More BAD ideas 1

[aplusc]

I'm deffinately not in any type of managing postion(although I wish I would be), but hopefully I can provide a different perspective on this as part of "the technical staff".

Bad ideas:

1. Holding meetings with high-level management. My manager thinks this is a good idea, but it really isnt. The first time I had to talk to my bosses boss, I was mostly freaked out. The guy talked about things like deadlines and budget(!), which resulted in much paranoia for the next few weeks.

2. Bizzar Policies/Standards. If your company has a "non-standard" standard, make sure to tell it to your staff about it before they screw up the whole project.

3. Talking about other employees. This also results in paranoia. I.E. "If my boss is talking to me about her, what does he say to other people about me?"

 

[DonQuichote]

Actually, I do not think that meeting people is a bad idea at all. This includes higher management. Especially, if the higher management people would normally get to know nothing more than how much it costs or how long it takes.

Of course this all depends of how 'far' away the manager is from the everyday work, but it certainly does not hurt to know what your colleagues are doing. It may well be that your manager has learned that there is more to the job than budgets and schedules while you were freaking out.

Do not let yourself be scared. ;-)

 

[Kjonnnn]

Working with all levels will make you more valuable.. dont fight it. Its gives u a clearer idea of the big picture.

 

[DropOJupiter]

Presently i manage a group of 58 staff from across Canada nad now breaking into the states. Motivation is a tough nut to crack.

I agree with most if not all the points that APLUSE has stated in his/her posting of April 1st 2002, however i would add that meetings with bosses should be held with key individuals within your immediate team, this gives the impression that there is definate movement forward and upward and enables that individual to assume a leadership position within the team, as well as someone to push to get the team to re-focus. It is not a good idea to have the entire team involved in a upper management meeting and it is fairly important to stress the fact that they are there to observe, any technical concerns should be brought up at a later time when you and your team member can be more candid with the discussion.

I also believe that management should remember to focus on who they are, they may have climed the corporate ladder to the lofty plateau of manager or director however they should remember that the individuals that they manage are the Oil so to speak in their well of knoledge. Management tends to make demands on their team that are completely out of the relm of reality simply because their VP or CEO has demanded that this be done... I have fallen into this trap.....If you want to unmotivate your staff quickly, start making stupid demands on them. The key is to listen, think, develop and then once you have all the facts ...Act. Your staff will not only thank you for presenting their views profesionally they will feel the rewards of feeling valuable.