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За последние 60 дней ни разу не выходила


Открыта: 09-07-2001
Адрес автора: job.lang.edvenglish-owner@subscribe.ru

Автор
Костенко Андрей Владимирович

Статистика

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Выпуск #114
 "ПРОДВИНУТЫЙ ENGLISH" 20.09.05
Еженедельный электронный журнал для изучающих английский язык


Здравствуйте, уважаемые коллеги! Приветствуем вас и поздравляем с началом учебного года.
Сегодняшний разговор о наболевшем, о менеджменте, который, судя по вашим отзывам, интересует не только авторов рассылки.
Статья Good Managers Focus on Employees' Strengths, Not Weaknesses обсуждалась на E-xecutive, там же можно найти и ее реферат на русском. Мы предлагаем вам изучить фрагменты статьи на языке оригинала, расширить свой словарный запас и, если будет желание, написать и отправить авторам рассылки свои комментарии и замечания in English.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Marcus Buckingham knows enough about good management to know he's not a good manager.

Good Managers Focus on Employees' Strengths, Not Weaknesses
.....
According to Buckingham, the best managers share one talent -- the ability to find, and then capitalize upon, their employees' unique traits. "The guiding principle is, 'How can I take this person's talent and turn it into performance?' That's the only way success is possible." And yet not everyone has that knack, Buckingham said. If he has learned anything from his years spent interviewing the best minds of the business world, it is this: Truly great managers, and truly inspiring business leaders, are rarer than many think. "Some of you in this room may not have that talent," he said. "If not, management can become a thankless task."

capitalize upon (on) - извлекать выгоду
performance - Something performed; an accomplishment (достижение; работа; подвиг; показатели работы; производительность; результаты деятельности; результаты работы)
knack - A specific talent for something, especially one difficult to explain or teach

Checkers vs. Chess

checkers (used with a sing. verb)- A game played on a checkerboard by two players, each using 12 pieces.
vs.= versus - As the alternative to or in contrast with: “freedom of information versus invasion of privacy”
chess - A board game for two players, each beginning with 16 pieces of six kinds that are moved according to individual rules, with the objective of checkmating the opposing king.

How to tell a good manager from a bad manager? According to Buckingham, it's simple: Bad managers play checkers. Good managers play chess. The good manager knows that not all employees work the same way. They know if they are to achieve success, they must put their employees in a position where they will be able to use their strengths. "Great managers know they don't have 10 salespeople working for them. They know they have 10 individuals working for them .... A great manager is brilliant at spotting the unique differences that separate each person and then capitalizing on them."

It may sound elementary, but a quick glance around the business world indicates that many companies have yet to grasp this simple concept of putting people's strengths to use, Buckingham said. That's because the business world -- and the world at large -- is obsessed with weaknesses and finding ways to fix them. Buckingham cited a recent poll that asked workers whether they felt they could achieve more success through improving on their weaknesses or building on their strengths. Fifty-nine percent picked the former.

"A great manager sees the folly in this," said Buckingham, who has interviewed some of the business world's most successful leaders for his books. "A great manager knows he or she will get the most return on investment by working on strengths." Buckingham has seen this management style work. He just doesn't see it often enough, and he believes too many workers spend too much of their time doing things they don't like to do or simply aren't good at doing.

folly - A lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight; An act or instance of foolishness: regretted the follies of his youth. A costly undertaking having an absurd or ruinous outcome.
.....
So how can managers tap into the talent they have in their organizations? Buckingham said a good first step is to determine what employees are good at. The tasks they learn quickly, the talents they naturally exhibit and the jobs they feel good about doing are hints about their inherent strengths. Once those strengths are uncovered, a good manager will put them to use. "You can only win as a company when you get your people into positive numbers," Buckingham said.

tap into (phrasal verb): to establish a connection with; have access to: tapped into a new market for their products; to take advantage of: tapped into their enthusiasm to improve the school.

Optimism and Ego

Managing employees successfully is a rare talent. Even rarer, Buckingham said, is the ability to lead. And all good managers are not necessarily good leaders.

"I do think there is a rather keen and distinct difference between managing and leading," Buckingham said. The chief responsibility of a leader, for example, "is to rally people for a better future. If you are a leader, you better be unflinchingly, unfailingly optimistic. No matter how bleak his or her mood, nothing can undermine a leader's belief that things can get better, and must get better. I believe you either bring this to the table or you don't."

bleak - gloomy and somber: “Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult” (John Millington Synge); providing no encouragement; depressing: a bleak prospect.
unflinchingly - showing neither fear nor indecision; resolute

Along with that optimism, great leaders can also bring big egos -- and that's not a bad thing. While some have blamed the business world's recent string of scandals -- Enron, WorldCom and others -- on bloated executive egos, Buckingham disagrees. It's not ego that ruined Ken Lay, but rather a lack of ethics. There's a big difference, Buckingham said. And considering the responsibility facing business leaders to build a future for their companies, a big ego might be what is needed.

bloated - adj : abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas; "hungry children with bloated stomachs"; "he had a grossly distended stomach"; "eyes with puffed (or puffy) lids"; "swollen hands"; "tumescent tissue"; "puffy tumid flesh"

"If you are going to lead, you better have a deep-seated belief that you should be at the helm, dragging everyone into that better future," he said. "Virtually nothing about a leader is humble. I'm not saying they are arrogant, but their claims are big." Buckingham said successful leaders must find a "universal truth" to rally their followers. These universal truths stem from the basic human needs, fears and desires that unite all people, across all cultures. They also happen to be great tools for leadership.

helm - a position of leadership or control: at the helm of the government.
arrogant - marked by or arising from a feeling or assumption of one's superiority toward others: an arrogant contempt for the weak.
stem - to have or take origin or descent.

Take, for example, one of the great human fears -- fear of the future. "We all share a fear of the unknown," Buckingham said. "The problem for the modern-day leader, of course, is that you traffic in the future." Buckingham says some the best leaders can overcome this fear -- and build confidence among their followers -- with a weapon of their own: clarity.

clarity - free from obscurity and easy to understand; the comprehensibility of clear expression

By presenting a clear message, and backing up their message with actions that support it, top managers of such companies as Tesco, Best Buy and Wal-Mart have rallied employees to their cause and enjoyed bottom-line success as a result, Buckingham noted. "The best way to turn anxiety into confidence is this: Be clear. Clarity is the antidote to anxiety. If you do nothing else as a leader, be clear."

Former New York City Mayor Giuliani provided a good example of effective leadership through clarity, Buckingham said. When Giuliani took office in 1993, he could have turned his attentions just about anywhere; America's largest city certainly had its share of problems.
But Giuliani set one specific, clear and focused goal for his administration. He would reduce crime and improve quality of life for residents. Then he laid out three simple ways he was going to start making that happen: He announced he would get rid of the window washers who pestered New York City drivers; clean subways of graffiti and then keep the vandals away; and make all cab drivers wear collared shirts. The issues were, on their surface, minor. But they were relevant to his citizens. And by setting three immediate goals -- and then achieving them -- Giuliani was able to build trust among residents and respect among his workers. That trust carried over as he tackled larger challenges, and within a few years of his arrival, the FBI named New York the safest big city in America. "You can do a lot worse than pick just a few areas you want to take action on right now," Buckingham said.

pester - to harass with petty annoyances; bother.
.....
Published: June 29, 2005

Комментарии и дополнения приветствуются на thankssomuch@mail15.com.


Автор рассылки Костенко Андрей Владимирович.
Этот выпуск подготовила Любовь Абрамова.

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