ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9605310035
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAMILLE WRIGHT MILLER
Q: We're shifting to "participative leadership." Our managers have held full authority over employees. How do we get them to change behavior and include employees in decision making?
A: Change requires understanding old systems, desired goals and modification of behavior. Gailen R. Miles, founder and president of MileStone Performance, says that to understand the discarded system, consider that "under the old paradigm, management focused on investment, administration and management of resources to benefit the bottom line, the accounting figures."
While management focused there, "employees were asked to split their focus between customers and, the stronger focus, pleasing the boss." Employees often "wouldn't please the customer because they were afraid of displeasing the boss."
Participative leadership "is in helping everyone in the organization take responsibility and accountability for their job," Miles says. In doing so, "resources are managed to benefit customers. Employees, seen as capable and responsible, focus on customers to please themselves," she says. "Where authoritarian actions were rewarded, you have to uncondition that behavior" and replace it with the behavior you want. Miles notes that behavior changes "start with communication. You must be able to express yourself to your people" in clear and understandable terms. Make your goals known and clear.
In her work with MileStone, and as a partner in Peridot Inc., Miles counsels "introducing one principle for seven days. Use the principle, practice it and evaluate it."
Once individuals "experience success, the second piece can be added." New pieces are added, one at a time, with each successive mastery of new behavior.
Expect the process to take time. True behavior change rarely occurs overnight.
Q: My job is part-time, with part-time salary and no benefits. However, because it's project-based work, I end up working far more than the 25 hours I'm paid for. I resent the unpaid work. If I do less, they'll think I'm not really working.
A: Responsibility for the full-time work/part-time pay complaint lies with both employees and employers. Pride in performance creates an inability to stop working when contracted hours have been reached, and employers rarely get accurate feedback on the number of actual hours worked.
Keep a log documenting the hours you've worked. Evaluate the log. Was every task necessary? Was every hour used to its best advantage? Evaluate your work.
Then, identify your goals. Do you want to continue with the hours and be compensated, or do you want to reduce work time to the hours agreed upon?
Meet with your supervisor and explain the problem. Ask for help in identifying acceptable solutions, stating your preferences.
In the future, keep your supervisor informed of your progress, note what can be completed in the agreed-on hours, then stop working. Your supervisor will likely accept your new pace or offer increased hours.
Q: I receive work-related calls at home - a source of increasing conflict with my spouse. I confess I'm also tired of missing time with my family while I take calls, but it comes with the paycheck.
A: Phone calls at home are prompted by several things. Review the underlying causes that generate home calls. See if you can more effectively manage office calls to reduce the evening/weekend intrusions.
For emerging situations likely to prompt late phone calls, discuss how to address the problem should it arise and ask that you be called in the morning with an update.
Before you give your home number, ask yourself if it's truly necessary to do so.
When giving the number, state that you can reached there "in an emergency, such as...'' and give examples.
Finally, institute control at home. Employ an answering machine during the dinner hour and important family time.
Establish a triage system for handling calls: emergency, brief, complex. Handle emergency calls immediately. Ask others if you can return their calls.
Establish a family agreed-on time to return calls - say, from 8-8:30 each evening. If calls can be handled with a brief conversation, do so. For lengthier calls, offer to call in the morning when your files and related materials are available.
It's easy to feel valued when others constantly call on you, but such status comes at a price. Slippery boundaries between work and family can damage both.
Camille Wright Miller, an organizational behavior sociologist who works in Lexington, answers questions from our readers about workplace issues. Please send them to her in care of The Roanoke Times, Business News Department, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 linesby CNB