A poorly trained manager can make an employee's life miserable. In 99 out of 100 cases, em
ployees may 1) suffer from low spirits and then gradually become no longer 2) enthusiastic
about their jobs just because they have a boss who doesn't approve of them, doesn't liste
n to them, or generally 3) erodes their self-esteem.
Three basic skills that every manager should use in order to be 4) competent on
the job are: being specific, enhancing others' self-esteem and listening
effectively. Being specific means giving 5) clear-cut instructions about
what is to be done and the results to be achieved. Being specific also means desc
ribing the behavior of people rather than 6) labeling people. It includes giving both posi
tive feedback that tells them what to repeat and corrective feedback that is firm, yet not
critical. Then it 7) comes down to evoking in the employees self-esteem. Self-esteem is a
private, individual matter. It is not fixed, but goes up and down from day to day, or eve
n from hour to hour. Thus, building self-esteem is no easy task. Managers can't MAKE peopl
e feel good about themselves, but rather, they need to help people develop their own self-
esteem as self-esteem is like a door that's locked from the inside. A final skill that tod
ay's managers need more than ever is listening. Listening may seem like a 8) commonplace s
kill, but it's not practiced as much as it should be in business today. People 9) tend to
think about what they are going to say in response when another person is talking, instead
of 10) focusing on what that person is saying and what he / she means.