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Manager’s attitude sets mood at work

"`I and my rhinoceros,’ said the tick bird."–Sotho proverb

A young manager at Mundane Industries boasts about how he "handles it" when he’s in a bad mood at work. He was proud of being "candid" and was developing a cutesy "weather report" mood gauge–"dark and stormy," "take cover," that sort of nonsense.

Dale Dauten, King Features Syndicate Chicago Tribune

Well, if you’re any kind of leader, your job is to set an example. In this case, the example set would be this: It’s OK to indulge in bad moods as long as you are honest about it. Extrapolating to his staff, why couldn’t they set up recorded phone messages, such as, "The employee you are trying to reach is not in the mood to be an employee, or to be reached. Please call back later." That is, employees could have a recorded message if the person who does the messages is in the mood to make a recording.

If you’re a manager, you don’t get to be moody. Would an actor ponder how to act when he’s blue? Would a basketball player wonder how to shoot the ball in a funk? No, you do the job, and you lose the mood.

Talking about cutesy mood gauges got me thinking about all the ways that managers drive employees crazy. Most managers want to do a good job while being well-liked. In fact, most managers think (without really thinking about it) that they are well-liked. If only they could hear what their employees say about them out of earshot. So here’s something to consider. …

Reasons why your employees secretly hate you:

– Starting a conversation with "Can I be honest?" and thus implying that everything else you say is just dishonest bull.

– Using the word "teamwork" when you really mean "overwork without complaint or compensation."

– Managing by overstatement: Everything is either "exciting" or "disastrous."

– Your office being a praise "black hole"–it comes in, but it never goes out.

– Treating kindness as if it were a scary virus–"If I did it for you, I’d have to do it for everyone."

– Double-checking–especially calling to "check in."

Offering distant and vague rewards: "No promises, but something good is coming."

– Complaining about the cost of repairs for your Lexus or, worse yet, your "Beemer."

– Prattling on about being a team when your real goal is to get a big promotion and leave the team behind.

– That face you make.

And, as long as we’re talking about annoyances, we should digress for a minute and admit that the resentments travel down too.

Reasons why your boss secretly hates you:

– Saying "Finally!" to any announcement of a positive change.

– Mistaking a thought for an idea, an idea for a proposal and a proposal for an innovation. (An idea is to an innovation what having sex is to raising a child.)

– Asking for advice when what you really want is to pass off problems or responsibilities.

– Being miserable but not having the guts to do something about it.

– Pretending not to understand.

– Mistaking the boss for a wealthy and gullible relative.

– Reacting to an attempt to do something nice by saying, "I’d rather they just give us the money it cost."

– That face you make.

The truth is that both lists are really about the same things, because we all resent being manipulated or taken for granted.

But back to management. This is what we all want from bosses: Assume the best about us and give us some appreciation and a fair reward (where "fair" is defined as a bit more than we deserve). That’s all there is to management, in any mood.

Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0212080065dec08,0,624000.story?coll=chi%2Dbusiness%2Dhed

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