CHANGING GEESE INTO A BETTER GEESE

One of the greatest issues for managers in the public sector is their inability to get rid of staff who are at best less productive than they should be.  The worst is the trouble makers who caused problem to the organization.

Organizations are often left with its present staff where some of them are nowhere near retirement.  Some are even firmly ‘stuck’ where they are either:

• Unwilling to be moved from jobs they are familiar with
• Unable to think of new ideas themselves and yet opposing those put forward by others
• Opposed initiatives from own staff and therefore unable to develop or use their skills to the full effect

But it is still the manager’s responsibility to manage them.  Management has to look for whatever good points there are and cultivate them while at the same time trying to maximize their weakness.  Support has to be combined with insistence that improvement is essential.  The change may not be seen soon enough as it has to be remembered that the staff in question have probably been at the poor behavior aver many years.

It is sometimes almost necessary to move the staff concerned to a different job and be given gradual increasing target.  It may also be that they are given a particular project for which they are alone responsible.

Staffs that have been virtually written-off can be changed into productive people.  There’s this maxim about you can’t change geese into swans, but you can make them into a better geese.  It’s worth the effort since its better than wasting money and leaving the staff to rot.

In this case, the manager too is benefited where they will become a better manager and their confidence will be enhanced with each success.

In order to achieve radical change, more than just the development of staff is necessary.  Radical change can also be achieved with existing staff but it will take time.  The relative easy option of replacing the staff sometimes may not always be best.

Shared from:

Maurice B. Line (2003), “Management Musings 13: Making do with what we have”, Library Management, Vol. 24 Iss: 6 pp. 360-361