This is it, plain and simple: As a supervisor, manager, or business owner, your job is to direct the work of others, not to do their work for them. In order to achieve that in a timely and efficient manner, it’s your job to communicate your expectations in ways they understand.

If your employees are unclear about the assignment or the manner in which you want it done, they’ll do one of three things: figure it out and do it right; figure it out and do it wrong; wait until you figure out that they didn’t figure it out.

Then you’ll do one of three things: Give another assignment to the one who did it right; tell the one who did it wrong to do it again; tell the one who didn’t do anything to get it done.

The one who got it right the first time will get it right the second time. The one who did it wrong will get a second chance to do it wrong. The one who didn’t do anything won’t do anything.

Then you’ll do one of three things: You’ll give three more jobs to the one who did it right. You’ll yell at the one who’s done it wrong twice. You’ll ask the one who didn’t do anything to run a few errands and get you some coffee.

Before you know it, six months will have passed. The one who gets it right is doing the work of both the one who does it wrong and the one who doesn’t do anything but run a few errands and get you coffee.

By the end of the year, the one who gets it right has joined the competition. They’ve given him a big  promotion and a salary increase. The one who gets it wrong has posted for a transfer and accused you of verbal harassment.  The one who doesn’t do anything but run errands has opened a messenger service and has signed a lucrative contract with your company.

If you tell employees more than they need or want to know, they feel micro managed. If you tell them less, they think you’ve set them up to fail.  Your challenge is in knowing who needs how much of what.

How do you manage that?

Ask. Don’t tell. Ask people what they need before telling them what you think they ought to know. Individuals intake and process information differently. For example:

You’re a big picture person. You describe your expectations in vague yet optimistic language.

“There’s nothing to getting this job done. Just take a whack at it. Piece of cake!”

If the person you’re addressing is, like you, a big picture optimist, he’s off and running, confident in his ability to get the job done. What can go wrong? what you get isn’t what you envisioned it would be, and you say so. The employee is frustrated that you’ve not been more clear.

Same story. You’ve described an assignment in vague and minimal terms. The person you’re talking to needs details, a starting point, steps along the way. You brush the request aside as unimportant. What will you get in return? Little to nothing. Not knowing where to start, nothing gets done. The employee is discouraged about her ability to be successful in the job.

Change scenario.

You are a manager who is very clear about your expectations and precise about how you want the job done. You spell out each step in detail, leaving no room for guesswork. You’ve had problems in the past so you point out the pitfalls of the assignment. What can happen? Mixed bag. If the employee is hungry for what you’ve provided, you’ll get what you wanted. If the employee is creative, she’ll feel stifled by your restrictions. She’ll either do it her way, which won’t be your way, or she’ll get involved in another project that gives her what she wants.

There’s no way you’ll know what’s best for employees unless you ask them. If what they need is different from what you like to deliver, find a place that satisfies everyone. That will only come when you are willing to include their thinking in your resolution.

Bottom line, you want employees who will get the job done and stay around long enough to contribute to the company in significant ways. If they do it right, you’re doing it right, and if all of you like what you do, and your boss does too, you’ll all get to stay around.

And that’s it, plain and simple.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com

American workers have been struggling with mixed blessings of merger and downsizing for over twenty years now. No wonder. It’s a challenge for any large system to rapidly expand and contract without putting unnecessary strain on the people who make up that system.

I’ve been working with the emotional impact of these changes on employees since the early 80’s. Back then my clients were principally working in smokestack industries, companies located in Illinois, Ohio, andPennsylvania. Before long, financial institutions were hit hard and clients came primarily from the east and northeast. Then it became open season. No publicly held  company was safe.

It hit home when my clients were my neighbors. They were from here. They still are.

The feelings, frustrations, and challenges those early clients shared are the same as those I hear today:

Mergers, friendly or hostile take longer and are more complex than their proponents estimate. Employees who are affected (and everyone is affected) move to Limbo, which is located somewhere between Work as We Knew It and A Brand New Day. While in Limbo they learn the native dance.

Rules for doing the Limbo: employees bend over backwards to pass under a bar. The more flexible, the more likely they are to succeed. When they do, the bar is lowered and the dance repeated. Their goal is to accomplish whatever they can, heading backward, looking skyward, moving forward.

There are three ways to leave Limbo: don’t follow  rules, fail at following rules, be limber enough to get to A Brand New Day.

Not everyone experiences mergers in the same way. Some employees are catalysts for change and welcome transition. Others are survivalists who find order in chaos. Some plainly see opportunities their more grim faced colleagues miss. What they all struggle with is the tangled time it takes for employee roles and goals to be re-positioned and re-aligned so that everyone knows who gets to play in the new game and who doesn’t.

No matter your perspective, what counts is traveling through Limbo as a survivor and not a victim. Here are some ways to book passage:

1. Develop a goal focused, three option plan so that you can choose whether you want to become part of the new organization; you want an exit strategy; or you want time to decide where your best interest lies.
2. Develop tactics essential to each option:

Tactics for merger survival:

1. Know what you bring to the table and its value to the company. Spell it out whenever appropriate.
2. Be consistently trustworthy, flexible, and pragmatic; responsible as well accountable.
3. Focus on outcomes.
4. Have a Plan B.

Tactics for a successful exit (otherwise known as Plan B):

1. Do all the above.
2. Develop a search process:

Mobilize external networks of contacts to include accountants, developers, commercial lenders, attorneys and consultants who you know and who are likely to know employers needing individuals of your caliber and capability.

1. Learn more about prospective companies than their advertising implies. You’re looking for a good match more than a place that looks good.

Tactics for buying time:

1. Do all the above.
2. Evaluate your strengths and skill sets relative to the merged company’s direction.
3. Determine which are value added, redundant, and/or irrelevant.
4. Make your decision.
5. Take action.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com

Last week I meet with four very talented and very disagreeable employees whose careers were on the chopping block. They had one universal complaint: No one told them they were going to get fired until it was too late to do anything about it.

Were they told in advance and did they have sufficient time and support to turn themselves around?

The employees’ case: They received significant promotions and salary increases that indicated they were recognized as high performers. Three of the four employees did not receive formal reviews. One employee had infrequent written reviews with evaluation ratings of “outstanding” and  “superior”.

All four were told, informally, that they were aggressive and hard to work with. The one individual who received written evaluations said that there was commentary that referred to her “aggressive style” and need to “tone it down”. None perceived the comments as warnings but merely as descriptions of how others felt about their behavior.

The employers’ case: The four employees were considered “essential to the ongoing profitability” of their respective companies. Each of the employees under discussion had bosses who had “flown cover” for them, over the sometimes strenuous objections of peers, and in two cases, vendors. Three of the four had experienced turnover in their departments, which, although high, was positioned as proportionate to the industry. There was general agreement that although the individuals described were reminded of their “developmental needs” they were not warned that changes were immediately warranted and that consequences for not responding would result in termination.

In all four cases, the Human Resources representatives accepted responsibility for not having been more clear and resolute in follow up, while saying that without having a clear directive from the top, they felt powerless to move to a “warning” or “disciplinary action” that would have resulted in termination.

If you are in a position to lead or manage others, here are some ways to do it better:

As much as think you communicate, communicate more. As many questions as you ask, ask more. If you think people are confused, they are.

If you know you’re avoiding what needs attending, attend to it. Then get back to basics:

Define the culture of your company. What do you stand for, believe in, care about, value most? Commit to it. Communicate it. Get the word out in every way possible. Tell your clients, customers, vendors, and above all, your employees. Live it and live up to it, from the top down.

Define the mission of your company. For what purpose does your company exist? What sets you apart? Why do customers/clients select your product, process or service over your competitor’s? What are your strategies for communicating a value-added difference to those who impact your success?

Target the competition that exists outside your company, not within it. Who are they? Where are they? What do you need to do better than they? How will you do it? What’s your winning strategy and how will you coalesce your team behind it?

Get to know the employees who work for you. The more you understand their work style, strengths, and skill sets, the better you can match them to positions that enable them to succeed. Learn what employees need to be successful. Provide them training and resources that make it happen.

Set  clear expectations and desired outcomes and describe what both should look like. Motivate employees by focusing on their individual strengths and achievements. Stay focused on the right fit. Give them the education and development they need to achieve.

Provide on-going and timely feedback that is both formal and informal. Institute multi-rater feedback loops within your company that enable peers, direct reports, and supervisor/managers to share constructive insights about each other.  Identify what isn’t working and why, not to place blame but to find the cause. Separate the person from the problem. Fix the problem.

To ignore bad behavior is to condone it. To condone it is to tolerate it. If you tolerate it, it will continue. If it continues, the negative results are predictable.

Ignorance isn’t an answer, it’s an excuse. Bosses who know their job and their employees, know what to address, with whom, and when. The challenge is in the space between knowing and doing. Are you up to the challenge?

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com

John Q. Employer is expecting you. He’s been interviewing for the last few weeks and he’s getting a little frustrated. He wants to hire someone and he’s determined to do it right. He’ll take the time he needs. It’s worth it to him.

You were due at 2:00 p.m. It’s 2:15 p.m. and you are nowhere in sight.  You finally roll in close to 2:30, flashing a broad smile, extending an energetic handshake and brandishing several earnest excuses.

You’re late. Strike one.

John Q., irritated but not deterred, begins the interview. He starts with a few basic questions.

“Fred, why are you interested in coming to work for us?”

You’re immediately thrown off guard. You don’t know if you are interested in working for him and you don’t know anything about the company. What can you say?

“John, I’m glad you asked me that question. I’m interested in working here because you have a job opening.”

Bad answer. Strike two.

John Q. Employer is giving this young man one more chance.

“Fred, what can you do for us?”

Rats. Another tough question. How are you supposed to know what you can do for him? Turn up the charm and personality, that usually works.

“John, I’m glad you asked that question. What do you need doing?”

Strike three. Go home, Fred.

What does it take to have a successful interview and subsequent job offer? How about Three P’s: Punctuality, Preparation, and Priorities.

Punctuality. This one is easy. Get there on time. Be on the safe side, and get there a little earlier than on time. That gives you time to settle your nerves, focus your thoughts, and remember your name.

Preparation. This one has three parts and as the word implies, takes some time and effort.

1. Prepare questions for the interviewer by researching the company’s history, reputation, products, markets, and profit potential.
2. Prepare answers to questions. Examples: Why do you want to work for us? What can you do for us? How quickly can you do it? Why should we hire you? (If you need more examples of open ended interview questions, check the careers section of the public library or your favorite bookstore.)
3. Prepare to negotiate.
4. Know your real value (skill X experience).
5. Know your perceived value (who benefits from your skill and experience).
6. Know how to communicate your real and perceived value.
7. Know your walk away offer (if it’s any lower you’ll walk away).

Priorities. It’s a given that you need income to pay for your basic needs (food, shelter, and clothing). You need a good income to pay for anything more than that. If  an interviewer asks why you want a particular job and “for the money” is the only reason you give, you’re likely to disqualify yourself. Not because money is your priority, but because it would appear to be the only priority you have. The one time a money answer works is when joining a company that’s only interested in hiring warm bodies. In that case, you’re a good match.

Priorities describe the relative order of your values. Your values are a composite expression of  self interest, self awareness, self discipline, self esteem, and self expression: What do you care about most? What interests you most? How far will you go to achieve what you want? What aren’t you willing to do? What lines won’t you cross?

The more aware you are, the more clearly you can describe yourself, your strengths, your skills, and how you can make a difference to the company that hires you.

The more aware you are, the more clear you are about the kind of company that brings out the best in you, and enables you to be your most productive, loyal, and trustworthy.

John Q. Employer is expecting you.

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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.