in Resolving Disputes?......Page 248
78 Why Would a Well-Developed and Agreed-Upon Performance-Improvement Plan Fail?......Page 251
79 When Managing an Employee Issue, How Critical Is Choosing the Right Words to Deliver the Message?......Page 254
80 Does Body Language Really Matter If the Manager’s Message Is Clear and Direct?......Page 257
81 Why Do Some Managers Deliver Discipline More Effectively Than Others?......Page 260
82 One Bad Apple Can Spoil the Barrel. But What If the Bad Apple Is Adored By Customers?......Page 263
83 What Should an Employee Expect from a Manager When Receiving Coaching or a Difficult Message?......Page 266
84 Is It Appropriate for a Manager to Tackle Office Gossip Head On?......Page 269
85 True or False: Employees Don’t Leave Companies, They Leave Managers.......Page 272
86 How Should a Manager Respond to the Resignation of His or Her Best Employee?......Page 275
87 When Dealing with a Resignation or Termination, Why Is Communication with Co-workers Important?......Page 278
88 What Should Be Done When a Talented Employee’s Skills or Personality Don’t Fit Well with a Manager’s?......Page 280
89 If a Manager Socializes with Employees After Work and Uses the Social Experiences to Build Bonds, Will Employees Still Respect His or Her Authority?......Page 283
90 After an Employee Resigns or Is Terminated, What Can Be Learned from an Effective Exit Interview?......Page 287
91 During Times of Business Change, Even When the Changes Are Positive, What Should Managers Be Focused On?......Page 290
92 What Do’s and Don’ts from Managing Conflicts in Our Personal Lives Should We Incorporate into Resolving Workplace Conflicts?......Page 293
93 When an Exceedingly Difficult Customer Affects the Performance and Motivation of an Employee, How Should Managers Respond?......Page 297
94 Is an Open-Door Policy a Good Policy?......Page 300
95 Can Some Issues Be Resolved with Good, Old-Fashioned Friendship?......Page 304
96 How Do Effective Managers Turn Issues into Opportunities and Successes?......Page 307
97 How Can Managers Prevent Simple Issues from Turning into Disasters?......Page 310
Closing Remarks......Page 314
Index......Page 316
C......Page 317
H......Page 318
N......Page 319
Q–R......Page 320
U–W......Page 321