Outdated Management Advice to Abandon

kentlegal_blogimages_-outdated-management-advice-to-abandonStudies of human behavior in the workplace have exploded in recent decades, which means that much of the management advice our parents grew up using is outdated – and in some cases, actually harmful to productivity and motivation.

Here are some of the “worst offenders” and how to replace them with tools that work:

“To motivate employees, grade them on a curve.”

Old-fashioned “stack ranking” designated the top ten percent of employees as “top performers” and the bottom ten percent as “to be replaced” – no matter how well or poorly employees were actually doing.  The theory was that stack ranking would automatically push people to try harder.

In fact, stack ranking hurts your team in two ways.  First, there’s no way to measure how well the team is doing compared to past performance or to competitors’ teams.  Second, it increases stress, which reduces the ability to learn or focus.

Instead, give employees clear benchmarks and the support they need to reach them.  When they succeed, celebrate!  If they don’t make it, ask them to figure out what went wrong and suggest ways to fix it.

“Never leave employees to their own devices.”

One school of thought holds that if you don’t schedule every minute of the employee’s workday, they’ll take the time to slack off or even get into trouble.  Managers who hold to this rule tend to “micromanage” and overschedule employees.

For most adult professionals, however, overscheduling and micromanaging are actively harmful to their work processes.  They eliminate essential time needed to think and plan, and they decimate an employee’s chances of coming up with a more elegant solution to a problem.  Instead, give clear instructions about tasks, and then let employees figure out the best way to reach the results needed.

“Fear is the best motivator.”

Fear can provide a motivation “boost” in the short term, such as when a deadline looms.  For long-term motivation, however, the best sources are intrinsic – they come from inside the employee.  In the long term, fear raises our body’s stress response, which hinders our brain’s ability to learn, focus, sort information and plan ahead.  Help employees feel they are creating something of value, and encourage them to find the internal motivation to “own” the work.

At Kent Legal, our recruiters connect your organization with the best legal support talent in the Toronto area.  To find top legal support candidates, contact us today.

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