Candy Tymson, Professional Speaker, Communication, Gender Differences, Marketing and Promotion


Today:		Phone: (07) 3161 6432 Email: info@csoz.com.au

Candy Tymson

Profile

Candy Tymson
Certified Speaking Professional

Communication, gender differences, marketing and promotion

[ Book this Speaker ]

Author of Gender Games: Doing business With the Opposite Sex and Co-Author of The Australian & NZ Public Relations Manual, the recognised textbook in colleges and universities in both countries-Candy's expertise is communication, gender differences and marketing and promotion.

While the Lady Mayoress of Sydney she gave the keynote address at a fundraising event that raised $1 million dollars in one night.

She has co-ordinated many high profile events including the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and promotion of Sydney's 2000 Olympic Bid for Public Works.

Topics

Speaks & Delivers Workshops On:

Don't Just Stand There-Stand Out!

Male & Female Communication

How to Promote Your Business For Little on No Cost
Dealing With Difficult People

Articles

Lousy Bosses Exposed!

By Candy Tymson

A study of 35,000 managers in Australia and New Zealand over the past decade by organisational development company Human Synergistics, has identified the overwhelming style of management in Australia as ‘avoidance’ which is characterised by a fear of failure, denial of responsibility and withdrawal from threatening situations or people.

Sound familiar?

Such managerial behaviour creates a negative work environment where no one is happy, and most people respond by feeling frustrated, unsupported and letdown. As a result, team members often only do the minimum amount of work to get by, rather than going the extra mile to get results.

As I move around companies, I am surprised how often managers use the stick rather than the carrot approach to ‘motivate’ their teams. Some of it clearly verges on harassment, and yet they seem oblivious to the impact they are having—until a formal complaint is lodged!

Results of Negative Behaviour

A General Manager of a large service organisation called me in to “fix his executive team”. He complained that they didn’t take any responsibility; continually hid problems rather than telling him about them and that there was constant in-fighting and back-stabbing going on among the managers themselves.

It didn’t take long for me to discover what the problem was…the General Manager! When I interviewed his team, they all talked about his humiliating behaviours of yelling at them in front of their staff, continually telling them what needed to be done and generally showing no trust or confidence in their ability to do their job.

As a result the executive team were operating in reaction and self-defence mode—there simply was no culture for innovation or learning.

But how do you tell the General Manager he is the problem? (I’ll tell you later, but first let’s look at what behaviours cause problems…)

The Ten Deadly Behaviours of a Negative Boss

Here are some common behaviours which can generate negative responses:

Using criticism rather than giving constructive feedback
Telling rather than involving
Having unrealistic expectations
Passing the buck
Using inappropriate personal comments
Avoiding any people-oriented solutions
Expecting everyone to have the same approach as they do
Loosing their temper over minor things
Lacking humour—taking everything very seriously
Never ever acknowledging or thanking team members

The Problem With Negative Bosses

According to American psychologist Steve Wilson, “such bosses are

a throw-back to the early days of the industrial revolution when poorly trained, unskilled labour was plentiful and treated as disposable. The boss was king. Owners and managers created layer upon layer of the hierarchical organisation, and only the managers were rewarded for results.

Under this kind of organisational structure, employees develop some of the worst possible work habits and attitudes: they lie and cover up errors and spoilage, they suffer more frequent stress-related illnesses, they don’t figure out how to do their job better, and they adopt the attitude of ‘every person for themselves’”.

But to survive, modern companies can no longer afford to have hierarchical structures—and it is now recognised that management needs to reward every employee—not only the managers—for their contribution as well as their performance.

Going Positive To Get Better Results

So how do you tell a Senior Manager that his behaviour is the problem? I find talking about “perceptions” works well. For example: “are you aware that your behaviour is perceived as creating negative results?” and “by behaving the way you are, you are contributing to the behaviours in your team. For example when you…”

SOME POWERFUL WORDS GUARANTEED TO MOTIVATE

Thank You
You’ve done a great job
I value your contribution
What do you think?
Is there another way we could…?

Happy team members are more productive, take less time off work due to health problems and stay longer with an organization thus reducing turnover and retraining costs.

Working with a Difficult Boss

Finally, let me leave you with a couple of ideas on how to work with (and maybe even transform your relationship with) a difficult boss.

Find Out Their Expectations. Their frustration may be valid if you are not delivering what they want. You won’t know until you ask. When I was running my public relations consultancy I believed I was getting fantastic results for a client, but he was never happy. It wasn’t until I asked “what are your expectations with this publicity campaign?” that I discovered that what he wanted was a story in the Financial Review. When that happened he sang my praises!
Don’t Take It Personally . Some people are born difficult, others have it thrust upon them—either ignore it or speak up but try not to take it personally.
Turn The Tables —treat them the way you want to be treated. For example if you want acknowledgement, try acknowledging them.

Candy Tymson is communications and gender differences expert with more than twenty years experience in the fields of marketing and public relations. Based in Sydney, she is the author of “Gender Games: Doing Business With The Opposite Sex”.

Testimonials

Candy involved every member of the group and used a variety of activities to ensure skills and knowledge gained would be transferred back to the workplace. Several months later, the team is still talking about what they learned.
Human Resources Executive, Commonwealth Bank

Your interactive and enthusiastic style of presentation was inspirational, motivating participants to work collectively as an industry. The workshop gave us the clear steps and commitment we needed to ensure our vision could become a reality.
Sales Director, Real Estate Agency

You challenged my team, gave them skills they could easily apply and inspired them to look at things differently. The results are already starting to flow…
National General Manager, Telstra

Additional Clients include: Sydney Water, News Ltd, Bakers Delight, Mirvac Group, Local Government Association, Auto Dealers Association, Club Managers Association, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.

More Information