Management Consultation
Managing employees is challenging and workplace solutions are rarely "one size fits all." Depending on your organization, different skills are particularly prized: technical skills for dealing with things; human skills for dealing with people; and conceptual ideas to grasp abstract ideas.
Regardless of pay grade or job description, the best managers know when to step back, assess a situation, and ask the right questions. Trust our team to help you navigate the complexities of managing a diverse workforce. We partner with you, Human Resources, Benefits and other specialists in a confidential and impartial manner.
To learn about the scope of COPE's Management Consultation services, click here. To test your supervisory skills, click here.
Recognize Early Signs of Violent Behavior
We all have moments when we blow a circuit, so to speak, and lash out in anger or frustration. If a fellow employee slams his desk drawer shut, throws a book down, or yells at someone over the phone, is it an early sign on something more threatening? While it may be difficult to clearly define “threatening” there are behaviors that warrant caution.
Provide Performance Feedback
The corrective interview is an important tool to learn when developing management skills. COPE shows you how to prepare for the interview while avoiding the mistakes often made when confronting an employee who repeatedly fails to meet job expectations.
Diffuse Workplace Disputes
When people depend on one another to get work accomplished, there will be friction. Employees will occasionally do something wrong, or won't get something done on time, or will somehow drop the ball. When it happens, you feel "something" - anger, disappointment, frustration - and you often feel it strongly.
If you and your employee can talk about what happened in a way which resolves the problem, both of you will have learned something useful about the job and each other.
Improve Morale
During the unusual economic boom of the last few years, salary raises, bonuses, and other financial incentives came to be expected by employees as the norm rather than the exception. Managers used money to boost morale and motivate employees, to increase productivity and company loyalty.
The current economic reality presents a new challenge. How do you recognize a deserving employee? How do you motivate individuals to maintain productivity and enthusiasm for their jobs when those jobs may be cut?
Facilitate Change
Changes in the workplace has become commonplace. You know the buzzwords for change: RIF, restructuring, rightsizing, reengineering and others. To employees these words mean furloughs, outplacement, reassignments and having to do more with less. That, in turn, translates to stress for your employees and for you as a manager.
Can you recognize the signs of organizational stress? Do you know how to reduce stress among your staff?