| How to Recognize the Good Guys and the Bad Guys in Your Workplace and in Homeland |
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I've been binge watching Homeland recently, http://www.sho.com/homeland trying to catch up on the travails of Carrie, Saul and the new woman president. I must admit to being confused, after almost six seasons, as to the good guys and the bad guys - so many characters, so many terrorists, so many deep states! How can
anyone keep track?
"...it's not helpful to assume someone
is an angel or a devil.
If we work with someone long enough,
we always find the other side."
What I've decided is that the show usually does a good job (with the exception of the evil Dar) of presenting the reality that we face in our workplaces: we're all a mixture of the dark and the light. As a leader, it's not helpful to assume someone is an angel or a devil. If we work with someone long enough, we always find the other side.
My kids are Star Wars fans so they drag me along to each new movie and although I've lost track of all the sequels and prequels, I did follow enough to decide that even Darth Vader - who we thought was pure evil - started out as a good guy and then became a bad guy for very understandable reasons and then....well, it's too confusing to recap here. The point is that we don't do ourselves or our staff any favors unless we avoid the halo or the devil effect - assuming someone can do no wrong or conversely, that they rarely do anything right.
From the first day on, be sure to let your team know that you will evaluate them - periodically and frequently - based on things they're doing well and things where they need improvement. Even for your star performers, you should - for their career development - let them know when and where they can be even more productive. If you follow that policy from the start, negative feedback for someone who is struggling is not so traumatic for you or for them.
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Did You Know?
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All of our management and leadership workshops emphasize the importance and the skills involved in offering both positive and negative feedback for all employees.
For more information, call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or [email protected]
Read Lynne's book "We Need to Talk - Tough Conversations with Your Employee" and learn to handle everything from performance reviews to terminations with sensitivity and smarts.
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3985 Wonderland Hill | Suite 106 | Boulder, CO 80304
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