benefit. This can only happen if the manager talks and listens (Quick, 1980, p. 99).
When employee performance is not satisfactory, the manager often has to assume the role of a counselor. No one wants to be ineffective--except that rare employee that rebels against the manager. There may be, instead, a difference of opinion on what constitutes ineffectiveness. Most people want to change for the better.
An effective manager needs to employ two types of listening during a counseling session. The manager must learn to listen for those things which are said, and for those things which are not said. This is because the employee may not volunteer all the necessary information--he may feel defensive or he may not have a clear idea of what the problem is. For example, the salesman who is not making enough calls complains that he has to spend too much time servicing his customers. The manager needs to discover what the salesman means by that. Is he selling carelessly so that he has to soothe disgruntled customers, or is he inventing reasons for making service calls on customers rather than sales visits to prospects? Or is there a break-down in the quality of the product that needs to be analyzed? The manager needs to listen for clues that go beyond what is stated by the employee (Quick, 1980, p. 126).
The way a manager does this is by listening to the employee without interruption--by accepting the probability that the subordinate has a story to tell and then let him tell it without being interrupted by a rebuttal. Once the manager gives an opinion on the subject, he should allow the employee to vent his emotional reaction to it--knowing that a negative reaction is normal and usually precedes one that is positive. Of course, the manager does not have to agree with the employee's reaction. However, if the manager does not understand this person's feelings or accept him on a personal level, his chances of building a solut...