Providing Reinforcement and Feedback
The manager's rapid reaction to an employee's reality test1 ing serves, of course, to reinforce good performance and reflect the degree of success achieved. The need of the young person for such responses, frequent and specific, cannot be underestimated. The day-to-day interaction between a man and his first managers probably does more to shape his behavior and attitude than any other single experience.
There is, however, a need for a more formal session in which daily matters can be put into perspective and trends can be discussed and evaluated. Remember that the young graduate is used to very quick, frequent responses in the classroom. A question is posed; he answers or formulates an answer. In the ensuing discussion, he learns whether he was right or wrong. He is given quizzes at intervals and receives a grade and perhaps some comments. He writes papers and they, too, are graded and evaluated. Ultimately, there is a report card for the semester.
The work situation can be quite a contrast. The manager, insensitive to the need for response, may impart an occasional word of approval or frown of displeasure. A full year or more may pass before the specifics of what has been done well and badly are put on paper and a planned appraisal session is held. During this time, the young person goes through a period of considerable conflict. Some of his friends may be charging him with selling out to the establishment. He tries very hard to convince himself he has made a sound choice. Lacking sufficient feedback during this time and not really being sure how he is doing, he may literally be unable to resolve the conflict. This can impair his performance and impede his adjustment.
For these reasons especially, then, day-to-day interactions need to be supportive. At least by the end of the first three-or four-month work period, a formal appraisal of his work and those things that help or hinder its accomplishment should be made and discussed in some depth. It can be simple in content. How well has the man achieved results? What strengths has he already displayed? What one or two things might desirably be changed to improve work during the next six months? The discussion should be long enough to let the man talk fully and get his feelings and problems out on the table. If this kind of session is held at least two or three times during a man's first year of employment, it is probable that his adjustment time will be shorter, he'll feel more satisfied with his initial career choice, and his work output will improve.
Since the first two years arc in many ways the most difficult for the young college graduate, his feelings during this time assume great importance. We know that the typical graduate expects a promotion by the end of his second or third year. Whether he receives it depends, as stated earlier, not only on his personal potential but on the capability he displays. This, in turn, depends on his assignments and on his manager's skill in delegating responsibility, giving information, and responding to his performance. Even though a manager takes steps to improve these skills, matters will seldom be perfect. So it is also wise to track employees' attitudes as they enter the firm and at intervals during the first two years.
An attitude survey administered by someone from the personnel office (or a senior administrator following the new graduates) is the simplest and probably most effective means of accomplishing this. The respondents should be allowed anonymity so they will answer fully and freely, although in large organizations the questionnaires can be coded to identify departments. See Exhibit 1 for a sample survey.
The results of such a survey will first of all pinpoint the manager or group of managers about whom employees are dissatisfied. Then administrators can step up manager training or hold face-to-face discussions with new employees to identify sources of concern, assignment changes that need to be made, or managers who should be taken off the list of men to whom new college graduates report.
Survey results may also indicate general concerns around which special communication programs, activities, discussion groups, and the like can be built. If the survey is taken every six months for the first two years, trends can be observed and either reinforced or countered by specific management actions.
Yet surveys are not enough. In small companies, the president or a vice-president should take the time to meet new college graduates individually or in small groups to tell them his personal views about the company and its mission, what he hopes for it in the future, and the obstacles it faces. Then he should ask for and listen to personal expressions of interest or doubt from the new employees.
In larger companies, a general manager, a plant manager, or distinguished members of their staff probably take on this responsibility. This practice dispels the faceless quality that some top executives have for the young and overcomes some of the fear of the generation gap that may exist on each side. Following is a sample agenda for such a meeting.
A Fast Start for Young Employees
skilled in confrontation tactics and use them if they disagree with those above or around them. Since most managers in business and industry grew up in quite a different atmosphere, one in which compromise was much more the order of the day, confrontation tactics often catch them off guard and make the managing role seem very difficult indeed. What can they do?
- Be prepared. Expect your statements to be questioned by the young person. In fact, if he doesn't question them, ask him why not.
- Be pleased. Yes. Think of it this way. The fact that he challenges your remark indicates his interest. If he didn't care, he wouldn't bother.
- Answer him when he asks "Why?" Be so pleased when he asks "Why?" that you answer him, factually and in detail. Don't get emotional or defensive, though.
- Don't know the answer, tell him so. You've lived with many a policy or practice so long that it's second nature. You may not have thought through the logic of it in a long time. If he attacks one of these matters, pause, think a moment or two, and then say matter-of-factly, "I guess I haven't really thought about this in a long time. I'll think about it tonight, see if it still seems sound to me, and talk about it with you tomorrow. Meanwhile, to be sure I consider your point of view, tell me how you feel about it."
- He gets emotional, ask for a repeal. If he gets carried away on a subject, hear him through-wait him out. Then either say, "I believe I understand your feeling. May I say it in my words and you tell me if I've got it straight?" And then do so. Or say, "I think I understand how you feel, but so I'll be certain, would you tell me once more?" Listen carefully, and then conclude with "Fine. I'll review the whole matter." You'll grow in stature and gain the respect of the whole group by this handling, whereas an argument will buy you nothing.
This, then, is the recipe for getting young college graduates off to a fast start. Strengthen the jobs they do (we should anyway; salaries are so much higher than they used to be). Screen managers (not everyone is a successful parent in dealing with the younger generation; why should all managers be expected to establish good working relationships?). Be prepared to have policies and practices challenged, and welcome this as an opportunity to update and improve them. If these things had been done in your day, your own career might have moved along more swiftly.
