Supervisory Management articles from February 1995

Supervisory Management archives from February 1995

Train your staff at little or no cost.
February 1, 1995... "Who's going to train my staff?" Sue thought. When Sue was told her group would be the pilot group for a new customer service effort, she had mixed feelings. She was delighted about the visibility it would give her group, but she was equally...

Let sacred cows die a natural death. (managing inviolate business processes)
February 1, 1995... Do you really want a reputation in your office as a butcher? Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines "sacred cow" as "one that is often unreasonably immune from criticism or opposition." Sacred cows can turn up in the form of public...

Working with temps, part-timers, and freelancers. (Checklist)
February 1, 1995... Most companies have always made some use of part-time or temporary staff, whether for specialized projects or seasonal upswings in workload. But many companies are now using temps, part-timers, and freelance workers as an alternative to hiring...

Put yourself at the head of every department.
February 1, 1995... Do you suffer from tunnel vision at the office? Are you so tightly focused on your department's immediate objectives that you have lost sight of your company's overall aims and how your job relates to them? You can certainly do an adequate job...

Making meetings work. (Skill-building Exercise)
February 1, 1995... Meetings should be an integral part of work - otherwise, why have them at all? Yet many people view even teambuilding meetings as disrupting, rather than contributing to work processes. That's because most meetings are prone to a number of...

Do work teams need compensation? (Winning Team Plays)
February 1, 1995... Yes, according to Topigraphs, the newsletter of the Employers Association, a group based in Lincoln, Rhode Island. "Organizations considering implementing teams need to examine their existing reward systems to determine if they would support the...

The gentle art of persuasion.
February 1, 1995... You don't want your staffers to think you're either Mr. Dithers or Casper Milquetoast. Persuasion - getting people to want to do what you want them to do - is one of the toughest tasks a manager can face. To be a good persuader, you have to...