Of all the professions out there be a doctor, engineer, teacher at one time they need to manage people under them, and managing people is not an easy job, as you are to make them work and get the work done out of them.

Humans are lazy not because of fatigue or disinterest,

1. it is because their mind and mind play the game.
2. it wants to be in the comfort zone,
3. Mind tries for shortcuts in any work
4. Mind does not want to put much effort and saves energy for itself which is biological.

The proof of all invention and discoveries that have eased life, however getting things done and making men work under you is a skill and there are professional studies, how to manage and get the people under you to work.

With my personal experience, I tried to be a good manager. Human manager.

“ Ha this manager is good.” and in the shadow of this person under me, men used to take advantage.

My soft nature was my weakness, I was good to everyone working under me and never questioned anyone, I had to do micro-management and I was involved in every affair of the work and task for the organization.

How do I change myself?

I found out that people working under me have started playing politics and they formed two groups other group decided to revolt against me and stop working, it happened in the midst of covid lockdown, tried to take another group in them and started dominating to join the group and plot against me,

Me being Ex-Navy I know how to get the work done from subordinate and a defense scenario and corporate is different altogether, in defense people are self-motivated which drives them to even go in front of bullets even when required, but corporate world things are an altogether different cup of tea.

The Carrot and stick method

The Carrot and Stick approach of management is based on the principles of reinforcement and is given by a philosopher Jeremy Bentham, during the industrial revolution, taking humanity in mind I was a nice manager and used the carrot method of praising their small work and mostly accepted men’s mistakes, tolerating late reporting absenteeism, etc. Tried individual meetings as well to understand their challenges.

Setting goal weekly

Then I decided to change myself and started to address my men every morning and asked them to write what their goal for the week and the month and started watching them, Ensured their movement is under my control and constant feedback was ensured every evening. I checked with each one for their goal and every week checked the delta ( deviation from the goal) and advised how they can reduce the delta and get the goal achieved. In the meanwhile, supervisors were on their toes at my sudden behavior changes.

Praising the good work

At first, I started praising them for their good work, and for any mistake Praising for good work gave them motivation and they started working for the praise,

I started sharing the performance on weekly basis and rewarding some for the good work, and advising for the mistakes they do. same mistakes should be avoided,

Mistakes are not meant to demean someone, the judgment here is, What is the attitude towards improvement? at the end of the day, a performance that affects the organization cannot be tolerated and corrective action needs to be taken,

One needs to be advised how to go about the problem and how to find the solution.

Make them probelm solveing hero

One of the best methods is to make them problem-solvers rather than imposing your will, no one wants to take orders. But making them responsible for their effort, praising the result of the effort and frequent feedback about performance will keep them motivated and managing them can justify the appraisal in the end.

Re-directing for mistakes

I took in mind that anyone new will not get me as nice manager and those who performed badly, I took charge and redirected them to improve and get the result fast and followed up every day, making their life difficult, and the moment they started improving started to set an example to others for the improvement they did. The group got dissolved, I stopped being a nice guy and always kept revolters on the front foot without their knowledge. Slowly the situation came under control, performance was checked every 15 days for work and delta.

Learning from my mistakes- King and Minister

It is good to be nice, but people take advantage, here an old story of an Indian king comes into play. There was a king who appointed his minister as second in command. he said to his minister” you become punisher and I will be the rewarder”. Then the minister became tough and started punishing the defaulters and the king became very nice and good and started rewarding, After a few days he said let’s change the role

“Now you become the rewarder and will become punisher,” the king said soon people revolted against the king, saying the king is barbaric, they wanted the king to be removed.

I was the same in the beginning, I was nice and later I became hard this method will end up in distress and confusion in employees.

The same is applied in sports coaching as well. Being first hard and taking control slowly losing the rope and becoming moderate is the best way to control men, but control should be in your hand always, keeping a mild type of deterrence is vital in managing manpower.

A nice manager might win but the organization will lose, however, a tough Manager may lose subordinates but by understanding the situation and taking the right action the organization will win.it is win-win situation

Conclusion

Taking control from the beginning is important and keeping the rope tight as a taught manager in the beginning and later loosening the rope will keep the control in managers. However one should keep in mind not to demean someone, reprimanding or correcting is an art and avoid at any cost if it is unavoidable, call the concern separately and hear the other person say, one should keep a note to understand the attitude and attitude problem needs a different approach, This way one can bring best out of men, managing human is an art and experience and understanding psychology of men under them and become the best manager of employee and for the organization as well.

Management traits are not about learning from books or any formula to implement, it is about understanding human psychology as well, it is gained with experience and time.

Kindly share your feedback and was i correct in dealing or what you would have done in my place.