Techniques to Boost Staff Behavior .. without having to recruit new people by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

Thanks to HR process and procedure, organizations generally get recruitment right. However, many managers say "troublesome" staff hold back performance. In the current economic climate it will be mandatory for managers to get great results from all staff. To do this we need to enhanced management skills, rather than changes to staff or recruitment.

We can observe the degree of energy that someone applies to their work, as well as their attitude and approach. By combining these two factors we can create a four -category model.

The "walking dead" are people who do as little as possible, have to be task- managed and show little initiative.

The " well poisoners" actively criticize and spread belief that things can't be done.

The "spectators" say all the right things but do little themselves.

The "players" show belief and are prepared to step forward themselves.

As employees, we spend time in all these categories. Managers need to understand how to keep people in the "players" category for as long as possible, and what tactics to adopt when things go wrong.

Let's take the "well poisoners" first. Many managers want to get rid of those who complain, but the points made by this group are often to a degree correct. Organizations are great at frustrating people who were once "players" . These care about their organization and want to succeed, that's why they bring problems to the attention of the boss. Frustration is generated by organization or managers who do not act on this information. Instead of fighting these people, which intensifies negative feelings, the manager needs to listen to them and remove the blockages frustrating staff.

People who complain need support. Once they are turned around, like reformed smokers, they regain their passion and aptly boundless energy to the cause.

"Spectators" are the folks that do much of the damage, and in fact create a lot of "well poisoners". They focus on managing upwards, telling the boss what he wants to hear, yet supporting staff and peers very little. They don't cause much trouble for the boss so are generally left alone-until it is too late and the deliverables are not met.

What these people need is to be challenged; intense management, specific deadlines, individual (not group or team) tasks. Once they find success via quality feedback on the outputs from their challenge, their energy level grow and more "players" are produced.

And what about the "walking dead"? We often get asked to help our clients get rid of the "dead wood". We argue that organizations should stop killing the trees; these people were hired as "players".

So what should a manager do here? Try to provide support and challenge , and see what happens. People in this group will either resist (and become a "well poisoner") or say the right things (and become a "spectator"). Once in either of these categories the manager can apply the tactics explained above.

Great managers understand these principles and apply what are, for many, counter intuitive approaches.