Cube Escape

Self Employment - Entrepreneur Lifestyle - Business Tips and Tricks

Pursing the Entrepreneurial Dream

A couple of years ago, I decide that my pursuit of climbing the corporate ladder was fruitless. It wasn't for me...not what I wanted. I craved freedom. I've learned a lot about becoming an entrepreneur, and I'll share what I've learned with you. Getting control of your life again isn't a pipe dream. Financial, professional, and creative freedom can be yours.

Don’t hold pointless meetings

As many of my regular readers will know, I still have a day job. Thus, I must still deal with the rigors of the corporate world. I just had a somewhat unpleasant experience (quite ridiculous, actually), and I wanted to steer any managers out there from this type of behavior.

Last Friday, at the end of the day, the whole team had a meeting to discuss the gameplan for the following week (this week). We set specific goals for fixes, improvements, and innovations. Despite the fact that I have a natural aversion to meetings, I found this all rather reasonable.

However, that reason flew right out the front door this morning when my boss called another meeting, first thing Monday morning. The last thing we did on the very last day of work was discuss our plans. Then, the first thing we did on the very next day of work was discuss our plans. We had to repeat what we had said, despite the fact that it was still written up on the whiteboard, a mere three feet away.

Managers, please don’t subject your staff to such ridiculous behavior. If something had changed over the weekend, another meeting would have been justified, but nothing happened. It was as if my boss had simply forgotten what we talked about, and was too lazy to look up at the board and read it. The meeting was ridiculous, and half of the staff left shaking their heads and muttering amongst themselves how stupid our boss is. If you take this type of approach with your direct reports, that may be what they say about you behind your back. As a manager, can you really afford to have a staff that doesn’t respect you?

Trust your people, give them a task and let them do it, refrain from holding redundant meetings, and let your actions command respect. In other words, be a good manager.

. 07 May 07 | Regular Jobs, Business, Management | Read on | Comments (0)

Good Info

On my Google personalized home page I noticed that today’s “how-to of the day” was entitled “How to Lose Your Fear of Being Fired.” I thought that sounded interesting, since I work in what I will call a hostile work environment. So, I read it, and then read another article linked from it, and found it useful as well.

I thought I would share. So, How To Lose Your Fear of Being Fired and How to Deal With a Bad Boss. I’m sure there are many that have been in one of these two situations… enjoy.

. 09 Apr 07 | Information, Business, Management | Read on | Comments (0)

The dangers of micromanagement

According to Dictionary.com, to micromanage is “to manage or control with excessive attention to minor details.” Is this a bad thing? YES! Basically, it creates a workplace of dissatisfaction and distrust, and it keeps workers from doing their work.

In a professional environment, professionals are hired to complete tasks. They are typically hired because they have some knowledge or expertise in the subject at hand. Why then, I wonder, would a manager get in the way of professionals working their profession? I’m sure that in their mind there is some valid reasoning, but I propose another explanation: Ignorance.

They just don’t know any better and they don’t know how to be good managers. Good managers let their professional employess perform their profession. Good managers do not micromanage every little detail of a project, then change their mind and micromanage the changes. Micromanagement shows a lack of management and leadership skills.

I bet you’re wondering why I sound so passionate about this, aren’t you? Well, I still have a day job and my boss does nothing but micromanage. That’s what he spends his days doing, and gets little else done. Sometimes I wonder why he ever asks anyone’s opinion, if he’s already got his own ideas, and plans on micromanaging these ideas into existence. Ideas aren’t bad, really, but he has no clue what he’s talking about. He tries to control every little detail of something he is not qualified to control. I wonder why he bothers hiring professionals if he is not going to listen to their ideas, born from years of experience.

We just had an episode a few minutes ago, and I came away from that with a supreme lack of confidence in my boss’ ability to lead his company. I’m not even confident that he can keep it out of bankruptcy. However, there is a positive aspect to this otherwise degrading experience: I have another instance of “what not to do” when managing people.

It’s kind of funny, actually. Of all the professional management training I have recieved through either corporate training programs or paid-for education, the most valuable lessons I have learned come from incompetent managers. So keep an eye out for those types. You could learn a lot from them.

. 06 Mar 07 | Business, Management | Read on | Comments (0)