In management, there is perhaps nothing more important than the art of putting your thoughts into someone else's head.
S. N. Parkinson
One of the most complex and controversial management tools is a management decision. It is based on the reasonable development of a directive document that organizes and stimulates the joint activities of team members. Most often, operational solutions are developed that provide tactical, private management tasks: deadlines, changes in technology, personnel issues, etc. Deeper creative studies require strategic decisions that often relate to structural changes, issues of restructuring the usual course of production and are constantly accompanied by negative reactions from supporters of established, proven forms and methods of work. Resistance to managerial innovations can be expected not only from ordinary employees, but sometimes from high-ranking managers who are jealous of creative ideas that do not belong to them. It is not always possible to defend one's idea, to convince opponents that one is right, even for experienced specialists who know the methods of the art of management and business polemics, and sometimes one has to look for non-standard, workarounds.
It is not easy to implement a technique that allows you to impose, "push through" your idea, your plan to a higher leader or team, conditionally called the "Stirlitz method" (after the name of the hero of a popular movie, where this method is clearly demonstrated in the conversation of "our" intellectual superman Stirlitz with "very bad", but smart - a rare case in our cinema! - an opponent, his boss Schellenberg). The essence of this method: during a private conversation or at a meeting, you need to unobtrusively, as if casually, among other solutions, mention your idea and immediately "forget" it. If your boss is smart, he will immediately appreciate the reasonableness of your thought and then, having thought it over, will offer this idea as his own, significantly expanding it, clarifying and concretizing it. A person tends to trust more ideas born in his own head than someone else's. After all, most often it is important for you to achieve your goal, and not to amuse the author's pride! This method is intuitively well known and brilliantly applied by many smart wives: after repeated and delicate hints, sighs and alleged doubts, the desired final phrase is pronounced: "Well, let it be, as you, my smart one, said ..." Another version of this experienced officials are well aware of the method: it is often better not to propose a management decision that is reasonable, in your opinion, or beneficial to you directly to management, but to prepare it among other points of the work plan. As a result of such a simple bureaucratic game, you will soon receive an approved work plan, in which there will be a strict order to prepare the solution you need within such and such a time.
If you are sure that your idea is extremely good, revolutionary and you are not able to resist the temptation to declare your authorship, then retribution will be inevitable. When, at the cost of considerable effort, careful preparation, you brilliantly report the main content of your proposal at an important, authoritative meeting, and even if this proposal is accepted, then hidden resistance to its implementation from colleagues and your immediate superiors is guaranteed to you, and you will gain a reputation as a "smart guy". ", presumptuously believing that he knows more than others. It is difficult to expect that with such a reputation your other, no less reasonable proposals will be accepted, and career advancement can be very slow. How, alas, often sensible experts are forced to include "co-authors" in their rationalization proposals, in applications for inventions and well-thought-out, hard-won scientific articles, without whose participation it is difficult to succeed. Such, unfortunately, is our real world, although there are rare happy exceptions.
14.6. Method "frog in sour cream"
But most importantly, try
do something.
Stirlitz method. One of the most complex and controversial management tools is a management decision. It is based on the reasonable development of a directive document that organizes and stimulates the joint activities of team members. Most often, operational solutions are developed that provide tactical, private management tasks: deadlines, changes in technology, personnel issues, etc. Deeper creative studies require strategic decisions, which often relate to structural changes, issues of restructuring the usual course of production and are constantly accompanied by negative reactions supporters of established, proven forms and methods of work.
Resistance to managerial innovations can be expected not only from ordinary employees, but sometimes from high-ranking managers who are jealous of creative ideas that do not belong to them.
It is not always possible to defend one's idea, to convince opponents that one is right, even for experienced specialists who know the methods of the art of management and business polemics, and sometimes one has to look for non-standard, workarounds. It is not easy to implement a technique that allows you to impose, "push through" your idea, your plan to a higher leader or team, conditionally called the "Stirlitz method" (after the name of the hero of a popular movie, where this method is clearly demonstrated in the conversation of "our" intellectual superman Stirlitz with "very bad", but smart - a rare case in our cinema by an opponent, his boss Schellenberg). The essence of this method: during a private conversation or at a meeting, you need to unobtrusively, as if casually, among other solutions, mention your idea and immediately "forget" it. If your boss is smart, he will immediately appreciate the reasonableness of your thought and then, having thought it over, will offer this idea as his own, significantly expanding it, clarifying and concretizing it. A person tends to trust more ideas born in his own head than someone else's.
After all, most often it is important for you to achieve your goal, and not to amuse the author's pride.
This method is intuitively well known and brilliantly used by many smart wives: after repeated and delicate hints, sighs and alleged doubts, the desired final phrase is pronounced: “Well, let it be, as you, my smart one, said.” Another version of this method is well known experienced officials: sometimes it is better not to propose a management decision that is reasonable, in your opinion, or beneficial for you directly to the management, but to prepare it among other points of the work plan.
As a result of such a simple bureaucratic game, you will soon receive an approved work plan, in which there will be a strict order to prepare the solution you need within such and such a time. Method "frog in sour cream" Life does not stand still, the world around us is in continuous dialectical development.
Social progress does not have a linear character, the ascending line of the development of society is the result of the interaction of diverse processes, and among them the decisive role of the purposeful activity of people. All aspects of social life - from social and industrial activities to family relations - are the scene of ongoing persistent searches, improvisations, accidents, mistakes and discoveries, because a person is obliged to look for ways to adapt to a changing environment. Sometimes the unexpected breaks into the course of life and breaks the usual stereotypes: complications at work, a serious illness, friction in the family.
A person begins to look for a way out of an extreme situation, rushes about in anxiety, tries again and again unsuccessfully to follow the usual methods, makes new mistakes or freezes in hopeless apathy. In a complex, extraordinary situation, it is rarely possible to solve problems using traditional methods; one must look for new, non-trivial methods, although the method of chaotic trial and error does not always lead to the desired goal. Sometimes a person develops the well-known "buridan donkey effect", when endless doubts, indecision, inability to make a choice lead to the most severe mental trauma.
In this case, collapse is inevitable. Here it is appropriate to recall the parable of two frogs that fell into a jug of sour cream. One of them, considering the situation hopeless, stopped fighting and died. The other continued to fight to the end, she tried to jump out of the jug, desperately worked with her paws, knocked butter out of sour cream and eventually managed to get free.
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A good waiter should be able to not only smile politely at visitors, carefully write down the order and smoothly maneuver with a tray between tables. One of the most important qualities of a waiter is the competence and good skills of the salesperson. You must instill in your waiters the understanding that the question “Are you ready to order?” or "Would you like dessert?" it's not yet a sale. This is just an order. Active sales imply that the waiter will interact with the guest and use certain sales methods. And he should do it gently and unobtrusively, professionally. Let's take a look at a few simple restaurant sales tactics your waiters can use.
Nod "Sullivan"
This method is as follows: when offering a dish or drink to a guest, the waiter should smile, slowly lower his head down and raise it back, thus depicting an affirmative nod. According to research, more than 60% of guests will unconsciously repeat the nod and order the position suggested by the waiter.
Christmas tree method
This method is built on offering an alternative choice. Leading questions that the waiter asks should break the menu or its sections into parts. In this case, it is desirable to divide the division approximately equally. “Do you want to have a hearty lunch or satisfy a slight hunger?”, “What kind of meat do you prefer: pork, beef, veal, or maybe lamb?” We find out in this way that the guest loves chicken, and prefers rice as a side dish, so we offer him items from the menu that correspond to his choice, for example: boiled rice with chicken fricassee or frittata with rice and smoked chicken breast. And now the guest has a limited number of positions, from which it is easier to choose something specific. Of course, the purpose of such a conversation should be a reasonable recommendation of the most marginal dish. But at the same time, the guest gets the impression that this is his choice, because the waiter was just asking the right questions!
Associative chains
This method is based on an offer to order a guest of related items, upselling. For example, a great sales phrase from a waiter would be, “For this dish, I would recommend you have Idaho potatoes as a side dish,” or “Would you like a glass of beer with your chicken wings?”
The Stirlitz principle
This method is based on the fact that a person tends to remember the first and last message in the chain of information. If you need to sell a particular dish, you should start listing with it, mention a couple more similar positions and end your remark with a description of that particular dish, indicating its advantages over others. " For dessert, you can try tiramisu, apple strudel or cheesecake. I recommend that you pay attention to our tiramisu, our chef brought his recipe from an internship in Italy"
Dessert offer
If the visitor did not order dessert immediately, then it should be offered after he has eaten the main course. It is possible that there is still room in his stomach for something delicious! Please note that all upsell offers must be made in a positive manner only. Forget about the "not" particle! “Would you like homemade cheesecake for dessert?” Thus, the waiter gives the guest the opportunity to refuse the offer in advance! "No, I don't want to!" The waiter should approach the guest's table with the menu already open on the dessert page and offer their recommendations.
Right words
If the waiter uses “delicious”, appetizing and positively emotional words when describing positions, the guest will be much more willing to order, and the waiter will increase the average bill. Remember that verb forms of expressions are always more powerful than descriptive adjectives. A good waiter should have several options for the correct descriptions for all menu items prepared in advance. And a good manager has all the right waiters!
Do not abuse diminutive suffixes! If a homemade soup no matter where else, then marbled beef in the eyes of the guest will no longer be worth the money requested for it. No need to belittle the dignity of the dishes!
And how does it taste?
Remember that there is nothing worse than the answer "I have not tried it yet" to the question about the properties of the dish. Even in high-class restaurants, you can hear "This cake is delicious, but I have not tried this yet." At the same time, the waiter is completely sincere and really wants to help you! But in this restaurant there is clearly no system for training employees and they all teach themselves - they have already managed to try something, but something else is not.
A new employee can be trained by the whole team. To do this, in the first week of work, drive it to different workshops. One day let him work as an auxiliary worker in a cold shop, the second - in a hot one, then let him go to a bar. Watching the process of cooking a dish, it is much easier for a person to remember its composition and the sequence of using the ingredients, and if chefs and bartenders constantly examine a new employee by asking him various questions on the menu, the training will go much faster.
You can write detailed descriptions of items or arrange visual demonstrations: each time a dish is taken from the kitchen, you need to show it to the trainee and tell what kind of dish it is, better accompanying the process with a mini-tasting. A person will remember not only the name, but also a visual image, so he will learn the menu much faster and, moreover, will know how the dishes look like.
You can break the menu into blocks, and limit the time in which a new employee must learn them. In this case, we recommend using a flexible verification system: without waiting for the actual end of the deadline, suddenly examine the beginner in order to check at what stage the learning process is. If he has already mastered the entire category to perfection, let him, without wasting time, move on to the next block. And so it will continue until he learns everything by heart. We recommend developing a special system of fines and rewards for additional employee motivation.
If you hired an employee with experience or after passing special courses, he will still need some time to “adapt”, but he will be able to deal with all the variety of positions in your restaurant without outside help. Provided that you have developed a special training menu for waiters, which contains complete information about each dish. To simplify the perception, the training menu should be arranged in a tabular form, with the following columns:
- photo of food/drink,
- “delicious” description using “correct” adjectives and verbs (refined, rich, tender, savory, etc.).
- Ingredients,
- recommended garnish,
- time and delivery standard.
When compiling such a menu, dishes with similar ingredients in the composition should be arranged as much as possible closer friend to friend. This will help the waiter remember several positions at a time and quickly navigate between them.
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In management, there is perhaps nothing more important than the art of putting your thoughts into someone else's head.
S. N. Parkinson
One of the most complex and controversial management tools is a management decision. It is based on the reasonable development of a directive document that organizes and stimulates the joint activities of team members. Most often, operational solutions are developed that provide tactical, private management tasks: deadlines, changes in technology, personnel issues, etc. Deeper creative studies require strategic decisions, which often concern structural changes, issues of restructuring the usual course of production and are constantly accompanied by negative reactions from supporters of established, proven forms and methods of work. Resistance to managerial innovations can be expected not only from ordinary employees, but sometimes from high-ranking managers who are jealous of creative ideas that do not belong to them. It is not always possible to defend one's idea, to convince opponents that one is right, even for experienced specialists who know the methods of the art of management and business polemics, and sometimes one has to look for non-standard, workarounds.
It is not easy to implement a technique that allows you to impose, "push through" your idea, your plan to a higher leader or team, conditionally called the "Stirlitz method" (after the name of the hero of a popular movie, where this method is clearly demonstrated in the conversation of "our" intellectual superman Stirlitz with "very bad", but smart - a rare case in our cinema! - an opponent, his boss Schellenberg). The essence of this method: during a private conversation or at a meeting, you need to unobtrusively, as if casually, among other solutions, mention your idea and immediately "forget" it. If your boss is smart, he will immediately appreciate the reasonableness of your thought and then, having thought it over, will offer this idea as his own, significantly expanding it, clarifying and concretizing it. A person tends to trust more ideas born in his own head than someone else's. After all, most often it is important for you to achieve your goal, and not to amuse the author's pride! This method is intuitively well known and brilliantly applied by many smart wives: after repeated and delicate hints, sighs and alleged doubts, the desired final phrase is pronounced: "Well, let it be, as you, my smart one, said ..." Another version of this experienced officials are well aware of the method: it is often better not to propose a management decision that is reasonable, in your opinion, or beneficial to you directly to management, but to prepare it among other points of the work plan. As a result of such a simple bureaucratic game, you will soon receive an approved work plan, in which there will be a strict order to prepare the solution you need within such and such a time.
If you are sure that your idea is extremely good, revolutionary and you are not able to resist the temptation to declare your authorship, then retribution will be inevitable. When, at the cost of considerable effort, careful preparation, you brilliantly report the main content of your proposal at an important, authoritative meeting, and even if this proposal is accepted, then hidden resistance to its implementation from colleagues and your immediate superiors is guaranteed to you, and you will gain a reputation as a "smart guy". ", presumptuously believing that he knows more than others. It is difficult to expect that with such a reputation your other, no less reasonable proposals will be accepted, and career advancement can be very slow. How, alas, often sensible specialists are forced to include "co-authors" in their rationalization proposals, in applications for inventions and well-thought-out, hard-won scientific articles, without whose participation it is difficult to succeed. Such, unfortunately, is our real world, although there are rare happy exceptions.
- "Know thyself" - taught the great thinkers of antiquity.
It is difficult to impartially control your behavior, the consequences of your actions. It is even more difficult to objectively assess one's place in society...
Methods of self-education
There is nothing more complex and more important than a sober, objective self-assessment. "Know thyself" - taught the great thinkers of antiquity. It is difficult to impartially control your behavior, the consequences of your actions. It is even more difficult to objectively assess one's place in society, one's capabilities, because the psychophysiological potential is largely determined by innate, genetic inclinations, the type of higher nervous activity and the emotional-volitional sphere. However, systematic and rigorous introspection is necessary, thanks to which a person can count on his spiritual, moral development.
self-education - a purposeful process of developing the best, socially valuable personality traits and categorically prohibiting oneself from bad deeds and even thoughts.
A simple but very effective way to stimulate personality activity is the method of positive reinforcement. This method is unconsciously applied in everyday life all the time: the mother encourages the good deed of the child; the boss, wanting to note the achievement of the employee, thanks him; the one who gives up his seat on the bus is said “thank you”, etc. Every time, words of gratitude, a handshake, a smile, affection, an award, an order are a reaction to a good deed, they especially mark it, reinforce it, and thereby stimulate human activity. The best way to positively reinforce luck, the right decision, a creative find is to do something that pleases yourself and others, reinforce the joy of accomplishment with your approval.
However, positive reinforcement does not always have to be regular; episodic (variable) reinforcement is more effective (by the way, happy love relationships are based on variable reinforcement).
Significantly simplifies the labor rhythm of life, makes it more clear and capacious method of reasonable self-coercion. The effectiveness of this method is well confirmed by examples from everyday life. For example, to be at work on time, you need to get up at 7 am and it is at this time that it is reasonable to set your alarm clock. However, many people set their alarm clock half an hour earlier to soak up the bed for a few minutes. These strange half-hours of life can hardly be called a dream; rather, it is wakefulness amid disturbing fears that you can fall asleep again and be late for work. Wouldn't it be wiser to give these half an hour a good sleep and force yourself to get up immediately at 7 o'clock?
The method of reasonable self-coercion develops in a person a habit, and then the need to do the inevitable immediately, within a reasonable, optimal time (this also applies to working with correspondence, drawing up monthly reports, doing housework, and many other inevitable, routine, often burdensome things) .
The method of introspection (self-observation) is not easy to implement; it is often considered tedious and therefore ineffective. But constant control over one's behavior in society and alone with oneself is necessary, it is enough to take a closer look at the facial expressions, gestures, manners of others, especially if they are sure that no one is watching them. The self-analysis method allows you to conduct a reliable inventory of your physiological data, take into account the features of your intellectual and moral potential, and avoid your overestimation, the “halo effect”. A thinking, analyzing person has sensitive internal scales, called conscience, which measure the legitimacy and ethics of not only their actions, but even secret thoughts. Those who own the method of introspection will never allow themselves to revel in their own eloquence, be rude to others, mock subordinates, push around the weak and dependent. Over the years, introspection becomes an integral part of the personality, and its constant use will not create any inconvenience.
In addition to the natural system of restrictions (sleep, small memory capacity, short-term storage of information in it, etc.), various methods have been developed to protect the human psyche from negative environmental influences. Methods of protective blocking of the human psyche from overloads are selected and mastered by a person individually. Most often, as a result of training, the ability to switch one's thoughts to abstract topics, to joyful events of the past, to relive the bright, major plots of books or stories of friends is achieved. It can be confidently stated that alcohol and even the lightest drugs (smoking, coffee, etc.) create only the illusion of stress relief and do not contribute to removing it from it.
During periods of severe shocks and experiences, prayer brings noticeable relief to many people, the believer's appeal to the deity for support and help. Injustice, difficult financial and family situation, lack of spiritual support and mutual understanding, hopelessness, disappointment in the people around them make us turn to higher powers and ask them for protection, support, and sometimes a miracle. There is no doubt that a sincere, objective and honest analysis of the situation, reflection and comparison of facts, the behavior of others, which always accompany prayer, and, most importantly, faith in the help of the creator bring noticeable relief, self-purification and help to the suffering. Prayer really relieves mental suffering if it is based on deep faith in the Lord, but it makes a repulsive impression if it has the character of a bargain: “Help me, Lord, and then I will light the biggest candle for you in the church!”
Socratic method
An invaluable contribution to world civilization was made by the great thinkers of Ancient Greece, among whom the name of Socrates (c. 469 - 399 BC) does not fade - a teacher and citizen, the creator of the famous Athenian school of philosophy and rhetoric. The foundations of the teachings of Socrates, who basically wrote nothing, are known only from the writings of his many students: Plato, Aristippus, Antisphere, Euclid and later - Aristotle. Plato honored his teacher so highly that he made him the main character in all his philosophical dialogues. Socrates formulated the super-complicated tasks of knowledge - know yourself and teach the art of living - definitions of such ethical concepts as courage, valor, justice, compared his research with the "art of the midwife", substantiated a critical attitude to dogmatic statements, called "Socratic irony" . The Socratic imperative that no one is evil of their own free will and that all evil deeds are explained only by ignorance is widely known from Yeshua's dialogue with Pontius Pilate in the great novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" Knowledge, according to Socrates, is a synonym for virtue.
In modern rhetoric, in the art of persuasion, one of the ways of conducting a dialogue, called the method of Socrates, who has repeatedly demonstrated his skill in conducting debates and disputes, enjoys well-deserved fame. His method of conducting a dialogue was based on a brilliant ability to build a logical chain of conclusions in such a way that his opponent was forced to agree with every argument at any stage of the dialogue, i.e. answer "yes, yes, yes" at each position of the logical construction of Socrates. In these disputes, Socrates, having convinced his opponent, could jokingly prove the correctness of the reasoning of both his own and the opposite side, although he constantly emphasized that any skill, if it is not based on justice and virtue, is swindle, not wisdom.
A curious confirmation of the reasonableness of the methods of Socrates and the students of his school was found by modern physiology. It turns out that the opponent, prepared for the argument and very wary, even aggressive, agreeing at the beginning of the dialogue with the completely obvious thoughts of Socrates, calmed down. His excitement dropped, his heartbeat returned to normal, his will weakened, as did his ability to argue with seemingly obvious truths. In the end, Socrates' skillfully composed logical concept won out, even if his final conclusions were absurd.
This technique was well known to the ancient speakers, who deliberately used in disputes or proofs a system of deliberately incorrect arguments, sophisms, but in our pragmatic age, the main value of the Socrates method is in a clear understanding of the goal, a mathematically precisely constructed logical chain of inferences and arguments (including the famous method “ad absurdum” - from the opposite, false), the ability to force the opponent to leave the positions of confrontation, dispute and eventually achieve the goal. A decisive role in the study and understanding of the practical value of the Socrates method is played by training and methods of business games in the form of conversations with an opponent. The conversation should begin with simple and clear questions, to which the interlocutor will be forced to answer in the affirmative, then logically and unobtrusively, he should be brought to agreement and to a controversial conclusion. This spectacular demonstration of the method convincingly proves the importance of understanding the ultimate goal of any dialogue, the need for a pre-designed system of logical arguments and the ability to get the opponent to agree with the arguments put forward from the very beginning. It is important to prove the universality, the wide range of application of the Socratic method - from family battles to scientific disputes. Indeed, the Socratic method is so effective that it should be used constantly, in almost any situation: when talking with a boss and with subordinates, in a team and in a family. If the purpose of the conversation is to convince your opponent that you are right, to achieve mutual understanding, then the conversation should begin with the thought that will not only be understandable to the listener, but also pleasant to him. And if the interlocutor agrees with your first thoughts, then managing the further course of the conversation (the logical goal of this conversation must be carefully thought out!) Will be incomparably easier. Unconsciously, but very effectively, the Socratic method is used in their daily practice by experienced salesmen, doctors, teachers, i.e. those professionals who are constantly professionally in contact with a variety of interlocutors and understand that the word “no” should be avoided. “Yes, of course, you are right, but this product also has its undoubted merits...”. It is important to know well the desires and needs of the interlocutor and be able to appeal to these needs. It is important not only to be able to start a conversation, but also to complete it skillfully, because the last, final phrases of the conversation usually remain in the memory of the interlocutor.
Three round method
The art of management recommends another method of conducting a dialogue, more precisely, a way to convince your opponent of the correctness and reasonableness of your proposal. This technique can be conditionally called the three-round method, since the dialogue model is most often built from three parts (a more complex algorithm for this method is also possible). In the first part of the dialogue (the first round), you briefly state the essence of the problem or situation, agreeing with the arguments of your, say, leader and thus causing his positive reactions (the Socrates method!). In the second round, you give several alternative solutions to the problem, including your desired one. And in the third round, when the opponent himself realizes that the option you unobtrusively mentioned is the best, you need to agree with him. This classical method of rhetoric is easily illustrated by many examples. For example, a situation familiar to all fathers and mothers: your very young daughter came home much later than usual. Panic at home. The demands of a spouse or grandmother to take the most drastic measures, and one really wants to take a belt and apply similar decisive educational measures. But remember, what will you achieve in the end? In the child's soul is the joy of the first date (... And if it's love? Are you, dad and mom, able to understand this feeling? No, of course!), Proud consciousness of the uniqueness of their feelings, the need for self-affirmation (Maslow's pyramid!). Do not push the child away from you, be his ally, not his enemy in this difficult, sometimes decisive (but very trivial for us adults) life situation! What is the root of the problem? In the original depravity of your child? Most probably not. What is the purpose of your pedagogical influence? It is clear that it is early, still too early and dangerous for a child to be uncontrollably somewhere at night, and the object of adoration is still a child himself, but it is he who is the cause of this incident. Remove him from this life situation, and peace will be restored in the family (temporarily, we understand, until He comes, the one and only. But by that time the daughter will grow up, gain at least some life experience). So, the problem is in him, in this boy. And the purpose of your pedagogical influence is to prove to your daughter the incompatibility of this contender for her heart with her ideals, then the whole problem will be radically solved. The first round is to agree and understand the depth of the daughter's feelings, to become her ally, understanding her problems. The second round is to remind the daughter of her life principles, her assessment and the mandatory requirements for a man, and that her chosen one, of course, meets these requirements. How not quite, not completely? He is not courageous enough, is not yet financially secure, not quite clean, is still poorly oriented in life?! Yes, then you are right, I agree with you (third round!), he cannot be your close friend, he does not correspond to your ideals, and meetings with him, especially such long ones, should be stopped. The conflict has been settled, and the daughter has acquired in your face a smart friend who understands her problems.
Or ... I want to get a vacation in August. But my boss will not give it to me, and I need to convince my boss that it is in August that official business will allow me to provide the desired vacation without prejudice to work. First round: yes, there is a lot to do, the entire fourth quarter of the year will be very busy, but you need to go on vacation ... You can go in September or October (second round), but especially important things are coming up during that period, It is possible, however, and August. Although it might be better to go on vacation at the very end of the year. Yes, you're right, better in August, the end of the year will be especially difficult - the third round.
This method is also effective in fundamentally different situations - when it is used by the leader. He, say, needs to achieve the implementation of important, but unpopular events in the team. You can hold a meeting with the heads of structural divisions, you can prepare an appropriate order and oblige the team to carry out the necessary measures, but hidden oppositional sentiments, and perhaps even direct criticism of the leader, cannot be avoided. But you can go the other way: invite two or three leading specialists, whose opinion the team especially listens to, and instruct them, experienced and respected professionals (this is especially emphasized!), To prepare a solution to the problem within a clearly defined time frame. It is important to agree with the assessments of experts in the importance of the problem and preliminary options for its solution. Having gathered again, having listened to and basically approving the proposals of specialists, unobtrusively make their fundamental adjustments (in this case, the second round is especially difficult from a production point of view, but it is always easier to convince two or three people than the whole team). And, finally, the third round: a meeting is held at which the head of the group reports on the developed activities, and after discussion and criticism (of course, the speaker!) The leader agrees with his opinion.
Attempts to achieve what you want without sufficient argumentation of your position and the reasonableness of the proposed option, without first setting your opponent to a benevolent tone of conversation, rarely give a positive result. The sphere of dialogic communication is extremely extensive, from the usual conversation between two people, father and son, leader and subordinate, to scientific discussion and diplomatic polemics. Often, one-on-one dialogue between government leaders can resolve complex problems more successfully than lengthy diplomatic negotiations.
Stirlitz method
One of the most complex and controversial management tools is a management decision. It is based on the reasonable development of a directive document that organizes and stimulates the joint activities of team members. Most often, operational solutions are developed that provide tactical, private management tasks: deadlines, changes in technology, personnel issues, etc. Deeper creative studies require strategic decisions, which often concern structural changes, issues of restructuring the usual course of production and are constantly accompanied by negative reactions from supporters of established, proven forms and methods of work. Resistance to managerial innovations can be expected not only from ordinary employees, but sometimes from high-ranking managers who are jealous of creative ideas that do not belong to them. It is not always possible to defend one's idea, to convince opponents that one is right, even for experienced specialists who know the methods of the art of management and business polemics, and sometimes one has to look for non-standard, workarounds.
It is not easy to implement a technique that allows you to impose, “push through” your idea, your plan to a higher leader or team, conditionally called the “Stirlitz method” (after the name of the hero of a popular movie, where this method is clearly demonstrated in the conversation of “our” intellectual superman Stirlitz with “very bad”, but smart - a rare case in our cinema! - an opponent, his boss Schellenberg). The essence of this method: during a private conversation or at a meeting, you need to unobtrusively, as if casually, among other solutions, mention your idea and immediately “forget” it. If your boss is smart, he will immediately appreciate the reasonableness of your thought and then, having thought it over, will offer this idea as his own, significantly expanding it, clarifying and concretizing it. A person tends to trust more ideas born in his own head than someone else's. After all, most often it is important for you to achieve your goal, and not to amuse the author's pride! This method is intuitively well known and brilliantly applied by many smart wives: after repeated and delicate hints, sighs and alleged doubts, the desired final phrase is pronounced: “Well, let it be, as you, my smart one, said ...” Another version of this Experienced officials are well aware of the method: it is often better not to propose a management decision that is reasonable, in your opinion, or beneficial to you, directly to management. And to prepare it among other items of the work plan. As a result of such a simple bureaucratic game, you will soon receive an approved work plan, in which there will be a strict order to prepare the solution you need within such and such a time.
If you are sure that your idea is extremely good, revolutionary and you are not able to resist the temptation to declare your authorship, then retribution will be inevitable. When, at the cost of considerable effort, careful preparation, you brilliantly report the main content of your proposal at an important, authoritative meeting, and even if this proposal is accepted, then hidden resistance to its implementation on the part of colleagues and your immediate superiors is guaranteed to you, and you will gain a reputation as a “smart guy”. ”, presumptuously believing that he knows more than others. It is difficult to expect that with such a reputation your other, no less reasonable proposals will be accepted, and career advancement can be very slow. How, alas, often sensible specialists are forced to include “co-authors” in their rationalization proposals, applications for inventions and well-thought-out, hard-won scientific articles, without whose participation it is difficult to succeed. Such, unfortunately, is our real world, although there are rare happy exceptions.
Method "frog in sour cream"
Life does not stand still, the world around us is in continuous dialectical development. Social progress does not have a linear character, the ascending line of development of society is the result of the interaction of diverse processes, and among them the decisive role belongs to the purposeful activity of people. All aspects of social life - from social and industrial activities to family relations - are the scene of ongoing persistent searches, improvisations, accidents, mistakes and discoveries, because a person is obliged to look for ways to adapt to a changing environment.
Sometimes the unexpected breaks out in the course of life and breaks the usual stereotypes: complications at work, a serious illness, friction in the family. A person begins to look for a way out of an extreme situation, rushes about in anxiety, tries again and again unsuccessfully to follow the usual methods, makes new mistakes or freezes in hopeless apathy. This situation is well illustrated by a well-known experiment: bees and flies were placed in a horizontally lying bottle. Supposedly wise bees began to persistently, until completely exhausted, beat against the glass in a hopeless search for a way out, and stupid flies randomly rush about in the bottle and broke free in a few minutes. In a complex, extraordinary situation, it is rarely possible to solve problems using traditional methods, you need to look for new, non-trivial methods, although the method of chaotic trial and error does not always lead to the desired goal (flies are very lucky!).
In large, successful firms, the confidence gradually develops that they are guaranteed continuous growth, that competitive products cannot appear on the market; they continue to increase the volume of goods and focus on reducing production costs. This complacency is a sure way to stagnation and decline. After the collapse of the USSR and the fundamental changes in the life of our society, most enterprises could not adapt to the new conditions. Giant enterprises are especially painfully rebuilt, and many of them, like dinosaurs, are doomed to extinction or fragmentation. This inability to adapt to changes in external conditions is also characteristic of foreign enterprises: most of America's top 500 companies did not exist 50 years ago.
In a wealthy, prosperous family, a wife for many years living together I am absolutely sure of her husband's strong attachment to her and to the children. She ceases to monitor her appearance, becomes self-confident, grumpy, sloppy. After endless clarification of relations with a disgruntled spouse, discussion of the situation with a wise, but not always objective mother, telephone advice from bosom friends (alas, girlfriends often pretend to show compassion, but in reality they carefully avoid it), the wife does not always make the right decision or accepts it late. There is even the term “chicken effect”: a chicken decides to run across the road at the very last moment, when the situation becomes already very dangerous! Or the wife simply closes alone with her grief - come what may! All this can lead to the breakup of the family.
When a crisis situation occurs, people often have a feeling of doom, impotence, they give up and their will is paralyzed. Sometimes a person develops the well-known “buridan donkey effect”, when endless doubts, indecision, inability to make a choice lead to the most severe mental trauma. In this case, collapse is inevitable. Here it is appropriate to recall the parable of two frogs that fell into a jug of sour cream. One of them, considering the situation hopeless, stopped fighting and died. The other continued to fight to the end, she tried to jump out of the jug, desperately worked with her paws, knocked butter out of sour cream and eventually managed to get free. This instructive story about the frog's perseverance and victory gave its name to one of the methods in the arsenal of the art of management: there are no hopeless situations, a person must look for a way out of the most difficult situations and fight to the end. We sing glory to the madness of the brave!
The “frog in sour cream” method is used when it is necessary to find a non-standard solution (usually in an extreme situation) called “brainstorming” or “brainstorming method”. The method stimulates intuition, a non-trivial view of the situation, collective creativity (proposed and effectively applied by Alex Osborne). Its essence is as follows: a meeting of competent specialists familiar with the problem is convened, and it is proposed to express any ideas that contribute to solving the problem. Any criticism of the ideas put forward is specifically prohibited, since the purpose of the meeting is not the quality, but the quantity of proposals put forward. Unreasonable ideas are easily excluded by subsequent analysis, since competent criticism is easier to obtain than fruitful creativity. The result of the work of such a group is often more fruitful than thinking about the problem of the same specialists working separately, due to the fact that the idea of one can cause reasonable associations in another.
Method S
Each person wants to take in society, perhaps a higher, respected place, to enjoy the sympathy, love of others. Even those who can objectively assess their own, as a rule, modest intellectual and spiritual abilities, are flattered by the attention and respect shown by relatives, friends, and colleagues. Undoubtedly, the main way to achieve a high status in society and the family lies through the upbringing and development of basic spiritual values, such as nobility, honesty, respectful, caring attitude towards others, modesty, high intelligence and culture, professional skills. But there is another important property of a person - belonging to the world of men or women. Obviously, we have the right to expect from a man the manifestation of his masculinity, we can understand and even forgive his purely masculine weaknesses and shortcomings. A man must be a man first of all, this is exactly what the beautiful half of humanity expects from us (I don’t want to talk about sexual minorities, they cause disgust and disgust in most people, no matter how hard the “human rights defenders” try). The same, truly feminine, men expect from women, and not at all the ability to stop a galloping horse, lay sleepers or participate in fights at meetings of the State Duma.
The simplest truth that a man should be first of all a man, and a woman a woman, is forgotten surprisingly often, and the powerful psycho-physiological potential inherent in everyone is poorly used in everyday life. Isn't here the secret of the charm of the individual, the secret of influencing others? How often there are people who are not yet old, who have ceased to believe in the possibility of personal happiness, degraded, untidy, embittered by an unsuccessful family life and disbelieving in everything. Unshaven, in crumpled clothes and dirty shoes, unwashed and foul-smelling men, plump, flabby women who forgot about cosmetics and fashionable clothes, “supporters of natural beauty” ...
Novice administrators are constantly surprised by the different reactions to the situation on the part of men and women. It seems that they have agreed on everything, outlined a reasonable plan, and suddenly, during its implementation, internal tension arises in the team, hidden disagreement. The opposition can have a great variety of the most unexpected reasons for disagreeing with the leadership. And it requires the use of the entire palette of shades and methods of individual influence on the dissatisfied. Moreover, a tough, “male” conversation can rarely be applied with women, and a successful method of talking with a woman is ineffective with men. Successful contracts between people depend on the ability to establish and maintain a state of mutual sympathy, attraction, attraction between people (recall that the word "attraction" came from the French language and has a Latin origin from the word attraho - I attract to myself). Each woman is more willing to complete the task, the request of a well-mannered, correct and tidy boss, and none of the men will deny the magical, irresistible power of female charm.
These arguments would be boring and trivial, if not for one important feature - any person, of any appearance and age, can and should cause an attraction. There are a lot of dubious jokes like “love is evil, you will love a goat”, “there are no ugly women, there is little vodka”. But there is an important truth in this vulgarity: any man, any woman, by their nature, in their essence, are beautiful. This truth is important to understand and use it in everyday communication.
A teenager tries in every possible way to resemble an adult. Boys start smoking, behave aggressively, “coolly”, girls try to be in the center of attention, construct intricate hairstyles, follow fashion in everything (V. Nabokov sang charming “nymphet” girls), girls shyly and bashfully hide their eyes know some great, but a little shameful secret about themselves ... And it is important until the end of your days to remember the great things that nature has invested in each of us, the all-destroying power of masculinity and femininity. A gallant (intelligent and experienced) man will always open the door to a woman, the first to greet her, regardless of the difference in age and official position; a woman knows well the importance of physical neatness, the subtlest fragrance of perfume, often perceived by men as a natural, only inherent and exciting fragrance, the charm of a smile is her strongest weapon. 1
The world is full of beautiful sounds: from the singing of birds and the joyful squeak of girls on a warm spring evening to the melodies of Mozart, and if nature has rewarded you with a beautiful voice rich in overtones, use this gift all the time! Remember the great actors - the timbre modulations of their voices fascinate the audience, the silvery female laughter leaves no one indifferent! If your voice is beautiful - work on its improvement, take care of it, it can often convince the interlocutor better than any arguments.
An experienced and intelligent man will always find in the face of a woman that sweet feature that she is secretly proud of, and for a tiny fraction of a second he will hold his gaze on her (the silent language of glances will tell a woman that her charm is appreciated!); a woman who is proud of her figure often “forgets” to fasten her cloak or the top button on her blouse, and a man is obliged to note this “negligence” of a women's toilet with his behavior. And the best way to calm male aggression is to put a gentle female palm on his hand. Wise and self-confident women are well aware of the power of the mysterious female “inner glow”, they perfectly combine their alleged insecurity with self-confidence, they know how to sit relaxed in close proximity to a man, while maintaining self-esteem, to easily fix their hair (although the goal of this completely different gesture!), own their gait and know the amazing, terrible secret that “a smart woman is a stupid woman” (with what enthusiasm a man pours like a nightingale with the approving attention of a “stupid” woman!).
All these little secrets of everyday contacts between men and women, known to them for thousands of years, have the most distant relation to what used to be called “heavenly bliss” and chivalry, later - love, and now - sex, because. an affair at work is the most stupid and dangerous thing you can think of. However, the method of establishing attraction between people, based on the sexual attraction between a man and a woman inherent in a person, which can be conditionally called “method S” from the now popular word sex (maybe a better name for this method will appear!), deserves the closest attention. This method is intuitively, unconsciously known and constantly used by all major statesmen, actors, wise wives and husbands. Take a closer look at the behavior, for example, of US President B. Clinton (although his masculine charm is somewhat exaggerated) or with what dignity and irresistible femininity our famous stateswoman, fragile but strong-willed I. Khakamada, behaves! The “S” method is a reliable bridge to mutual understanding between a man and a woman, and it must be applied constantly, in any life conflicts.
Naturally, the described methods of the art of management do not exhaust the entire powerful arsenal of ways to establish reasonable contacts in interpersonal communication and influencing society. It should be emphasized again the need to carefully think through the algorithm of one's behavior when using the methods of the art of management, the ability to subordinate one's emotions to reason.
