A Guide to Success for Technical Managers E-Book

Elizabeth Treher

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 410

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Supervisory Skills for the Technical Manager: A Guide to Success focuses exclusively on the dynamics of being a technical manager such as a scientist, programmer, or engineer. An R&D environment demands modified management techniques and this book explores how to do so. Drawing of years of experience to provide technical managers with various tools and ways to apply them in supervisory situation, this essential title includes exercises, templates and checklists to accelerate their uses and applications on the job. In addition, case studies are included throughout to thoroughly explain and explore the concepts discussed. Key topics include handing the transition to supervising others in research and development, the characteristics needed to motivate personnel in a R&D environment as compared to other areas of business are detailed. The pitfalls and challenges of managing technical personnel, how delegating can build an effective team that can produce superior results, and how to monitor the work of previously independent personnel are also discussed.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Title page

Copyright page

DEDICATION

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1 TIPS ON TRANSITIONS FOR TECHNICAL MANAGERS

TRANSITION SITUATIONS

MANAGER OR SCIENTIST? AN ATTRIBUTE INVENTORY

MANAGER–SCIENTIST INVENTORY SCORE SHEET

INTERPRETATION

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

TRANSITIONS SITUATIONS—SOLUTIONS

CHAPTER 2 ADVICE ON CREATING A MOTIVATING CLIMATE

MOTIVATION SITUATION

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

WHY IS MOTIVATION IMPORTANT?

DIAGNOSING MOTIVATION

APPLYING THEORIES ABOUT MOTIVATION

MOTIVATION SITUATION—SOLUTION

CHAPTER 3 HINTS TO INCREASE INTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS

INTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS—MY STORY (ELIZABETH TREHER)

THE MYERS–BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

USING TYPE EFFECTIVELY

APPLYING CHARACTERISTICS OF TYPE

ROLE OF EMOTIONS AND TRUST

CHAPTER 4 CLUES ABOUT COMMUNICATION PITFALLS AND STRATEGIES

COMMUNICATION SITUATION

COMMUNICATION PATTERNS AND FACTORS

THE AIDR TECHNIQUE

FOCUSING ON OTHERS— A DEVELOPMENT EXPERIMENT

ASK QUESTIONS

CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS

EMAIL

EMAIL GUIDE

APPLYING THE MBTI

PLANNING A PERSONAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

COMMUNICATION SITUATION—SUGGESTIONS

CHAPTER 5 SECRETS TO MANAGING PERFORMANCE

PERFORMANCE SITUATION

SETTING EXPECTATIONS AND GOALS

CONSIDER PERSONAL STYLES—BOTH YOURS AND YOUR EMPLOYEE’S

MANAGING PERFORMANCE

PERFORMANCE PROBLEM SOLVING

DEALING WITH PERFORMANCE ISSUES

MANAGING A PERFORMANCE ISSUE

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

PERFORMANCE CONVERSATION CHECKLIST

TACKLING RECURRING PROBLEMS

PERFORMANCE ISSUE LINKED TO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

MANAGING MANAGERS

SUGGESTED ANSWERS FOR DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

CHAPTER 6 INCREASING EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH DELEGATION

DELEGATION SITUATION

DELEGATION CHOICES

DELEGATION BENEFITS

DELEGATION ANALYSIS

DELEGATION PROFILE

PLANNING FOR DELEGATION

STYLES OF DELEGATION

RELATION OF U/E TO DELEGATION STYLE

DELEGATION CHECKLIST

DELEGATION USING TYPE

TEMPERAMENTS

APPLYING NEW CONCEPTS AND SKILLS

DELEGATION SITUATION—SOLUTION

DELEGATION CHOICES—SUGGESTIONS

CHAPTER 7 POINTS FOR SUCCEEDING AS A COACH

COACHING SUCCESS

BUILDING CONNECTIONS

HOW DO STAR PERFORMERS NETWORK?

GROUP SOCIAL NETWORKS

CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO

LOOKING FORWARD

SUGGESTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

COACHING SUCCESS—SOLUTION

CHAPTER 8 TECHNIQUES TO MANAGE GROUPS, TEAMS, AND MEETINGS

FACILITATION SITUATION

BUILDING COLLABORATION

ROLE CLARIFICATION ACTIVITY

GOAL CLARIFICATION ACTIVITY

GROUP OPERATING PRINCIPLES OR NORMS

INCREASING MEETING EFFECTIVENESS

INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY VERSUS GROUP INTERDEPENDENCE

DECISION MAKING

MEETING MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

APPLICATION: YOUR OWN MEETING

FACILITATION SITUATION—SUGGESTIONS

CHAPTER 9 CLUES TO FOSTER CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

SAM’S DILEMMA

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL INPUT ON CREATIVITY

RAISING THE BAR FOR CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

DEFINITIONS: CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

SAM’S DILEMMA—RESOLVED

CHAPTER 10 POINTERS ON MANAGING PROJECTS AND DECISIONS

PROJECT SUPPORT

SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

LEARN THE BASICS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

UNDERSTAND AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO PROJECT PLANNING

CHALLENGE WHAT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE

CONSIDER THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RISK AND UNCERTAINTY

LOOK FOR WAYS TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION IN YOUR PROJECT

AVOID GOING FOR THE BIG BANG—PRIORITIZE AND PROCEED INCREMENTALLY

BE ASSERTIVE AND WORK TO KILL A PROJECT THAT SHOULD DIE

USE CONSENSUS WISELY AND MAKE TIMELY DECISIONS

PROJECT SUPPORT—SUGGESTIONS

CHAPTER 11 SUGGESTIONS FOR MANAGING UP

MANAGING UP STORIES

BUILD YOUR RELATIONSHIP

MANAGE COMMUNICATION

GUIDELINES TO APPROACH YOUR BOSS

GUIDELINES FOR RECEIVING FEEDBACK

MANAGING UP STORIES—RESOLVED

CHAPTER 12 LET’S USE IT RIGHT: A SUMMARY OF SUGGESTED APPROACHES

CHAPTER 1 TIPS ON TRANSITIONS FOR TECHNICAL MANAGERS

CHAPTER 2 ADVICE ON CREATING A MOTIVATING CLIMATE

CHAPTER 3 HINTS TO INCREASE INTERPERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS

CHAPTER 4 CLUES ABOUT COMMUNICATION PITFALLS AND STRATEGIES

CHAPTER 5 SECRETS TO MANAGING PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER 6 INCREASING EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH DELEGATION

CHAPTER 7 POINTS FOR SUCCEEDING AS A COACH

CHAPTER 8 TECHNIQUES TO MANAGE GROUPS, TEAMS, AND MEETINGS

CHAPTER 9 CLUES TO FOSTER CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

CHAPTER 10 POINTERS ON MANAGING PROJECTS AND DECISIONS

CHAPTER 11 SUGGESTIONS FOR MANAGING UP

FIFTY-TWO-WEEK LEADERSHIP JOURNAL

TOPICS

WEEK 1: USING QUESTIONS

WEEK 2: LISTENING

WEEK 3: MOTIVATION

WEEK 4: COACHING

WEEK 5: LEADING

WEEK 6: EMPOWERING

WEEK 7: DELEGATING

WEEK 8: PROJECT MANAGEMENT

WEEK 9: TEAMWORK

WEEK 10: DECISION MAKING

WEEK 11: MANAGING CHANGE

WEEK 12: CREATIVITY

WEEK 13: GOAL SETTING

WEEK 14: PERFORMANCE REVIEWS

WEEK 15: VALUE-BASED LEADERSHIP

WEEK 16: ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

WEEK 17: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

WEEK 18: MANAGING

WEEK 19: TRANSITIONS

WEEK 20: CREATING A SATISFIED WORKFORCE

WEEK 21: CREATING AN ENGAGED WORKFORCE

WEEK 22: RETAINING EMPLOYEES

WEEK 23: HIRING EMPLOYEES

WEEK 24: STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

WEEK 25: INSPIRING EMPLOYEES

WEEK 26: QUALITY MANAGEMENT

WEEK 27: CREATING A SHARED VISION

WEEK 28: DEALING WITH NEGATIVITY

WEEK 29: EXCEEDING CUSTOMER’S EXPECTATIONS

WEEK 30: CREATING A CULTURE OF SERVICE

WEEK 31: STEWARDSHIP

WEEK 32: LEAN PRACTICES

WEEK 33: CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS

WEEK 34: WHOLE BRAIN THINKING

WEEK 35: USING PROCESSES TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS

WEEK 36: LEADING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

WEEK 37: MANAGING GENERATIONS

WEEK 38: THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

WEEK 39: THE ATTITUDE OF THE LUCKY

WEEK 40: USING YOUR TALENTS FOR SUCCESS

WEEK 41: USING RESOURCES EFFECTIVELY

WEEK 42: INFLUENCING OTHERS

WEEK 43: JUGGLING MANY HATS

WEEK 44: PRIORITIES

WEEK 45: TIME MANAGEMENT

WEEK 46: LEADING CHANGE

WEEK 47: CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

WEEK 48: SELF-AWARENESS

WEEK 49: TRAINING OTHERS

WEEK 50: NETWORKING

WEEK 51: CREATING AN INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT

WEEK 52: CREATING A TRUSTING ENVIRONMENT

Index

Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Treher, Elizabeth N.

 A guide to success for technical managers : supervising in research, development, & engineering / Elizabeth Treher, David Piltz, Steven Jacobs.

p. cm.

 Includes index.

 ISBN 978-0-470-43776-6 (cloth)

 ISBN 978-1-118-09773-1 (ebk)

 1. Industrial management–Vocational guidance. I. Piltz, David. II. Jacobs, Steven. III. Title.

 HD38.2.T74 2010

 658.4′09–dc22

2010010326

For Gus Walker,

one of the few original thinkers about R&D management and special friend

PREFACE

Technical managers and supervisors, both new and experienced, face a variety of challenges in managing professionals whose personal styles, education, values, and attitudes lead them to prefer self-direction and independent work. Over the last 20 years, in answer to the question we ask in our workshops—How many of you have worked for at least one outstanding manager?—generally only 20 to 30% say yes. Perhaps 5 to 10% say they have worked with or known more than one such individual. This in large part contributes to the issues we see in those responsible for managing technical professionals—individuals are not learning managerial, leadership, and communication skills in school, and there are few excellent role models to coach, mentor, and lead by example.

The good news is that the number of individuals who now say they have worked for at least one excellent manager (20 to 30%) has doubled over the last 20 years, perhaps because more organizations offer effective training and coaching. Yet, there is still a long way to go.

This book is based on decades of experience in both managing technical professionals and teams and providing training and coaching to individuals from industry, national laboratories, government, and academia. Much of the content and ideas for the book originated with our programs Supervisory Skills in R&D, Managing in R&D, and others. Our thanks go to the thousands of technical professionals we have trained, coached, or managed over the last 25 years. Their insights, ideas, and stories are incorporated throughout the book.

If there is a single theme in most of the chapters, it is communication. We have included ways to use the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) in many of the chapters since it is a powerful addition to any communication arsenal. We have experienced the impact of the MBTI first hand both personally and professionally. Using only the MBTI, even dysfunctional, unproductive groups and departments have become positive and effective. Providing a framework to understand yourself and your colleagues better, the MBTI helps us recognize our impact on others. It gives us a language to discuss differences and to realize another’s approach may be different but that it is not wrong. The result can be humor, respect, and friendship so that our different ways become our strengths and are no longer an issue.

Rather than use strictly a management text format, the approach we have taken is to:

Introduce a topic with a short case example(s) for analysis.Offer suggestions for handling the cases and real-world outcomes, when available, at the end of each chapter.Incorporate quizzes and assessments for self-diagnosis and development planning.Include content to review and consider.Have chapters stand alone as much as possible, considering the relationship between the topics.Provide checklists and tools for future use.

Examples include typical issues technology managers face. They serve as a tool for readers to “experience” a situation, to recognize and analyze the issues, and to think through how they might handle them. We provide approaches known to be successful for comparison. Also included is the Manager–Scientist Inventory, originally published by The Learning Key® in The 2000 Annual: Vol. 1 Training by Josey-Bass Pfeiffer. Manager or Scientist: An Attribute Inventory, was developed by one of us (E. Treher) with Augustus (Gus) C. Walker, a creative thinker who contributed to the development of many engineers and scientists. Gus made a transition similar to that of Elizabeth Treher—from leading technical professionals in research and development to a second career providing coaching and training and otherwise supporting the development of professionals in the research, development, and engineering (R&D&E) community.

We hope in this way to help readers build diagnostic and judgment skills, as well as to contrast and compare their own managerial approaches with those we have found to be successful.

We welcome input, suggestions, and learning about your alternative approaches. Please contact us at [email protected].

Many of the concepts we present are not new. They can seem simple, especially in contrast with the technical knowledge and skills necessary for career success and promotions to supervisory and managerial roles for scientists, programmers, engineers, and other technical professionals. The concepts are simple, their implementation is not. As our good friend Gus Walker points out: It’s not the power of the tool that makes it useful. It’s the use that makes it powerful.

We trust this book will lead to improved managerial skills and behaviors for you and many other professionals in technology-based organizations. Increasing the number of good supervisory role models in R&D&E will enhance the work environment for all nonsupervisory professionals.

Elizabeth N. Treher

The Learning Key, Inc.

CHAPTER 2

ADVICE ON CREATING A MOTIVATING CLIMATE

MOTIVATION SITUATION

Jack moved across the country to lead a group that has been together for several years. The previous leader, Jessi, is still there, and he will report to her. Jack gets an earful during his first few lunches with the group members—all are hostile to Jessi and complaining is a way of life. One individual is excited about Jack’s optimism but worried it won’t last, given that he reports to Jessi. Another group member had been a candidate for Jack’s position. Jessi says the employee who applied for his position is very disgruntled and likely to create problems.

How would you handle this group and the individual who was passed over when Jack was hired?

How should Jack handle this “disgruntled” employee?

See the end of this chapter for how the situation was resolved.

Technical environments and work assignments often have characteristics that can demotivate technical professionals. Particularly at the technician or individual programmer level, problems are typically assigned and there is less of a feeling of choice. From entry-level staff to those with advanced degrees, expectations of creative assignments often turn into routine assignments. Past training may not fit assignments. In our project-focused technology world, assignments can be changed for nontechnical reasons. Business decisions override personal technical interests, and, for those industries with a high rate of failure, such as pharmaceuticals, project focus may shift frequently. These characteristics drive the need for technical managers to spend time thinking about ways to foster a motivating environment for their staff.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

Exercise: Motivation Octagon

Using the Motivation Octagon:

1. Place a single motivator in each space. These can be things that motivate you or someone you know.

2. Next, circle those things you can influence as a supervisor.

3. Review your nine entries. How many can you influence?

If you listed salary, benefits, or state-of-the art facilities, those are probably outside your realm of influence. The key thing to notice is that many items on your list are actually within your control and provide opportunities for creating a motivating environment. If you do this activity with others, you are likely to see their lists and yours are not the same. Examples from our workshop participants include pizza or other food, challenge, friendly manager, clear goals, teamwork, positive feedback, encouragement, and many others over which they have direct impact.

Find out what is important to those you manage. Pay attention. Clues can come from the ways individuals spend their time on weekends or from their hobbies. Some of us like independence and the ability to figure things out on our own. Others prefer a structured environment with detailed information about what and how to do things. Giving someone who prefers structure and details the freedom to proceed as she/he chooses is likely to increase his/her stress and lower motivation.

Learning about what motivates your colleagues is one thing; using this information to foster a motivating climate is another. Technical managers often focus primarily on the work itself and overlook the enormous benefits (estimated at 20 to 50% in various studies) possible from better people management. Under the appropriate conditions, employees can greatly expand their contributions. Whenever you can, link your approach in managing others to what is important to them.

Understanding what motivation is and why it is important can help to create a motivating climate. Motivation refers to the internal and external needs, wants, opportunities, and influences that determine our courses of action. It is difficult to know how motivated someone is. Nor is it easy to identify and measure the many influences that contribute to selecting a particular course of action.

There are several key characteristics of motivation. For example, a motivated individual wants to achieve a goal or improve performance. This person has “purpose” and adapts his or her behavior and resources to achieve that purpose. The motivated state is learning and adaptive.

Motivation can be goal oriented, particularly for relatively simple activities. There are, however, many complicating factors. Individuals do not have a single goal; they have multiple goals that differ in importance and priority and may not even be compatible. For example, smoking or eating high-fat, high-calorie diets are in direct conflict with the longer-range desire to stay healthy.

To be useful in an organizational context, personal and organizational goals need to be compatible. This is particularly true in complex areas of science and technology that depend on long hours of study and concentrated effort for success. If we have strong interests in our field, we tend to focus on personal goals, even when they drift away from those of the organization. Motivated individuals resist and resent interruptions in the pursuit of goals that interest them. Managers who must terminate a project or shift its focus often face this problem.

A motivated state is one of high and focused energy. The emotional energy that occurs when we are motivated focuses our minds and creates periods of concentration essential for productive work. Even though many creative insights have been reported after periods of unfocused daydreaming, usually intense concentration and an incubation period comes first.

Different people express motivation differently. It is not always possible to tell when individuals are motivated. It is even more difficult to determine when their motivations are useful to the organization. Some individuals provide lots of feedback on their level of motivation; others provide little. In any case, different personality types influence and mask what is going on internally in different ways. Extraverts behave differently from introverts. Practical individuals, oriented around their senses and the present, behave differently from those who are more intuitive. Those who prefer to base judgments on thinking differ from those who rely on their feelings. Motivation is an activated state that energizes what is already there. Therefore, it is easier to enhance performance when interpersonal and organizational goals are in-sync, and job assignments are compatible with individual preferences and types.

Motivation is not intelligence; it is driven by emotion. Motivation influences the force and persistence with which intellectual and other activities are pursued. Although motivation cannot substitute for skill, training, or education in complex technical subjects, it can expand or reduce the value of training and affect the rate at which skills and knowledge are acquired.

Motivation is not happiness or satisfaction. Motivated individuals strive to achieve, often in spite of personal hardships. For this reason, supervisors should not expect employees to be motivated at work just because they are happy with their physical environment, pay, and other quality of life factors. Motivation is encouraged less by things that cause satisfaction and more by those that indicate progress toward important goals for both the organization and the individual.

Motivation is not inexhaustible. A large percentage of professional employees, particularly those with advanced degrees in the sciences, are significantly above average in terms of achievement and intrinsic motivation. However, managers who fail to recognize the things that motivate, often turn them off.

This makes the problem of motivation a difficult one: There is no management technique guaranteed to motivate toward a specific task. There are also many ways managers interact to demotivate professionals, no matter how high their initial interest.

Motivation is not performance. Performance is a complex outcome of many interacting factors. Motivation is only one. Among others are the difficulty of the task itself, luck, resources, appropriate skill and training, intelligence, and effective management.

WHY IS MOTIVATION IMPORTANT?

Those who manage technical activities in large organizations generally regard motivation as being among their top two or three management concerns.

There are several reasons for this.

The motivated state allows people to work in a coherent, effective mode in spite of distraction. While many managers believe that they provide a working environment conductive to coherent work patterns, this is not always the case. Many technical specialists are faced with administrative duties, meetings, reports, and other peripheral activities that seriously detract from their primary tasks. Under these conditions, motivated individuals find ways of getting the job done in spite of the distractions.Motivation has special significance in problem solving. Solving complex technical problems requires not only an enormous personal knowledge base but also complex interaction with external knowledge, theory, and experiment. This can easily overload human information processing ability. In highly motivated individuals, however, much problem solving takes place at the edge of consciousness when apparently engaged in other tasks. In many cases, problem solving happens at a preconscious level, for example, when sleeping or daydreaming.Motivation has high leverage on total performance. This is particularly true for individuals whose success depends on high levels of training. There are several reasons for this. Motivated individuals spend more time working on problems than unmotivated individuals. Second, motivated individuals work more efficiently, and with greater concentration, than those who are unmotivated; and third, motivated individuals actively seek feedback on performance, which provides ongoing guidance toward verbal goals.

DIAGNOSING MOTIVATION

To begin, recognize those who are highly motivated and learn how best to use them. It is also important to recognize those who are not motivated and consider what steps you might take. For managers who are highly motivated themselves, it can be difficult to accept that others may simply want a defined job that they can leave behind when they head for home. Having a full life outside of work is their source of energy.

Generate a climate that encourages motivation toward organizationally valuable goals. Highly motivated individuals who want to pursue their own interests not only waste their time, from the organization’s perspective, but yours as well. A key skill is managing day-to-day activities for such individuals without negative effects on motivation.

APPLYING THEORIES ABOUT MOTIVATION

Abraham Maslow, a leader of the humanistic psychology movement, assumed that human beings constantly strive toward the goals they need. He categorized these into a hierarchy of motivators, with physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualization at the top. Security/safety, social, and ego/esteem needs are in between. He also observed that only unsatisfied needs motivate and that lower level needs are filled first. Once a set of needs is fulfilled, it no longer motivates.

Motivational theory can be difficult to apply; learning about it can seem pointless. However, interpreting general principles, in terms of an individual’s “local” environment, can help create a more productive workforce. Maslow’s general categories are of greatest value when applied appropriately in a technical environment. For example:

Self-actualization Continuing technical growth, understanding, self-motivation

Ego Knowledge, important problems, peer recognition

Social Peers, colleagues, outside experts, profes­sional societies

Security Credit for results, freedom to explore, technical expertise

Physiological Facilities, supplies, appropriate basic education

Note that credit for results is at the lower level (security) need, not at the ego level where many place it. Without credit for results, a technical professional’s ability to seek a new job or advance in his or her career is severely limited, affecting his/her fundamental security. This means that higher level ego needs coming from peer recognition will be difficult to fulfill outside a very limited group of colleagues at work.

In extrapolating Maslow’s work, Frederick Herzberg studied on-the-job aspects contributing to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Rarely were the same events sources of both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. He suggested that the opposite of dissatisfaction is no dissatisfaction (not satisfaction) and that the opposite of satisfaction is no satisfaction (not dissatisfaction). His theory is known as the Herzberg two-factor theory of job satisfaction or the motivation-hygiene theory. Satisfiers are integral to job performance and are job content factors, while dissatisfiers have to do with the environment and are called job context factors. In general, dissatisfiers, or hygiene factors, correspond to the lower needs on Maslow’s hierarchy, and satisfiers, or motivators, are roughly analogous to upper level needs.

Expectancy theory, described by Lawler, Nadler, and others, reflects specific assumptions about the causes of behavior in organizations:

There are both internal (individual) and environmental (organizational) forces.Conscious decisions, and the effort an individual is willing to use in performing the job, drive behavior.People differ in their needs, goals, and the rewards they desire.People base their decisions and behaviors on their expectations of the outcomes (rewards or punishments) and their perception of how hard the effort will be.

The impact of expectations on performance is well known. The classic Pygmalion story teaches us that you get what you expect. Expectancy is an attitude that is communicated, largely nonverbally, by a manager. It can be positive or negative. When it is positive, it generates a powerful motivating climate. Communicating this attitude is almost impossible to fake. Over 90% of the feeling is conveyed by tone of voice and facial expression.

Positive expectations are a proven motivator. Studies show that entry-level professionals do better immediately and over time when put with positive managers. Also, improvements in student performance correlate with teacher expectancy.

Expectations are an external motivation factor, which is present, whether you want it to be or not. In general, high expectations produce high performance, and low expectations produce poor performance. Expectations influence individuals and groups across all personality types, ranges of ability, and organizational levels.

We communicate our attitudes of expectation both verbally and nonverbally through tone of voice, facial expressions, and other forms of body language. In fact, studies show that when there is a discrepancy between spoken words and nonverbal attitudes, more than 90% of the emotional content communicated (the feelings) comes from the nonverbal component (Mehrabian). For this reason, feelings always come across; sending mixed messages leads to loss of trust and morale. If you want to communicate something positive, be in a positive mood to do it.

This effect shows itself in many ways. New employees who start with a supervisor who expects great things and who supports individual initiative and risk-taking have a real advantage. Not only do they do better immediately, but the effect lasts for years. The same is true for the classroom; research shows that teachers’ expectations of their students are self-fulfilling.

The important difference between positive and negative expectations relates to the difference between assertiveness and aggressiveness. The assertive supervisor expects great things from subordinates without threatening. She or he simply believes that good things will happen and this attitude is readily perceived. The aggressive supervisor, on the other hand, generally expects the worst and believes that some level of coercion is required. Not only does an employee sense the lack of confidence, implied threats often lead to defensiveness. This usually limits willingness to take the initiative on assignments.

Supervisors with high levels of technical training often have difficulty in expecting the positive. In the first place, our educational system is based on correcting errors. Few teachers ever grade a paper without using a red pencil. Technical supervisors have an additional liability. Research and development projects are high-risk ventures. Projects that produce no tangible results are the rule, not the exception. Supervisors may seem to interpret project failure as human failure, leading to a negative, demotivating climate.

Another framework is Theory X–Theory Y. Formulated by Douglas McGregor, he proposes a Theory X that is a negativistic set of beliefs such as “People have an inherent dislike for work and will avoid it when possible” and “People must be coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened to get them to work toward organizational objectives.” In contrast, Theory Y is an optimistic view of human nature and says, “People will exercise self-direction and self-control if they are committed to the objectives,” “People not only learn to accept, they also seek, responsibility.”

David C. McClelland is known for his studies on the degree of need for achievement (nAch). The nAch is influenced by many factors, including culture, relationships, life experiences, and the like. People with high nAch typically prefer to take personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems. They tend to set moderate and realistic goals, take calculated risks, and appreciate concrete feedback on how well they are doing. Those with high nAch tend to go on to other challenges once the nAch is satisfied. Those with low nAch tend to repeat tasks after success rather than after failure. A need for achievement is the prime motivator in solving problems. Those with high achievement needs typically want to excel in all they do and get bored by routine tasks. They appreciate objective feedback on their progress and tend to set challenging but reasonable goals. They may seek out expert opinion but like to make decisions and will take responsibility for failure.

The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator®, developed by Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, is based on Carl Jung’s theory of personality. The theory postulates that people’s apparently random behavior is not random at all but actually consistent when it comes to how they prefer to get information, make decisions, and orient their lives. No one pattern is better than any other, but it is important for people to understand the preferences that underlie their motivation, and how those preferences affect their choices and behaviors.

A sense of competence, the feeling that one has the tools and ability to perform important job tasks, is another motivating factor of great importance for technical professionals. Studies suggest that self-confidence is a strong motivator and is partially responsible for the long periods of study, learning, and skill building required by professionals in both athletics and in science and engineering disciplines.

There are several reasons for the importance of the sense of competence as a motivating factor. The personal satisfaction of developing new skills and upgrading old ones is a motivating factor, which encourages individual growth. Competence is usually more easily judged among scientific and engineering specialists than it is among those who manage them, for several reasons. Technical specialists are generally responsible for their own efforts; blaming poor work on assistants is seldom effective for long. Also, the traditions of science expose one’s work to the criticism of peers through seminars, internal reports, and other publications, a process that quickly reveals incompetence. In contrast, the work of managers is “getting things done through others.” Unlike technical procedures, managerial decisions can seldom be validated by any quantitative procedure. In this respect, managers are less vulnerable than the specialists that report to them.

For these reasons, inadequate training or the loss of skills through obsolescence is a double threat. Not only does it reduce both capacity for performance and a sense of competence, but worse, it leads to demotivation and loss of interest, energy, and the ability to learn and grow. Thus, obsolescence starts a vicious cycle. If not recognized and treated early, this starts a downward spiral, which can end in career failure. Although personal competence is fundamentally an individual responsibility, managers have a responsibility to assign work that keeps basic skills from deteriorating and to provide opportunities through continuing education to develop new skills.

Supervisors have an obligation to both their employees and their organizations to assess competence and take prompt, supportive action when development appears to be needed. Those who promote high standards of performance and work on their own personal development set the right climate and provide powerful role models.

Motivation Checklist

Learn what motivates those who report to you.

Expect success.

Provide opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Recognize accomplishments formally and informally.

Provide honest feedback.

Identify and challenge those with high nAch.

What are some ways you can recognize those whom you supervise?

What opportunities do you have to create a motivating environment for each person you manage?

The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator is a useful framework from which to think about motivation. For each of the 16 types you can identify likely motivators. In Table 2.1 four specific types of preferences are paired. These pairs are snapshots of how motivation might be affected by differences and are listed along with things each appreciates and does not appreciate.

TABLE 2.1 Motivating by Type

MotivatesDemotivatesSensing–JudgingPraise for product orientationCarefulness, caution, accuracyDependability, loyalty, responsibility, industriousnessLack of deadlinesVague instructionsIgnored or broken rulesSensing–PerceivingPraise for style and abilityFlexibility to proceed as they chooseAppreciation for clevernessLots of rules and regulationsLots of planning or waiting to startBeing told how to do a job or rush through itIntuitive–ThinkingAppreciation for their ideas and capabilitiesChallenging projectsRecognition from those seen as competentRoutineRules or traditions that get in the wayThings that aren’t logical or reasonableIntuitive–FeelingRecognized for their contributionsSharing feelings and ideas with othersBeing acknowledged and feeling appreciatedImpersonal treatmentBeing ignored