Mike wrote:
>like i said, administration is a skill, and getting good at it takes a
>serious investment of time and effort.
>pretty bright, and if we took the time to get reasonably good at making
>PERT charts, GANNT charts, and writing schedules, we could walk all over
>these turkeys. after all: we're the ones who know the real numbers.
True, there are few people that invest the effort to learn to manage
others. But there's a lot more to learn about managing people than making
charts and schedules. First one must learn to manage oneself. The main
difference between a poor manager and a good one is the good manager's
ability to solicit and *truly* hear input from the people who work for the
manager.
Most managers are so busy defending their own positions that they can't
really hear the answers they get. A very large rafting company/whitewater
canoeing and kayaking school I once worked for hired a management
consulting firm to do an attitude survey, then brought together all
employees for a big staff meeting to review results of the survey. The
chief complaint of instructors was that they worked very long hours, from
7:00 am til after 10 pm most days. No one at the company made much money;
about $50/day on average. The instruction staff wanted to be paid extra
because they made the same amount of money for a 15 hr day as the raft
guides made for a 7 hour day. At the big staff meeting, the CEO's response
was, "We're professionals, and professionals make salaries and don't get
paid overtime." That statement signaled everyone on staff that management
really didn't give a s**t how employees felt. Within a year or two, at
least 5 or 6 of the company's top career instructors left the company (my
son works for the kayak school one of them started).
After realizing I had no idea how to run an ad agency, I put myself through
two years of rigorous management training, which involved intense therapy,
self-awareness training, plus conventional skills training. In the end, I
decided I didn't really want to be a manager. I like doing art work and
design, not managing people. Oh well... I guess that's what comes with
knowing yourself.
Suz
Suzanne Stephens, Dave Stephens Design; Ashland, Oregon
541-552-1190, 541-1192 http://www.KickassDesign.com/
CyberCircus Grand Prize Winners http://www.thecybercircus.com/
Web Page Design for Designers: http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdres.htm
Clip Art: http://www.freeimages.com/artists/
Tender Loving Care Interactive DVD movie: http://tenderlovingcare.cc/
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