If you’re a manager

This presentation introduces

How People Work and how you can help them to give their best

by Roderic Gray

Published by FT/Prentice Hall

Understanding “how people work” will make a big difference to your performance.

To give our best performance at work we need to check 9 key enablers:

• I know what I’m expected to do• I want to do it• I have the ability to do it• Someone will notice if I do it• I know how well I’m doing it• Processes help me to do it• I have the resources to do it• The environment is right• I can do it better next time

I know what I’m

expected to do

I want to do it

I have the

ability to do it

Someone will notice if I do it

I know how well I’m

doing it

Processes help me to do it

I have the

resources to do it

The environment is right

I can do it better

next time

Intr

oduc

tion

• I know what I’m expected to do (and why it needs to be done)

Everyone has many different roles in life:

Project team member

Subordinate

Quiz team organiser

Mentor

Brother

Father

Cousin

Neighbour

Member of PTA

Southend United fan

Patient

Husband

Son

Social contact

Boss

Friend

Someone who knows about Excel

Head of SalesSon-in-law

Colleague

We need to know what’s expected of us

~ and by whom ~

in each of our roles.

(1)

This chapter explainspotential problems with roles, and how to make roles work for you.

Cha

pter

1

• I know what I’m expected to do (and why it needs to be done)

Having a goal, or target, helps us focus on what’s important.

But targets can also have serious ~ and damaging ~ side effects.

(2)

The second part of Chapter 1 explains how to agree targets, and turn them into positive aids to performance.

(and shows that SMART can sometimes be DUMB).

Cha

pter

1

• I want to do it

There are basically two reasons why people do things:

Because they want to or Because they have to.

It’s a popular myth that money

are effective ways to motivate people at work.

or fear

But there are more productive bases for performance, such as good job design, which makes the job worth doing for its own sake.

Cha

pter

2

• I have the ability to do it

The ability to do something comes from two sources:

potential

+acquired skills and knowledge

This chapter first looks at selecting people who have the potential to do a good job ~ and then goes on to explore:

Cha

pter

3

• how we learn, and

• how to plan and implement training

• Someone will notice if I do it

who matters to

meThere’s little satisfaction from doing a good job if no-one notices.

This chapter tells you how you can show your people that their efforts are appreciated ~ or that they aren’t quite coming up to scratch ~ and you can even make the most of the dreaded annual appraisal.

The popular theme of leadership is treated with a healthy dose of realism,

and the chapter finishes with some thoughts on power, influence and trust.

Cha

pter

4

• I know how well I’m doing it

First we have to decide what the standard should be:

(But why should we believe what they say?)

Olympic Gold

School sports cupthen get feedback on how we

did, from our own observations, and objective measures,

Satisfaction in a job well done is a good feeling but for real satisfaction we have to compare for ourselves what we actually did against our own “quality standards”.

Cha

pter

5

and from others.

• Processes help me to do it

A process is a series of activities linked together:Pour glass

of wineHang

wallpaperGlossEmulsionUndercoatSand

woodworkStrip old

wallpaper

Cha

pter

6

Processes call for strong but light-touch management ~ ensuring the inputs and outputs are right but freeing people to do the transformations their own way.

(1)

Most work activities involve:

inputs from someone or somewhere else

transformation which changes or adds value

outputs to someone or somewhere else

• Processes help me to do it

Teams are made up of people each bringing their own skills, talents and experience to a common task.

(this doesn’t necessarily make them easy to manage.)

Cha

pter

6

(2)

Teams have a character ~ and a life-cycle ~

FORMING

STORMING

NORMING

PERFORMING

MOURNING(adjourning)

of their own which managers can use to achieve the best results.

• Processes help me to do it

The way people make decisions ~ and the many things that can go wrong ~ have been studied for decades.

Cha

pter

6

(3)

We often use mental models ~ called heuristics ~ to decide what to do, but these can be misleading and cause us to make mistakes.

Chapter 6 finishes with a review of decision-making processes and gives some tips on how to avoid the common pitfalls.

No

Yes

Yes/perhaps

No

Yes

Do the skills/ knowledge/ understanding of relevant

employees meet the requirements?

No

Don’t know

Yes

No

Define the training

requirement

Yes

Yes

Are there difficulties in achieving objectives, implementing

strategy, getting work done?

NoIs the problem attributable to lack of skills/ knowledge/

understanding?

Can the required skills/ knowledge/

understanding be defined?

Can the situation be improved

through training?

Perhaps you should try something

more challenging.

Further research/ analysis

required, but not a training-related

issue.

Further research/ analysis required.

Further research/ analysis required.

Further research/ analysis

required, but not a training-related

issue?

No

Would training be beneficial for other reasons?

Not a training-related issue.

• I have the resources to do itC

hapt

er 7

Work activities have 3 stages:

Inputs are the resources needed to get the job done.

There are 5 kinds:

people & skills raw materials part-completed work

tools & equipment information

Managers have to see that necessary resources are there when they’re needed:Chapter 7 gives some tips.

inputs transformation outputs

• The environment is rightC

hapt

er 8

(1)

An organisation’s culture is like an individual’s personality.

It begins with the characteristics that were put in place when it was first established:

~ and develops and changes in response to experiences throughout the organisation’s lifetime.

Because of this it’s very hard to change (despite what you might have heard). The key to success is to understand the culture you’ve got ~ and learn to work with it.

• The environment is rightC

hapt

er 8

(2)

An organisation’s climate can be summed up as “what it feels like to work here.”

It has a big effect on performance and unlike organisational culture it responds quickly to management action.

Favourable climate

High performance

Chapter 8 goes on to explain the factors that make up an organisation’s climate ~ and how to make it better.

work satisfactionparticipation

freedom for ideasfreedom for concerns

freedom to questionfreedom to try

new things

purposive threatenvironmental threat

• The environment is rightC

hapt

er 8

(3)

Everyone experiences stress from time to time.

BUT ~ we aren’t designed to work incrisis mode for very long. If it carries on ~ or if we’re vulnerable for any reason ~ it can lead to ill health, depression and accidents, and to poor performance!

Stress is nature’s way of keeping us alive ~ it prepared our ancestors for “fight or flight” when faced with a crisis.

Chapter 8 shows how you can manage and reduce workplace stress ~ for yourself and for your people.

• I can do it better next timeC

hapt

er 9

Chapter 9 looks at the characteristics of a “learning organisation” ~ and how to encourage organisational learning and growth.

Learning almost inevitably leads to change. People can be frightened of change, usually because they don’t know ~ and can’t control ~ what it will mean for them. This chapter shows various ways of finding out where you are now, where you’d rather be, and how to get from here to there without destroying moraleor losing your people’s support.

• Putting it togetherC

hapt

er 1

0

“How People Work” begins with the pieces of a jigsaw.

On its own, none of these is enough to bring about the best performance you or your people can give ~ but together they can lead to real improvements.

I know what I’m expected to do

I have the ability to do it

I know how well I’m doing it

I want to do it

The environment is right

Someone will notice if I do it

Processes help me

to do it

I have the

resources to do it

I can do it better

next time

The final chapter shows how organisations are systems where every part interacts with all the others. People are the most important parts of the system. Helping them to work more effectively is the key to organisational success.

How People Work

and how you can help them to give their best

by Roderic Gray

is published by FT/Prentice Hall and is available at bookshops and online.

For more information about this and Roderic Gray’s other publications, consulting and coaching work please visit:

www.kumpania.co.uk

ISBN 0 273 694 90 1