Ending a Vicious Cycle
“By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.” — Robert Frost
The eloquent American poet’s words have a ring of truth to them, but they provide only one view of the boss’s job. Being successful should not rely on the boss spending 12 or more hours each day toiling at work. The boss’s goal instead is to develop employees so that everyone enjoys a productive, enjoyable, and fulfilling workplace.
Let’s pay a visit to an imaginary workplace. We will call it The Nirvana Company. Imagine a boss at Nirvana focusing energy and expertise on the quality of his or her relationships with employees. This boss would know, for example, whether an employee’s decision-making style matched her own fast-paced method or whether the worker preferred to ponder situations a while before making decisions. The boss would learn how best to mentor that employee to get his/her very best decisions and the highest productivity. There’s more – the boss would do this for every employee in the organization.
Does this scenario seem too good to be true? It doesn’t have to be. In fact, Great Lakes Profiles offers an assessment that not only helps the boss work on relationships – it helps employees do the same thing.
Workplaces should exist in which managers and their direct reports know each other’s work styles and use that knowledge to their own and the organization’s advantage. Studies show that such managers and employees who use that knowledge are highly productive and engaged. The reverse is also true: Managers who are out of step with employees often cause low productivity, low morale, and high turnover. In fact, more people leave bosses than they do their job.
Our PXT Select assessment takes on this issue with its “Manager-Employee” report which combines insight into the characteristics that affect the manager-employee relationship with information on how unique individuals can best work together. The strength of the PXT Select’s “Manager-Employee” report lays in two key areas: What it measures and what it provides as a result of its measurements.
First, the measurements: the report examines nine important behavioral characteristics that define the relationship between an employee and their manager: pace of work, levels of assertiveness, sociability, conformity, optimism, decisiveness, accommodation, independence, and objectivity. Second, once these behaviors are measured and analyzed for both the manager and employee, each should receive the report which provides a detailed description of the differences between the two for each of the nine behavioral characteristics. The report also contains a “Working Together” section as well as insights into the other’s behavioral tendencies so they can work together better. Finally, there are tips as to what the manager should consider when mentoring the employee.
In short, the Manager-Employee version of the PXT Select assessment helps both the manager and employee:
- Communicate better
- Enhance their effectiveness
- Identify potential personality conflicts before they occur
- Successfully resolve problems that pop up
This assessment is neither magic nor a fairy tale – nor does it support the view of Robert Frost expressed above that managers need to work 12 hours a day to be successful. However, it does require hard work and a commitment on the part of both parties to rely more on facts than assumptions in their relationship. The one-size-fits-all approach to management is out the window – good riddance.
Check us out at www.GreatLakesProfiles.com. We have a suite of assessments which not only includes the PXT Select (for selection, succession planning, and development purposes), but our Emotional Intelligence assessments, Everything DiSC assessments, Customer Service assessment, our Integrity assessment, and our 360o surveys as well as culture consulting and a host of supportive training programs. We’re here to help, give us a call at (248) 388-0697 or send us an email to Jim@GreatLakesProfiles.com.