Emotions in Management

Emotions are a part of life.  They influence how people interact with others.  Is this good in the office?  Should emotions be a part of the decision.  Unfortunately, many managers let their feelings control how well or to what level a subordinate rises.  The manager does this because they believe that they are the one that knows best.  They let personal feelings about how a person dresses, walks or talks, influence how well that person does in his or her job.

A good people manager knows how to put blinders on when dealing with subordinates. He/she allows the individual to be an individual by working with the strengths of the person. With proper coaching, the weaknesses soon dissappear .  

When I manage people, I don't allow myself to bring in previous experiences that I may have had or other managers may have had with that person.  They are given a fresh start and I give them the freedom to determine where they wanted to progress.  The ones that I had to work the hardest were the ones that had been told all the time that they were not good.  I never have had to fire an employee for performance issues.

When coaching an employee, you should look to what their strengths are.  Take those strengths and relate them in some way to the perceived weaknesses.  If you noticed, I said perceived weakness.  Most "weaknesses" are there because they were never allowed to come out of their shell to show what they could do.  Many people develop these shells when they are children.  You may see this every day when you hear a parent tell the child "You are so lazy", "You never want to do your homework.", or "Jimmy can't learn well because of his condition.".  What is meant to "protect" the child is actually what holds the person back from reaching his/her full potential.  Don't you perpetrate that any further.  There is that child in all of us that remembers those lessons that were taught to us by our well meaning parents.  

As a manager or a parent, you need to encourage growth by taking chances.  Allow mistakes, but learn to grow from them. When you have a group of subordinates they are your "children".  They need to learn their job from you.  You need to always stay a step ahead of them or they will not respect you.  Do not ever jump to a conclusion without knowing and weighing all the facts.  That will destroy any trust or respect that they may have for you.