Why managers need long pants and other management mysteries explained

From the barefoot manager's journal. Things you think of when you walk a beach or live a life. Time and distance help make sense of a many things. To help you manage better, here is a segment out of the barefoot manager's handbook.

1. Self directed work teams look a bit like Greece. Without management or discipline, costs get bigger than revenue. When we manage our people well, they become more effective.
2. Sick people go to a lot of places. They fly on airplanes, go to rock concerts, parties, shopping, and even dates. Sick people do not go to work because they know you can't be too careful.
3. People listen better when you tell them a story. Hugo Chavez has South America believing the USA is giving them cancer. He knows how to tell a story.
4. Many people don't know that Einstein didn't text.
5. You can't coach people who are asleep. If they don't care and don't respond, you need to get their attention first.
6. Being a good manager is not a popularity contest, it's a decency contest. If you're a decent human, chances are they'll follow you.
7. "Humans are the only species that will follow an unstable leader." That's what Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer says.
8. If you have long pants, wear them and tell employee's what's required. The company defines the work, not the employee.
9. Your job is to take grownups out of their comfort zone. Certainly it's an inconvenience but that's why we pay them.
10. What people are required to do and what they're likely to do is not obvious to everyone, - especially to Mayor Moonbeam. He was very surprised by the Stanley Cup riots.
11. People tell you "I'm too busy" because it works. It keeps you moving along and brings them peace and quiet. Wouldn't you?
12. People take more sick days on Monday and Friday. It makes a lot more sense when you think about it.
13. We won't hire people who warn us they might not show up for work every day. But once they get on payroll, we're ok with it.
14. Working hard is required. Being stressed about it is optional.

Have a great New Year! 
See you for breakfast,

Wolfgang

If You Don't Know What a Snooze Button is, - You're hired!

Odd question, but I think you should hire this person.

For half my life I did not understand the purpose of a snooze button. The best I could come up with was, it was a button that turned the alarm off temporarily, and reset it for ten minutes later. I knew that wasn't the whole answer because by itself, it did not make sense. It's not logical to wake yourself up so you could sleep for another ten minutes, unless you fell down a rabbit hole.

I knew the purpose of an alarm was to tell you when to get out of bed, not to inform you you had ten more minutes to sleep. An alarm is not a ten minute warning bell like the one at the concert telling you the break is over soon, so go to the bathroom fast. Here I am, many years later only to find out my first answer was the right answer and it still doesn't make any sense.

Things to think about when talking to snooze button candidates, 

1. Hitting a snooze button is asking for a deadline extension. Poor thing to admit to in an interview. This candidate is going to take up a lot of management time.
2. Snooze button people have deliberately engineered in a way of slowing down the process of getting out of bed. You don't want them bringing that kind of thinking to the workplace.
3. Getting out of bed is inevitable. Delaying the inevitable at work is dangerous.
4. People who really need the ten minutes are recovering from bad planning the night before. They're not going to set your team's performance on fire.
5. Snooze button people are not problem solvers. They've incorrectly concluded that nine minutes of interrupted sleep is going to make a difference. Wrong answer, - it won't.
6. There's a special nutty candidate who will set their alarm a half hour before they actually have to get out of bed, then hit the snooze button three times, - using up the half hour, and eventually getting up at the correct time! How ingenious. You're fired.

All things being equal, select the candidate who doesn't use a snooze button. You don't have time to manage the other kind. Most companies hire for competency, then fire for missing character traits. We've developed a web of interview questions designed to quickly uncover the human being in front of you. When you need the truth, let us ask the right questions. 

Join me on Jan. 18th for an exceptional workshop where I will teach you what questions to ask and what the answers mean. How you interview will change forever! 

See you for breakfast, 
Wolfgang 

p.s. Hiring an accountant. 
"When does two plus two equal five?"
"When they're really big two's."
"When can you start?"

p.s. Book your site seminar and conferences. Every public workshop is also available as a site session for your group only. If you're planning an event, or a conference ask to sit in one of our workshops to check us out. If my delivery and approach to the subject are of value, tell me what date you have in mind. Local small group, 2 hr events are $825.00. Out of town events, same price but add travel costs and 2 nights in a four star hotel. Call Wolf at 604-931-6813.