SIX RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL STAFF MANAGEMENT

SIX RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL STAFF MANAGEMENT

If you manage people, or wish to manage people, you must deal with staff problems every day. "How
should I treat Jenny when she gives me the silent treatment?" "What should I do about this conflict
between Steve and Pete?" "How should I respond when people want favors from me?"

If you use the following rules for managing people, you will be a better manager. They will guide you in
difficult situations. They help you build trust and cooperation. If you are not yet a manager of people, you soon will be one, IF you follow these rules whenever you can. An article by L. Ron Hubbard called "How to Fill Jobs" outlines seventeen rules. Here are the first six.



1. Do not expect to improve your status or popularity with your staff members by giving them raises.
You improve your status by doing your job and actively leading your group.
For example, one of your employees says, "Come on Bos s, I really need that raise. I'll be loyal to you
and make sure everyone lik es you, if you give me the raise. Okay?"
You say, "Sorry Jed. No raise. Maybe if you improve your productivity for a few months we can discuss
it. Let's get to work on that project as we're already behind."


2. Do not pull people off their jobs. It makes them feel insecure. They get the idea you have partially
fired them and so they quit.

For example,

you decide to answer the phone whenever you hear it ring. Your receptionist only gets to
ans wer the phone when you are bus y. Soon, the other employees start to answer phone calls
whenever you are busy. Your receptionist quits.


3.
You can mak e people work very hard as long as they are doing the job they were hired to do.
For example, your computer system c rashes and 5000 records need to be entered by your data-entry
staff before they can do their normal data-entry work. Because they were hired to do data entry, you
say, "I k now this will be hard, but you people need to get these 5000 records entered by the end of the
day, even if you need to work all night. And then by the end of tomorrow, you need to catch up your
regular work, as well."

The data-entry staff grumble a bit, but soon they are working harder than ever. They laugh about having
pizza for dinner and make up a game to finish before 7 pm.


4. Pay attention to your staff's work. Make regular comments about their performance.
For instance, you say, "Good job on getting those 5000 records entered by 7 pm! You seem to do your
best work when you eat pizza."


5. Do not play favorites with any particular staff members or form cliques.
For instance, someone says, "Boss, a few of us want to buy you dinner tonight."
You say, "No thank s, but maybe we'll have a pizza party for lunch on Friday for everyone."



6. Demand excellent work standards.
For example, one of your staff says, "I'm mailing these statements even though they are a little crooked.
The printer messed up, but you can still read them."
You say, "Throw them away and do it right. We're professionals, okay?"


"If you do all these fairly well, you'll really make it.
You only have to be 51% right all the time to win. Just make sure the 49% loses don't include
anything important."