George Cloutier, founder of American Management Services, offers some advice for management of small to medium sized business you may or may not agree with in this conversation from The New York Times small business section. Is micromanagement a virtue? Are family employees really a bad idea? Should fear really be a management tool? (Your main one?) Are businesses that have failed due to the economic downturn really responsible for their own predicament? I would love to get a lively discussion going on this one in the comment section. Any takers?
Tough Advice for Small to Medium Sized Business. Do you agree?
Posted by ShawnHessinger under ManagementFrom http://www.nytimes.com 5157 days ago
Made Hot by: tuckerleroy on February 17, 2010 7:52 pm
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5156 days ago
One way is to have what Key Priorities which the employee actually works up and needs to deliver on. This way to get to know what is happening, how things are progressing and your employee gets to feel some ownership.
I also think it depends on who you hire and whether they fit your business's values and whether they have the behaviors you want.
5156 days ago
On the other hand, I did agree in part with a few things he said. (1) I liked the part where he said he'd die laughing about The Four Hour Workweek. That was a book with some good points in it, but it did a terrible disservice to an entire generation of budding entrepreneurs by misleading them into thinking the path to success is working half a day a week - something that will be untrue for 99.99% of people. (2) I think a little micromanagement is crucial if you want to be successful. But not because employees are mediocre. It's because it takes time and repetition to convey all your values, your knowledge, etc to people. If you want to be a successful leader you must "inspect what you expect."
5157 days ago
Fear as a motivating tool. Not so important being liked. Micromanaging and controlling all aspects of the business. At this point of my business life, I am a one-person operation. If in the future, however, I take on an employee or two, I'm pretty sure this is not the way I would go. Saying profit is everything is a pretty scary concept to me. I'm sure there are plenty of bosses out there who take a much less firm attitude and are just as profitable. This is one man I would not want to work for!
Shawn,
Thanks for the great read. all the best,
Yoni