“We’re living proof that nice guys always finish last.” –Matthew Cooper
I started out with managing a company and was determined to be nice to everyone making the work environment a positive place to be and to instil in everyone the vision of maintaining a good standard of cleanliness and organization. This is all a wonderful plan and it is a great plan, only one little problem, not everyone has the company at heart, many are just present in boy from the time they clock in until they clock out, and the only real interest they have is to fulfill the bare minimum in order to get their pay check at the end of the month.
Wishing to make it clear what standard was expected I would make sure that everything was done to perfection and so I would spend time to leave a good example to the next shift of employees so that they could witness, through my example, what should be expected of them once they took on their slot. Well I soon found out that people will be people and most of them truly do love work… they would watch it all day long! The message that I was hoping to portray was strangely misread, the others were happy that I was willing to go the extra mile so that they could take it a bit easier! I was simply trying to lead by example and be a nice guy to show my willingness to do the work that they too were expected to do.
I am not saying that you need to be mean in order to be a good manager and that being nice is not something to be as a person, but there are moments and positions and places where you have to not have the illusion that others will appreciate your kind acts. The fact of the matter is, at your work place, you will be talked about in a negative way regardless of how nice you are. If you want to get things accomplished you need to be pleasantly firm otherwise you will find that the roles will be inadvertently reversed, you will be dancing to the tune of your co-workers.
By being too easy-going you will be no one a favor, not yourself nor those you need to oversee. They will never grow into more responsible individuals and you will never be a good manager or entrepreneur by trying to be “Mr. Nice Guy”. Be nice, yes, but don’t forget the reason you were hired or why you are in the position that you are in! The boss is always looked at through crossed eyes no matter how “nice” he might be, unless you happen to have some amazingly mature employees who have their work truly at heart.
Have you ever tried to be nice and ended up confused why it didn’t quite work out?
