Ingredients for Effective Human Skills
by
Charles Lamson
If one accepts the fact that human skill development is important, one may ask what kind of expertise managers and leaders must have in order to influence the behavior of other people. Managers need three levels of expertise. They must understand past and current behavior, be able to predict behavior, and learn to direct, change, and control behavior.
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Understanding Behavior
First, managers need to understand why people behave as they do. To get things done through other people, you have to know why they engage in certain characteristic behaviors.
What motivates people? What produces the patterns of behavior that are characteristic of individuals or groups? Motivation and its causes are the areas on which most of the literature in the behavioral sciences focuses. In both popular and scholarly books and periodicals, there are literally hundreds of different classifications that are useful in communicating the patterns of behavior that describe individuals and groups interacting with other people. We can say a person is energetic or distracted or is a task leader or a team leader, and so on. All these are useful classifications for communicating to others why an individual or group is behaving in certain ways.
Predicting Behavior
Understanding past behavior is important in itself for developing effective human skills, and it also provides a framework for the next level of expertise---predicting behavior. Understanding why people did what they did yesterday enables a supervisor to predict how they are likely to behave tomorrow, next week, and next month under similar as well as changing environmental conditions.
Directing, Changing, and Controlling Behavior
The next level of expertise that an effective manager or leader needs is the ability to direct, change, and control behavior. (You must also accept the responsibility for influencing the behavior of others in accomplishing tasks and reaching goals.)
Note that the first two skills are passive; understanding and predicting do not require actions involving other people. The key to obtaining results is developing the skills needed to direct, change, and control the efforts of people in the accomplishment of organizational goals. That is where the manager translates thoughts and intentions into end results.
Controlling People
People who hear the word control often ask, "Does that mean that we have to manipulate others?" Words that suggest control and manipulation sometimes have a negative connotation to many people. When you accept the role of leader, however, you accept along with it the responsibility of having an impact on the behavior of other people---influencing the behavior of others toward achieving results.That is true whether you are at work striving to gain the commitment of your people, or at home attempting to assist your children in developing their basic values.
It is also important to remember that words are simply packages of ideas and, as such, are often misinterpreted. If manipulation means taking unfair advantage, being deceitful, and influencing others for self-interest, then it has a negative connotation. On the other hand, if manipulation means using influence and strategies skillfully and managing people fairly for mutually rewarding and productive purposes, it is an appropriate and necessary means for goal accomplishment.
If you are still concerned about words such as control or manipulation, think instead of training or facilitating. Whatever words you chose, your overall effectiveness depends upon understanding, predicting, and influencing the behavior of other people.
A Hammer Won't Always Do the Job
For every job, there is an appropriate tool. Hammers are great for pounding nails. You could also use a hammer to cut a two-by-four, but it would leave a lot of rough edges. For that particular job, there is a better tool. To build effectively, you need a variety of tools, and the knowledge of how to use them.
The same is true for leadership and management. It is unrealistic to think that a single tool is all that is needed to manage effectively. If all you have is a hammer, then all you will see are nails. Many people fall into the trap of relying on the latest fad to solve all their management problems. They seem to develop an unrealistic assumption of what this new idea will do for them. Many useful management tools have been developed over the years. But you should know what to expect from them and, just as important, what not to expect. You need to understand and be able to use different tools when leading and managing people.
Learning to Apply Behavioral Science Theory
Learning to apply behavioral science theory is much like learning anything; for example, you learn to hit a baseball by stepping up to the plate and attempting to hit---by practice, by doing what you're attempting to learn. There is no way you are going to learn to hit a baseball by merely reading books (even those by people considered to be experts in the field) or by watching (in person or on slow-motion film) great hitters. All those methods will do is give you conceptual knowledge of how to hit a baseball.
Psychologists define learning as a change in behavior---being able to do something different from what you were able to do before. So, in watching others and reading about them, we can perhaps change our knowledge or change our attitude. If we actually want to learn something, we have to "try on," or practice, that which we want to learn to make part of our relevant behavior.
Another thing to keep in mind in terms of learning is how you feel about learning something new. How did you feel the first time you ever tried to hit a baseball? If you were like most people, you felt anxious, nervous, and uncomfortable. This is the way most of us feel any time we attempt to do something new---something significantly different from the things we are already comfortable doing.
It is the same with learning to use behavioral science. Much of what you read in this analysis becomes relevant only if you are willing to "try on" some new behaviors. If you are, you should recognize that the first time you try on a new pattern of behavior in terms of attempting to implement behavioral science theory, you are going to feel ill at ease. We have to go through a period of "unfreezing" if we want to learn.
Another caution is to be patient---give the new behavior time to work. If you are up at bat attempting to hit a baseball for the first time, what is the probability that you will get a base hit from the first ball the pitcher delivers? The probability is low. It is not any different in learning behavioral science theory. The first time you attempt to behave differently on the basis of a new theory, you probably will be less effective than you would have been had you used your old style of behavior (although in the long run the new style may have a higher probability of success). Practitioners who go through a training experience in which they learn new knowledge and attitudes often find when trying on the new behavior for the first time, that it does not work. As a result, they begin to respond negatively to the whole training experience, saying such things as, "How can we accept these things?" "They are not usable." "They do not work in the real world." It is this kind of attitude that has hindered managers from attempting to make behavioral science theory an integral part of managing more effectively. All of us have to recognize that, just like hitting a baseball, applying behavioral science theory takes practice. The first few times up, the probability of success is quite low. But the more we practice, the more we attempt to get relevant feedback, the more the probability of success will increase.
To be continued...
*SOURCE: MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: LEADING HUMAN RESOURCES, 8TH ED., 2001, PAULE HERSEY, KENNETH H. BLANCHARD, DEWEY E. JOHNSON, PGS. 15-18*
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