Managing a Business - How to Get the Most Out of Your Business

I am at a spot in my life where my job is, to say the least, degrading. I work at a wholesale distribution office as a salesman and we have nothing but professional people here. Our management is so high on themselves that they are not even seen as management around our office. They are viewed by most as a couple of guys "playing house". They are totally blind to the fact that there are major problems, and it seems that they actually choose to be blind of the issues. They have been informed of the issues by everyone in the office, all they do is deny the fact that major problems are occurring. The other thing they do is treat their employees like we are complete idiots and we can't do our every day tasks.

Now I'm no manager, however I have spent some time as a territory manager, but I know what they are doing is not right. Here's what I think should be done as management to keep the company thriving and the people happy. A manager is someone who can listen to a problem and help fix it, I understand that a problem to someone may not be a problem to someone else. As a manger you need to know that a problem to someone else, whether you think it's a problem or not, is still a problem. A manager can't decide for people what is or isn't bothering them. Next a manger needs to have confidence in their employees, if you don't believe in your people, fire them. If a manager believes in his people it brings the productivity of the workers up because they are comfortable and actually like what they are doing. If an employee is challenged by his or her employer they actually feel useful and can accomplish amazing things. A manager who turns a blind eye to the problems within a company shouldn't be a manager, in fact anyone who turns a blind eye to a problem shouldn't even have a job.

I wrote an article on Associate Content about keeping business and personal relationships separate, and it applies to this as well. If a manager has a buddy within a company he has to make sure that the personal relationship goes out the door when business starts. It's not only unprofessional but illegal an many cases. If a manager gives his "buddy" employee better treatment than the rest of the team, that is called discrimination and can be legally pursued. The bottom line is, a manager always has a hard job, but if they can't follow these simple rules, they shouldn't be management. Now, there are probably a lot of people reading this saying "duh" what's this guy talking about? I promise you, there are managers out there that actually act this way, I have two of them right now.

Again, I know I'm not a manager and probably don't know the half of it, but I do know that you don't treat your people like mindless morons. I'm sure there a many of you who just don't like your manager and that's OK but my problem is, I actually like my managers, they are good guys. They are just horrible managers and that actually makes if more difficult. Anyway, if you have someone you feel that isn't doing a good job put some feelers out in your office and see if others feel the same way. If they do, ask to speak about it with the management, they can't fire everyone on the same day. If you have bad managers, I know it's a difficult situation, deal with it professionally and keep your wits about you.