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Hot Management Tips ...
Getting It Together ...
Every so often - but not too often - it pays to arrange a meeting of all employees. Meet with everyone on your payroll, even if you have to fly them in from some remote outpost. This does wonders for company morale, and reactivates the whole crew. Such a meeting:
- reminds everyone that you are the boss and they can see for themselves just how far your empire extends. Some, who you meet on a one-to-one basis, may have forgotten this.
- allows the group to look about and arrive at a fairly accurate self-concept. It helps them to understand the type of people that you employ.
- lifts the overall morale of the workers. The one thing that the whole crew have in common is their work objective. They naturally find themselves talking about it and modeling themselves on certain work-status figures.,
- gives you opportunity to demonstrate your fitness to lead. One way you do this is when you acknowledge company problems and then answer them. Another way is when you address the workers collectively.
- gives you the opportunity to show that you are in tune with the times, the market and the opposition. You may be the only person in the firm who has up to date knowledge of all three - even though individual workers may have more information on each situation. Again this reaffirms your position.
- gives you an opportunity to test-run the future leaders. You can give them a chance to address the assembled workers and then measure the feedback.
- gives you an opportunity to give status to some behind-the-scenes people who deserve it. In giving them special mention, it helps their peers to realise that they are actually “doing something” and that their service is invaluable.
- provides an opportunity for discipline - a discipline that requires no confrontation. You simply praise some and ignore others. Then you allow group pressure to do its work.
- provides a unique chance to orient the entire workforce to new work-directions. At the same time you get a chance to give the workers the official version of “what went wrong” in negative situations.
For all of these points to work to full capacity, they need the combined force of group pressure. That is why all workers should be present. It is best not to mix the business with pleasure, as this may provide additional distractions. It is worth footing the bill for a day’s wages - as you would for an in-service course. That way everyone feels obliged to stick to the business of business.
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