ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 22, 1996 TAG: 9612230121
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Working it Out
SOURCE: CAMILLE WRIGHT MILLER
Q: My best employee performs at an excellent level, but doesn't seem to want to advance. His work is excellent, but he doesn't take advantage of professional growth opportunities I make available. His lack of initiative has forced me to promote someone else ahead of him. I hate to see that this is as far as he goes.
A: People can't be forced to be more than they want to be; however, it's possible your employee doesn't know how highly you regard his performance or what you view as the requirements for the promotion track.
Make sure you're clear on the skills and experience you want your employee to gain from opportunities you offer.
Evaluate the opportunities you've offered. Some opportunities may not offer strong benefits, once analyzed. Are they directed at technical skills linked to tasks he performs? Skills linked to his ability to work with and manage others? Credential opportunities such as certification or degrees?
Network and association memberships with opportunities to learn from others and practice skills? What should be accomplished with each?
When you meet with him, tell him the position you'd like to coach him toward. Identify what it will take for him to achieve that level.
Ask what his goals are and how he envisions his career path. If he has no desire to move above his current position, discuss what growth opportunities he should pursue to maintain his current position.
If your conversation uncovers a desire to move ahead, establish, together, a time frame for the skills you want him to master. It's possible he, despite your offerings, remains unaware of how important these opportunities are to his professional advancement. Communication and ongoing feedback are difficult to master. Keep in mind that while you know how important these opportunities are, you may not have clearly conveyed your beliefs.
Q: At work I'll occasionally stumble on what seems like a private conversation. I get the sense I'm intruding. How do I handle this gracefully?
A. Work-and nonwork-related conversations take place where people find one another or where there's what appears to be "private space." This is largely a consequence of more open office space and the use of cubicles, which limit privacy.
Open work arrangements demand that we remain sensitive to interrupting conversations. The reality is we may stumble into an employee's reprimand or some other private discussion.
However, inconsequential conversations also occur in those same settings.
Stay aware as you move through the building. When you see others in conversation, assess facial expressions, posture, rate of speech, tone of voice and volume. These are excellent indicators of whether a conversation is closed or open.
If you believe a conversation is open, greet your co-workers and ask if you're intruding. If you're invited into the conversation, immediately dismiss feelings of intrusion and enjoy the exchange.
If you're told the conversation is private, accept that at face value. Don't personalize the exclusion. Simply excuse yourself.
Q: I've been working at delegating more challenging assignments to my staff. Still, I have a tendency to check on their progress too frequently. It's a joke with them that I don't believe a project will hatch unless I personally sit on it.
A: Beyond deciding what to delegate, the most difficult role of the delegating supervisor is to allow staff members to have the freedom to succeed or fail on their own. It's possible you've moved beyond your comfort level by moving too quickly. It's useful to begin by delegating routine tasks. Evaluate the outcome as well as the process.
Were you kept informed? Were deadlines met? What was the quality of the final product? If your expectations weren't met, give the individual feedback and another routine task. If your expectations were met, assign more complex projects. Continue increasing the level of difficultly for those who can handle the challenges. Gradually increasing the level of delegation depends on each individual's readiness to handle varying levels of work.
Part of any manager's job is delegation. It frees managers to perform even more difficult projects. As important, it prepares employees for future promotions. Keep in mind that you're grooming your staff. Micro-managing what you've assigned is counterproductive to efficiency, mentoring and the best use of your time.
Take advantage of the freed-up time to make progress on your own more-complex projects.
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.
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