Let me take you from a simple observation to an important management issue.
Over the weekend, I was queuing at the cashier of a bookshop to pay. In front of me was a mother queuing with her young son. The mother had in her shopping basket books relating to how to pass exam, obviously for her young boy to do better at school.
In order to encourage proper queuing, the bookstore had this arrangement that you see very often at e.g. airports. It was these about 1m high metal poles. Each pole had a spring-loaded role-out band that you can pull out and hook into the next metal pole. That way you form a passageway for the queue. Now the little boy had some fun and disconnected the band from one pole trying to hook into another pole. Since one has to manoeuvre the clip attached to the band in a certain way, he was struggling with it and couldn’t manage. The mother tried to look the other way. Being a coach at heart I whispered to the boy some ideas that he should try. And he managed to hook in the clip. I got a grateful, heart-warming smile from the boy.
I couldn’t hold back my thoughts. Here is the mother buying, with certainly good intentions, some books for the boy to do well at school. But she wasn’t there to educate her son when he had a little challenge on problem-solving (how to attach the clip into the pole).
That reminded me of a manager who told me that he will send his staff to my seminar and then he has fulfilled one of his own KPI (key performance indicator) on staff development. That is completely wrong.
Of course, seminars are an important part of staff development. However, every manager should be aware that it is much more important to be around for their staff and coach them when the need arises on a daily basis; like the boy in the bookstore was in the need of some guidance.
A highly appreciated management skill: Be around and able to coach your staff at the time when THEY need you.
Over the weekend, I was queuing at the cashier of a bookshop to pay. In front of me was a mother queuing with her young son. The mother had in her shopping basket books relating to how to pass exam, obviously for her young boy to do better at school.
In order to encourage proper queuing, the bookstore had this arrangement that you see very often at e.g. airports. It was these about 1m high metal poles. Each pole had a spring-loaded role-out band that you can pull out and hook into the next metal pole. That way you form a passageway for the queue. Now the little boy had some fun and disconnected the band from one pole trying to hook into another pole. Since one has to manoeuvre the clip attached to the band in a certain way, he was struggling with it and couldn’t manage. The mother tried to look the other way. Being a coach at heart I whispered to the boy some ideas that he should try. And he managed to hook in the clip. I got a grateful, heart-warming smile from the boy.
I couldn’t hold back my thoughts. Here is the mother buying, with certainly good intentions, some books for the boy to do well at school. But she wasn’t there to educate her son when he had a little challenge on problem-solving (how to attach the clip into the pole).
That reminded me of a manager who told me that he will send his staff to my seminar and then he has fulfilled one of his own KPI (key performance indicator) on staff development. That is completely wrong.
Of course, seminars are an important part of staff development. However, every manager should be aware that it is much more important to be around for their staff and coach them when the need arises on a daily basis; like the boy in the bookstore was in the need of some guidance.
A highly appreciated management skill: Be around and able to coach your staff at the time when THEY need you.
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