Managing Employees

There are different personality types in the workplace. If you only have two members on your team, you can see the diversity. Differences add value as individual perspectives can increase the effectiveness and productivity of a group. When a group works well together, there is enthusiasm and everyone benefits from individual contributions.

It would be great if all managers had employees that arrive at work on time, never complained, were self-motivated to perform at above satisfactory levels and were happy to at work. This doesn’t always happen.

“Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.” –Harriet Braiker

Take a moment to ask yourself where you put your emphasis on – excellence or perfection.

Do you have an understanding of the difference between excellence and perfection?  Being clear around the differences will help you make better decisions for yourself and in managing employees.  Let’s first define the two words:

Perfection: the quality or state of being perfect: as freedom from fault or defect

Excellence – very good of its kind : eminently good

What is perfection?

Every manager at some time in their career experiences anger when interacting with people.  An employee challenges you, low performance levels or an incorrect decision made by an employee can stir up strong emotions.  There are many opportunities to react to employees with anger, yet does this reaction, if expressed, help the employee or you?

How would you evaluate your frustration or anger levels?   For some managers, anger is a chronic behavioral issue that influences their productivity and effectiveness of the team. In this case, it’s really more about the manager’s unhappiness in their role.