People Management – Don’t Do as You Would be Done by

July 20, 2010 / Duane / 5 Comments

Here’s a thought provoking question I got asked the other day:

Would you like to manage people in the same way you’d like to be managed?

The knee-jerk answer is a simple yes.

But here’s the thought provoking follow up to a ‘Yes':

So do you think that everyone else is the same as you in terms of their motivations and how they respond to different management styles?

The obvious answer is no, which shows immediately that you shouldn’t manage everyone in the same way you would like to be managed.

Bottom line: everyone is different and needs to be managed differently to others.

About Duane Jackson

From childrens' homes to prison to business. Founded one of the first B2B SaaS companies, which he sold at the end of 2013. Read more here.

On Amazon: Four Thousand Days - My Journey from Prison to Business Success

Categories: Entrepreneurship

Tags: management, small business

http://www.virtuallysorted.com/ Caroline Wylie

Great post – people management is, after all, about people.

I particularly like the joke about finding your perfect job: you get to do what you want all day, choose when you work, who you work with, what you wear and your boss is exactly like you – in fact, your boss IS you and the job is commission only – you are self-employed!
Andrew

Surely the definition of a great manager is a person who knows how to get the best out of all different sorts of people, not just people who work and think like them?
http://www.mattchedit.com/Blog.aspx Matt Chatterley

Bingo – and a further big nod to both Caroline and Andrew!

Particularly Andrew’s comment – the whole point of management is surely to get the most out of each individual employee by making use of their strengths (and knowing their weaknesses) – so applying any style or “flat” system to everyone is bound to be less than optimal.

I suspect people who ask the original question are really asking “Do you think you’re nice to the people you manage?” – albeit in a shielded way..?
http://www.developmentconsultancy.co.uk Andrew Scowcroft

Excellent advice to new and experienced managers, and thanks for the timely post. This is the stuff I teach new managers everyday. You simply cannot treat everyone the same and expect to get the best out of them. Two interesting research findings to ponder. More people leave a job because of the way they are treated than leave due to problems with the job itself. Also the costs of a person leaving, covering their absence, finding a replacement and getting them up to speed is estimated to be 20% of the annual salary for the job. Therefore if people leave because of the way they are treated at work, there is a clear and significant bottom line cost to that business
http://www.businessforesights.com Vincent

Fully agree with this post and all comments so far.

As an aside, do you think the same approach should be used for customers, or do you ‘manage’ and treat them all the same way you’d like to be treated as a customer?

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