DISQUS

Some other telling signs to watch out for:
employees fly economy while the important people fly business
the word "entitled" gets used a lot
pay grades based on years of service not merit
not allowing leave for sick relatives/kids etc
the boss demanding proof of everything and trusting nothing....

I could go on

Here's a couple more for your list.....

When employees say "trust me to do my job", do you ask them to prove it first?

When performance issues get out of hand is it because the individual is a poor performer, or because the manager is a poor performer?

I remember doing my very first presentatin - and memorising the whole thing! These days I'm more relaxed - it's more about what the audience needs than what I need.

Thanks for referencing this blog Frank - have picked it up myself.

Can't wait to hear more. The actual words "Performance Management" imply negative performance that needs somehow to be controlled and reversed.

Personally I vote for the first title.

It's great to see leaders who walk the talk. Too often an executive team will take the easy way out - paying small bonuses - because they would find the fall out from paying no bonuses too hard to manage.

Performance Mgt and remneration systems send powerful cultural messages - hats off to Michael Dell

I have to say that this excellent award wining entry may now be surpassed. This week in Oz, a car parts manufacturer has been shamed into providing voluntary redundancy for a long serving worker. Every other person in the comnpany was offered voluntary redundancy, except for this gentleman. No reason was given at the time, although it seems likely that the fact the employee had been on sick leave for some time with terminal cancer may have played a part.

Newspaper reports suggest they were 'waiting him out'. As a result of media coverage, the company yesterday agreed to pay about 50% of the amount he would have received under voluntary redundancy - around AUD $50,000. The man's 3 children, all under 20, will now have some money to rely on. The gentleman in question is expected to pass away today.

A new winner???

Sadly, good bosses seem to be in the minority. Average bosses and bad bosses rule! I would say more than half of those don't even know they are average or worse (scientifically calculated - trust me), which means they blissfully ignorant of the negative influence they have.

Here's to more companies waking up to the incontrovertible fact that the first step to improving management/leadership capability is finding ways to hold up the mirror.

Sometimes seeing our reflection for the first time is enough of a surprise/shock to make us run to the hairdresser for a new image....