Here comes 2012! Time to turn over a new leaf?
20/01/12
Over the years we’ve met plenty of managers who believe that the only way to succeed is by ruling with a rod of iron, however, recent research suggests that nice guys can finish first.
A new book entitled ‘The Power of Nice: How to conquer the business world with kindness’ suggests that performance and growth come from putting other peoples’ needs on the same level as your own.
At Azure, we’re wary about using the word ‘nice’ when we discuss the characteristics for being a great manager or leader but neither do we condone the short and sharp ”You’re Fired” approach of Lord Sugar.
Maybe niceness does have a place? I’m sure all of us can think of times when we’ve worked for Mr or Mrs Nasty and can recall how much time the team spent moaning about his or her approach and planning revenge rather than focusing on delivering results!
We believe, like many things in life, it’s actually a question of balance. Being nice can be extremely powerful, but if it’s your only style then it can be dangerous. Being nice doesn’t mean you can’t be very clear about your expectations or indeed, challenge under performance. The tricky part is ensuring your nice easy going relationship doesn’t prevent you having robust discussions about performance.
Over recent years UK managers have reduced the degree of distance between themselves and their teams. This is great for motivation and engagement, but can be negative when it comes to dealing with under performance as it’s hard to manage friends. We believe it’s important to distinguish between being friendly and being friends.
So whilst there might be some disagreement about whether ‘nice’ is good or bad for business, we think it’s unkind and unhelpful not to point out poor performance. It’s all about how you do it, badly delivered feedback that affects self esteem is damaging, but constructive feedback is almost always listened to and acted upon.
So in 2012, strike a balance between nice and critical and if you need any help in how to do it you know where to call….
Happy New Year!
