The Unwritten Rules
Leadership In The Work Place
by
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I say “guard your thoughts” because they will always lead to words and action. As in cause and effect, your thoughts are the cause and your words and actions are the effect. If you embrace the wrong story, you may never see the right one. Good thoughts will never have bad results, and if you share good thoughts with others, you are planting seeds all around you. “Whether they are positive or negative, Your thoughts are the beginnings of your results.” I would be remiss here if I didn’t also illustrate the connection between your attitude and beginnings. Consider this. Your job is full of beginnings. Each day has a beginning; so to with each week, month, and year. Each new responsibility, project or process has a beginning. Your relationships with each new employee, new co-worker, new client and new boss have a beginning. A “right beginning” is one of the most important things you as a manager should strive for and foster amongst your staff. On this note, I personally focus on and look for the right attitude at the interview stage with new employees. I check on aptitude but look for attitude. An aptitude for the job is important but the right attitude is critical. So many times, I have seen people hired for aptitude and fired for attitude. New employees know from day one, what I’m looking for, and that sets the tone for their “right beginning” with the organization. Another way to work your attitude and avoid undermining your staff’s attitude, is by managing your own critical remarks. I’m not referring here to suggestions for improvement or constructive criticism tactfully shared, I’m referring to the damage caused by thoughtlessly venting frustration to the wrong audience. At the end of the day, it has never been an effective use of anyone’s time to criticize the inevitable. What’s important to you as a new manager is to “not” set yourself up as the one folks could point to as the leader of the critics! Your job is to solve problems, not create or magnify them; to be a change agent rather than a source of resistance to change; by communicating so your staff understand the issues that affect them. A private discussion with your boss where you might express your concerns is appropriate, whereas outspoken workplace criticism isn’t. “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.” ~ Vince Lombardi~ Whenever you are in a group, think about how contagious you are. Enthusiasm, determination, optimism, and confidence are contagious; unfortunately, so too are cynicism, pessimism, passive aggressiveness, and doubt. Good or bad attitudes are equally infectious and if unchecked, can spread from one to another. Recognize the power your attitude has to halt a negative trend and positively affect the attitudes of others, and then use it.
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About the Book
Effective management impacts everything from the front line to the bottom line. As workplace leaders; the managers that deal most frequently with the front line staff have the greatest impact on a workplace's culture and funtionality. They are unique in their position to directly impact productivity and growth. Couple this with the fact every workplace has its own intrinsic rules that are not written down as policy or process, but are every bit as critical to a manager's effectiveness. Awareness and adherance to these unwritten rules is key to effective management. Inside “The Unwritten Rules” are twenty of the most important and the most applicable unwritten rules found in most businesses and organizations. Non-adherance to these rules can negatively impact employees and companies in many ways. One usually learns these rules over time as hindsight reveals their reality and importance. “The Unwritten Rules” saves you that time!
About the Author
Guy P. Fehr, RPA. FMP. has sixteen years experience in the private sector and twenty-four years experience in the public sector. His forty years experience includes Facility Management, Administration, Organizational Development, Project Delivery, Maintenance and Operations, Construction and the Trades, Mining, Contracting, Railroads, Retail, Warehousing, and Trucking. Throughout his career, Guy has made a study of the workplace leaders encountered and he has utilized the lessons learned in the coaching and mentoring of numerous supervisors and managers, honing their day to day leadership skills. Currently, working with a team of roughly one hundred and forty staff, he oversees the maintenance and operations of a five million square foot portfolio comprised of twenty-one healthcare facilities. Mr. Fehr has been married for forty years. He and his wife live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.