As a manager you happenstance diverse kind of people with exceptional
nature. None of them is same and handling them is not easy. It becomes more
difficult when you do the conventional mistake of putting them in friend zone.
The key to handle lies in your command and control over your subordinates. Command
and control is an art and to master this knack there is a simple rule of REWARD
and PUNISHMENT.
It comes to your wisdom that when to reward someone and when
to punish someone. It is not necessary that somebody is working just fine and
you will reward him. It is also not necessary that if somebody is not at all working
then you will punish him. Interesting, isn’t it? Reward and punishment is a
game, in which your main objective is to play with the reactions and psychology
of your subordinates. Remember one thing, you cannot lose. Defeat is never
acceptable in any game which you play as a manager on the professional front.
To give you superior insight of this key to command, I will
share a very small and funny example. Recently, I had to spend lot of time in
office which meant 24 hours, and got two helpers, one in day time and other one
for the night time. Initially, I wasn’t keen to keep them, so I used to call them
on hourly basis; this meant they got lot of relaxation time. The helper in day
time was undisciplined and the night one was smart and obedient.
Now, after a week I realized that they both were going disorderly.
Though the night guy was working OK but still there was a change in attitude
and day guy started dictating his conditions on me in a respectful manner. This
only implied that I was losing command and control and I had to regain it. I was
losing the game and I can’t tolerate losing.
The solution for this was reward and punishment. I started
making the day guy to sit for the complete duration on a chair outside my
office. The work was same and frankly there was no need to make him sit for
such long hours but this was his punishment. Actually, it was his job to be
there in day time, but as he was getting relaxation before, now it became pain
for him. I continued to stay same with the night guy, and he kept on getting
relaxation for the good work. This not only brought the tension between the two
but also broke the unity.
Conclusion was that I regained command and control. The day
guy became disciplined as he understood that indirectly he was getting punished
and the night guy understood that he may suffer the same. One got punishment
and the other got reward and the psychology of human to compare each other made
my job easy.
This is the power of Reward and Punishment. Reward one and
punish the other. This trick is like walking on a sharp sword, it may back fire
on you. You need to decide when and who to reward or punish. A good manager is
one who doesn’t lose his calm and remember be ruthless but maintain smile on your face.
‘REWARD OR PUNISH!’
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