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Are Your Employees Tough Enough For These Times?
Overly Nice Guys Have No Boundaries:
One Symptom: The overly nice guys have a tendency to feel like they are victims under attack when people make requests of them. Consequently, they feel they must carry an unwarranted and substantial burden rather than defining reasonable boundaries of responsibility.
One Recommended Management Strategy: When our overly nice guys continually fall on their sword in an effort to help out; when they abandon their priorities at all costs, they risk the possibility of becoming Corporate Martyrs. These are the men and women who go well-beyond Corporate Heroism by giving of themselves to a fault. As a result, they may be sick more frequently, the consistency of their work may not be sufficient and they may be prone to professional or personal melt-downs. When overly nice guys push themselves beyond reasonable “hero” limits for the company, a guiding hand is needed to ensure that they don’t push too far. Managers can draft “Anti- Martyr” boundaries that are well defined and closely monitored. For instance, in a professional services firm, it may be appropriate to define a maximum number of hours that can be billed within a given period. For manufacturing organizations, a maximum number of patent submissions per year could be introduced.
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Overly Nice Guys Cannot Make Choices:
One Symptom: Overly nice guys regularly defer to others when having to make choices. Rather than appear as argumentative, they prefer to get as many people involved as possible to ensure that everyone’s views are being taken into account. This slows down the process to a painful grind and the overly nice guys must learn how to make a decision, execute and then take some corrective actions if the decision was not optimal.
One Recommended Management Strategy: When your overly nice guys cannot choose from a variety of options, it may be appropriate to introduce a “Decision Framework”. In this capacity, the overly nice guy can be given certain parameters such as number of people necessary to make a decision, schedule for the decision and financial cost guidelines. These are just a few examples and you should construct a simple Framework to serve as guiding posts for your overly nice guys. Otherwise, the overly nice guys will not be able to make their ways through any of the key decisions. Jim Turley, CEO of Ernst & Young shared “The sign of effective leadership and effective organizations is to recognize that most of those thousands of decisions [being made] don’t have significant strategic impact.”
As a leader and manager, these strategies require that you have the courageous and honest discussions with your overly nice guys. If you don’t, you are perpetuating the problem. This was the common theme expressed by all of the CEOs and thought leaders we interviewed for the book; Courageous and Honest Discussions Up Front.
Based upon our surveys, nearly two thirds of corporate workers consider themselves too nice so don’t give up on them. They represent a vital and important dimension of every business and with your help, can make a big difference for your organization.
For more executive strategies:
- Pay Cuts: Taking One for the Team In This Economy Can You Afford Diversity?
- CNBC.Com Executive Career Site
- Saving Your Job: Are You An SOB Or Just A "B"?
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Russ Edelman is President & CEO of Corridor Consulting and founder of Nice Guy Strategies, LLC (NGS) and the author of “Nice Guys Can Get The Corner Office: Eight Strategies for Winning in Business Without Being a Jerk.”
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