They seemed ready for the next step (Web Sight)

It’s often been said that good managers are one of the most important factors in an employee’s decision to stay or leave an employer. Because of that, companies can’t afford to have bad managers and yet many continue to find themselves coping with the problem of great employees becoming terrible managers.
This issue’s Web Sight offers some readings so that, hopefully, the problem can be avoided in your organization.

Power gap
www.copbiz.com/Articles/Power%20Gap.htm

The site explains that when supervisors feel powerless to demand acceptable work from their employees, a Power Gap exists. The reason commonly given nowadays is “lack of support from above.” While seldom true, the belief runs deep; it is almost unshakable in this generation of supervisors. The good news is that the article provides advice on how to close the Power Gap.

Providing context
http://allafrica.com/stories/200111290408.html

This article is from halfway around the world but even so, the story is a familiar one. Tony Manning of South Africa explains that “once there are more than a few people the best a leader can do is create the conditions — the context — in which other people will produce results. In fact, this is the ultimate leadership task.” This brief article provides some interesting references supporting the importance of effective leadership.

To the point
•www.onlinebusadv.com/bread64.html
•www.onlinebusadv.com/bread37.html

The Online Business Advisor offers advice in the form of short “to-the-point” essays. These links have a number for your perusal. Of interest is the essay The Stubborn Manager which is a must read for new managers and Inventory Your People, which identifies the responsibilities of managers up to and including terminating poor performers. Those who like this page will find more current advice following the link Daily Bread ($$$).

Keeping the good ones
www.adamsandassoc.com/pdf/EMPLRETN.pdf

This article titled Don’t Let the Good Ones Get Away is presented in PDF (Adobe) format. Six pages of easy reading, this article equates your best employees with volunteers — people who are so skilled they can go anywhere — but for some reason stay loyal to your organization. Divided into three sections, the article delves into the factors leading to turnover, improving employee retention, and finally, the upside of turnover.

Motivational environment
http://managementezine.com/moten1a.htm

J. Daniel Emmanuel starts his presentation with these two bold statements: All people are self-motivated, and the mark of a good manager is not what the employees do when the manager is around, but what they do when the manager is not around. He presents what would be, if not for its accuracy, a humourous description of the dictator, a style of manager that most of us have encountered somewhere along the way.

Joe Nunes is an actuary and president of Actuarial Solutions Inc. in Oakville, Ont. He can be reached at (905) 257-2038 or [email protected].

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