Managing Government Employees: How to Motivate Your People, Deal with Difficult Issues, and Achieve Tangible Results PDF
Preview Managing Government Employees: How to Motivate Your People, Deal with Difficult Issues, and Achieve Tangible Results
M A N A G I N G Government Employees .................16220$ $$FM 11-14-0608:22:28 PS PAGEi This page intentionally left blank M A N A G I N G Government Employees How to Motivate Your People, Deal with Difficult Issues, and Achieve Tangible Results Stewart Liff AmericanManagementAssociation NewYork•Brussels•Chicago•MexicoCity•SanFrancisco Shanghai•Tokyo•Washington,D.C. .................16220$ $$FM 11-14-0608:22:29 PS PAGEiii SpecialdiscountsonbulkquantitiesofAMACOMbooksare availabletocorporations,professionalassociations,andother organizations.Fordetails,contactSpecialSalesDepartment, AMACOM,adivisionofAmericanManagementAssociation, 1601Broadway,NewYork,NY10019. Tel.:212-903-8316.Fax:212-903-8083. E-mail:[email protected] Website:www.amacombooks.org/go/specialsales ToviewallAMACOMtitlesgoto:www.amacombooks.org Thispublicationisdesignedtoprovideaccurateandauthoritative informationinregardtothesubjectmattercovered.Itissoldwith theunderstandingthatthepublisherisnotengagedinrendering legal,accounting,orotherprofessionalservice.Iflegaladviceorother expertassistanceisrequired,theservicesofacompetentprofessional personshouldbesought. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Liff,Stewart. Managinggovernmentemployees:howtomotivateyourpeople,dealwith difficultissues,andachievetangibleresults/StewartLiff. p. cm. Includesindex. ISBN-13:978-0-8144-0887-2 ISBN-10:0-8144-0887-7 1. Civilservice—Personnelmanagement. I. Title. JF1601.M29 2007 352.6(cid:2)8—dc22 2006035489 (cid:2)2007StewartLiff. Allrightsreserved. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica. Thispublicationmaynotbereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem, ortransmittedinwholeorinpart, inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic, mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofAMACOM, adivisionofAmericanManagementAssociation, 1601Broadway,NewYork,NY10019. Printingnumber 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 .................16220$ $$FM 11-14-0608:22:29 PS PAGEiv This book is dedicated to my wife, Pat, the bravest person I know. —Stewart Liff .................16220$ $$FM 11-14-0608:22:29 PS PAGEv This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments xiii Chapter1. Overview 1 Introduction 1 WhatIsDifferentAboutWorkingfortheGovernment? 2 ThePrivateSectorIsinBusinesstoMakeaProfit 3 GovernmentOrganizationsAreRunbyElectedOfficials 4 GovernmentOrganizationsGenerallyRequireaHigher DegreeofBureaucracy 4 GovernmentOrganizationsTypicallyReceiveMoreScrutiny 5 GovernmentEmployees AreOftenPaidataDifferentRate 7 GovernmentEmployees UsuallyHave BetterJob Security 8 MostGovernmentEmployees DoNotHavetheRightto Strike 9 WhyPeopleCometoWorkfortheGovernment 10 TheyWanttoMakeaDifference 11 TheyWanttheTotalPackageofGovernmentPay,Benefits, andRetirement 11 TheyWanttheJobSecurityOfferedbyGovernment 12 TheGovernmentCanOffertheRightJobandTraining 12 TheGovernmentOffersManyOpportunitiestoAdvance 12 WhyDoGovernmentPersonnelSystemsMakeThingsSo Difficult? 13 vii PAGEvii .................16220$ CNTS 11-14-0608:22:32 PS viii Contents HistoryoftheCivilService 13 Perception 16 WhatCanBeDone? 17 Chapter2. GuidingPrinciplesofManaging PeopleinGovernment 20 OverallPhilosophy 21 MostPeopleWanttoDoaGoodJob 21 MostPeopleWanttoBePartofaWinningOrganization 23 AlwaysTreatPeoplewithRespect 24 ApplytheGoldenRule 27 Many(NotAll)ProblemsAreCausedbyManagement 28 Lookat YourManagementSystems 30 MakeSure YourSystemsAreReliablyApplied 34 AlwaysRememberthatYourDecisionsAffectPeople’sLives 36 The Objective:Performance 38 The Workforce 40 WinningtheBattleforHeartsandMindsoftheMiddle80 Percent 40 AvoidingConfrontationwiththeBottom10Percent 43 Don’tRelyOnlyontheTop10Percent—PullOthersUp 44 Chapter3. Strategiesand TacticsforManagingGovernment Employees 47 CommunicatewithEmployeesasMuchasYouCan(Visually, WheneverPossible) 47 TeachThemtheBigPicture(ThePoliticalClimate) 50 TeachThemWhat’sGoingOnintheLocalOrganization 52 GiveThemFeedbackastoHow TheyAreDoing 53 ManagebyWalkingAround(MBWA) 54 AskYourEmployees forAdvice 57 Say ‘‘ThankYou’’asOftenasYouCan 60 BeSensitivetoPeople’sSensitivities 61 YourHumanResourcesManagementAdvisors 63 TheTwoTypesofHRSpecialists 63 GettingGoodHRAdviceIsHarderthanEver 66 .................16220$ CNTS 11-14-0608:22:33 PS PAGEviii Contents ix Chapter4. DealingwithDifficultPeople 69 OverallPhilosophy 70 AProblemEmployeeTendstoStayaProblemUnless Handled 70 BewareoftheEmployeeWhoContinuallyUsestheSame Excuses 71 YouCanSuccessfullyDealwithaDifficultGovernment Employee 73 Tactics 74 UtilizetheProbationaryPeriod 74 KeepItSimple,Stupid 76 IfPoorEmployees NeverCross theLine, ChangetheLine 77 MakeSureYouControltheSituation 79 BringYourProblemstoaHead 81 Fear 83 TheKeyPlayersinHavinganEffectiveProgram ofDiscipline 85 LessonsLearned 87 Document,Document,Document 87 YouDon’tNeedaPerfectCasetoTakeAction 88 AvoidThirdPartiesWhenYouCan,butDon’tBeAfraidof Them 89 It’sBettertoLoseanOccasionalCasethantoNeverTake Action 90 LetThemFightYou fromOutsidetheOrganization 91 Chapter5. PerformanceManagement 93 Principles 93 Goals 95 Involvement 97 PerformanceAppraisal 98 WhatIsIt? 98 HowDoesItWork? 98 WhatIsItUsedfor? 99 WhatIsinaPerformance Plan? 100 HowDoYouWritePerformanceStandards? 101 .................16220$ CNTS 11-14-0608:22:33 PS PAGEix
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