Leadership and Management Quotes

Survival Tips for New Managers

Congratulations! You made it to management after years of hard work and sacrifice. You received the raise you deserve. You got the office space you wanted. You have the title you always dreamed of. Now what?

After all, your responsibilities are different now: hiring, firing, mentoring. If you’re looking for new manager advice, you’ve come to the right place. Here are three tips for new managers to help ease the transition from staff member to decision maker:

1. Recognize that moving up the corporate ladder is a big adjustment. No matter how successful you were as a member of the team, things will be different now. Instead of focusing on a specialized task, your goals will place more emphasis on the big picture—from hiring new staff to planning an efficient work flow. The transition will require the ability to learn new skills as well as the patience to navigate the sometimes steep learning curve.

2. Understand that management is not a popularity contest. When it comes to providing tips for new managers, this is a piece of advice no one likes to give. Even if you were the employee that everyone—from the CEO to the part-time help—loved, you’ll now be working with people who have their own agendas. And, as unfortunate as it might be, expect to be the target of backbiting, gossip, or finger pointing. Be wary of how you handle these situations, though, because a few of these less-than-nice colleagues may have the power to launch or sink your career.

3. Know that pressure will magnify your weaknesses. Whether you’re quick to anger or slow to act, those personality quirks that didn’t mean as much in the past will be under the magnifying glass when you’re a new manager. What’s worse, these weaknesses become even more apparent when the pressures of leadership start weighing on your shoulders. It’s time to recognize your shortcomings and work to eliminate them.

4. Aim high and put challenges in their proper place. Perhaps your desire to achieve was one of the reasons you were promoted in the first place. It’s a success-building quality that will take you far; but don’t hold such high expectations that the frustration of dealing with office politics or other stumbling blocks wears you down into a beaten and exhausted shell. One of the important traits of successful managers is the ability to prioritize challenges and focus on the ones that matter.

If being a manager were easy, everyone could do it. The truth is that it’s a challenge. Follow these tips for new managers and start down the path toward becoming the leader you know you can be.

Dianne Shaddock is the Founder of Easy Small Business HR, Employee Hiring and Managing Tips. Through the Employee Hiring and Managing Tips podcast, blog, and weekly ‘quick tips’ e-newsletters, Dianne offers expert advice on how to make better hiring decisions, manage difficult employees, develop employee policies, motivate staff, and so much more. No stuffy, corporate HR policy lingo; but straight forward, easy to understand and implement advice for businesses just like yours. Stay ahead of the curve and go to Easy Small Business HR for more tips on how to hire and manage your staff effectively.

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Inspirational Business Quotes: Employee Management Words Of Wisdom

Sometimes it is a few simple words that can help us to approach our work differently or change our behavior in ways that allow us to learn and grow.

I’ve combined both my all time favorite inspirational quotes, as well as a few of my personal quotes of management wisdom for those charged with managing and leading employees.

Find those quotes that not only resonate with you, but that you can commit to incorporating into your day to day employee management objectives.

Inspirational Employee Management and Business Quotes

“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” –Ken Blanchard

“You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The best managers lead by example, give employees feedback, and make mentoring their employees a priority”. – Dianne Shaddock, Easy Small Business HR.com

“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.” –Henry Ford

“Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.” –Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf

“Treat employees fairly. Staff can be your best word of mouth advertising, or your worst nightmare.” –Dianne Shaddock, EasySmallBusinessHR.com

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” –John Quincy Adams

“Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” –Sam Walton

“Empower your employees. Give them the latitude to make decisions that will save time, provide better service and make their jobs easier.” –Dianne Shaddock, Easy Small Business HR.com

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be. “ –Rosalynn Carter

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Three Critical Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs Workplace Policies

If you are like many small business owners and supervisors, you likely have not developed any written policies or standards that highlight your expectations for employee behavior or performance in the workplace. You also may subscribe to the school of thought that you don’t need any “official” standards or policies because you have a small business or because you are managing a small group of employees who are professional, productive, and problem-free. You may even feel that to have policies and procedures in place will negatively affect the sense of community that you have developed in the workplace.

Every business should have specific policies in place that clearly outlines your expectations of your staff in terms of their overall work performance. This includes your position on arriving late for work, attendance, time off, inappropriate behavior, and other workplace standards. This is a best management practice no matter how small the business.

There are numerous problems that can occur when you do not set clearly written and communicated workplace standards for your employees. Many of these problems may be brewing under the surface and not readily apparent to you. Some common workplace issues:

Accusations of unfair or preferential treatment: It’s natural when supervising staff that you make decisions on a case by case basis depending on the circumstance. One very common workplace scenario that is likely to be perceived as unfair treatment is when you allow some employees to arrive to work later than your standard business hours, but require others to arrive on time. Although you may have given a specific employee permission to arrive late because the employee will be working later in the evening to complete a special project, your employees who arrive on time, aren’t aware that there is a specific reason that one employee has been allowed some scheduling flexibility. This can cause feelings of resentment and the perception of preferential treatment.

Taking this scenario one step further, what if you have an employee who is chronically late for work with no reasonable excuse as to why? It’s natural to reprimand the employee for being late for work under the circumstances and require that the employee arrive to work on time. When the reprimanded employee sees that there is someone else in the company who is consistently allowed to arrive to work late, you risk accusations of unfair treatment in the workplace since there are no standards in place that highlight that there may be specific exceptions to be made in terms of arriving late for work.

Poor Morale: If it appears that some of your workers are allowed to “get away” with anything in the workplace without any apparent consequences, your best workers may wonder why they should continue to work as hard. This often leads to reduced productivity and initiative. You risk losing your best employees who often become frustrated when steps aren’t taken to address poor performance or inappropriate behavior in the workplace.

Potential Loss of Revenue: It goes without saying that when you have employees who are not working up to their full potential, or who are not engaged in the work that they do, it affects the level of productivity and work quality, which in turn affects potential revenue. Dissatisfied employees are often “short” with customers, or don’t follow through on requests because they no longer feel connected to the company and its mission.

Workplace policies do not have to be long and complicated documents that no one can understand. Your standards can be easily summarized starting with the title and a brief paragraph which highlights your expectations. The policies or standards should then be communicated to your current employees and all newly hired staff via your website, email or in the form of a written document. Make sure that employees are reminded of these policies by distributing the policies once a year to staff.

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