Managing Experts and Technical Professionals

Project Teams and Individual Contributors – the key to productive and stimulating environment

In the movie ‘Manhattan Project’ Gen. Groves barges into the research facilities of atomic scientists and exclaims ‘They’re just sitting around talking – I want them to stick to their knitting and get work done!’ Leo Szilard exclaims with disdain and frustration ‘How do you work for a man like that!’ Gen. Groves had much to learn about managing scientists, experts, and technical employees in a research setting. The same can be said for many sectors of American technical business.

Managing Difficult Co-workers and Other Difficult People at Work

Sometimes managing difficult co-workers, and managing conflict with difficult people at work, is more difficult than relations with the boss.  Difficult people will always be with us, at work and otherwise, but how we handle them is what makes the difference. Difficult co-workers can be characterized in various ways:

Providing the Best Support for your Employees

To keep employees engaged, employers need to focus on the way employees are led and what employee support is provided by management.

One of the basic needs of employees is competitive pay and benefits. A person looking for a job will evaluate company profiles, organization charts, vitality in the marketplace, and other intangibles. Of course, the candidate will not look for the lowest paying job, and potential pay and benefits will always draw their attention. The challenge to the manager is to get the most out of the employee from the time of employment.  This can be accomplished by providing the appropriate support of the employee by management.

Supercharging your people for high performance – Start with star performers with potential. Then empower your employees.

Case Study - Many years ago an engineer was working in a jet engine engineering unit that was a leading edge factor in the market.

Everybody’s got their insecurities, but when your boss is an insecure manager, his insecurities rule the day and your career prospects, too. You’ll never know what to expect of your insecure manager, rest assured, his actions are chosen to make him feel better, even at your expense. Jeanne Sahadi of CNNMoney.com says that, in the best of cases, you learn to contort your actions to soothe the boss’s quivering sense of self. In the worst case you are perceived as a threat, and you are fired. Your abilities, popularity, and communication skills can surprisingly drive your insecure manager up the tree. He will schedule his meeting around your travel schedule, take credit for your work, and eventually convince his boss to get rid of you, even though you are a top performer. He will try to throw you under the bus at every turn. He will try to make you unsuccessful by impossible assignments and take credit for your earlier accomplishments. Driven by fear, envy, and self doubt, the insecure manager insecurities can be manifested by:

You may have something to learn - Listen to Your Employees

When an employee approaches you with a need to communicate at whatever level, set aside your work for the moment, and give the speaker your undivided attention. Listen to your employees.  Do not interrupt the talker at mid sentence; it’s a sign you’re not listening. Allow some pause before jumping in. Smile and lean forward. It’s a sign that you are fully engaged in listening to your employee. Ask questions, even though you understand what’s being discussed. Questions tell the person that you are listening. Paraphrasing indicates that you are listening to your employee and trying to fully understand the topic. Questioning also aids retention of the conversation. It has been said that 50% of the conversation is retained immediately afterwards. Two weeks later the figure drops to 25%.