Bruce Tulgan Offers Solutions to Workforce Challenges
Since 1993, Bruce Tulgan has been researching the challenges business leaders, managers and supervisors in the workforce face.
His findings are the foundation of 19 books and numerous management training programs and he has become a popular management advisor and speaker. Using the results of his findings, he has trained managers and built leaders in companies such as Amex, Walmart, AARP and the YMCA providing them with the tools to apply the fundamentals of management in the 21st century.
Members of Williamson, Inc. learned firsthand the results of Tulgan’s years of research along with proven solutions in a Cliff Notes-version of one of his seminars.
“What is the most challenging situation faced as a [business] leader?” he asked the gathering of several hundred. “Over and over again, we hear the same basic challenges.”
According to Tulgan, 90 percent of the numerous responses he has received can be boiled down to 27 key challenges.
But the number one challenge, he said, managing people.
“Research shows there are two reasons,” he said. “The first – the workplace is more high pressure, and second – the workforce is more high maintenance. This is what leaders tell all over the western world.”
It all comes down to communication.
“Sink or swim is not empowerment,” Tulgan said. “[Under managing is] the undermining problem that hides in plain sight and is hard to control. The good news is – there is a solution, and it’s not a newfangled idea.”
The solution is, like many solutions in life, to get back to good old-fashioned basics.
Tulgan advises managers to set standards, goals and guidelines; document; follow up and keep score.
It’s the old saying, ‘What gets measured, tested, documented gets done.’
“Not everyone gets a trophy,” he said. “Real empowerment takes hard work and regularly structured dialogue.”
Fairness is a myth, Tulgan added.
“Nothing’s fair if you treat low performers and high performers the same,” he said.
Managing is not complicated, it’s simple but not easy and there is no shortcut or trick, he said.
It’s all about rolling up sleeves, consistency and engaging in quality dialogue.
Most managers spend a lot of time in crisis mode, solving problems they shouldn’t have to solve because they shouldn’t have occurred.
Change can seem daunting to a manager struggling with putting out fires.
Tulgan advises taking charge one day at a time and one person at a time.
Each person has his/her own story, but “you have the power, don’t take it lightly.”
“Strong, highly-engaged leadership will get you 90 percent of the way,” Tulgan ended.
Bruce Tulgan is an expert on working with young people. For information on how to bring him to speak at your next event, visit www.premierespeakers.com/bruce_tulgan.
Source: Williamson Herald