Every so often, I get a letter that's worth printing as-is. Here's one, from John Sabatini. Nice work, John. - Bob What ever happened to a "pat on the back"? Sure, it's a quaint phrase, and possibly overused to the point of meaninglessness. Does that mean it should go away? Not on your life. I've worked for some excellent managers in my career, thankfully, and the one thing they ALL had in common was taking the Every so often, I get a letter that’s worth printing as-is. Here’s one, from John Sabatini. Nice work, John. – Bob What ever happened to a “pat on the back”? Sure, it’s a quaint phrase, and possibly overused to the point of meaninglessness. Does that mean it should go away? Not on your life. I’ve worked for some excellent managers in my career, thankfully, and the one thing they ALL had in common was taking the time to tell me I did a good job when I actually accomplished something. Or, in the case of a crusty old US Navy Warrant Officer, “Damn John, that almost looked like you knew what you were doing.” I’m sure we’ve all seen/worked for managers that tell their people they did a good job just for tying their shoes correctly — I’m not referring to them. That veneer wears off pretty quickly and gets you to the point of doing sit-up’s under parked cars if you hear it one more time. No, I’m speaking of the ones that sincerely, and in some cases, specifically point out an employee’s success at every level up and down the corporate food chain. Since I’ve worked my way up from the Help Desk, and am now in an IT Management position, I’ve been able to take the best and worst from what I’ve experienced at several companies, including the US Navy, and put it to work. “My people” is not just a term, nor does it define your positional authority – it’s a reality. I’m responsible for their actions, work ethic, motivation, productivity and teamwork amongst other things. Take any one of those words at its least definition, and that’s a pretty awesome responsibility to the Corporation. Your people ARE your product, and you need to take care of them as such. Information/communication are the keys, obviously. You can’t tell someone they did a good job if you have no idea what they’re doing. This can be tough in a team environment where there’s a lot of people doing a lot of things, and even worse if you’re not organized enough to know every aspect of ongoing projects. I’ll leave that self-assessment here up to you. I’ve often been told by other department managers that “You IT people speak a different language.” True enough. So in that respect, I take full advantage of it, amongst “my people.” When talking to the CFO, I speak English, as best I can, to explain reasoning and ROI behind budgetary items, project assessments, equipment needs and so on. But when I speak to my Regional Managers and technicians, I speak Geek. Period. They see this as my effort to not only relate to them on “their level,” but they also know that their efforts and problems are fully understood, and more importantly, recognized by management. A lot of managers today are entirely too concerned with what the people above us think of us, and our performance. This tends to make them completely ignore what the people below them think of them and their performance. We’ve all been there … how much more productive were you when you worked for a manager that you knew actually cared about you, promoted your ideas, and rewarded you when appropriate? I’ll bet you can still name the ones that didn’t, from a company you no longer work for, right? No brainer here, folks. The care and feeding of IT personnel is tricky at best. We are tempermental, caffeinated and opinionated. What your people consider to be a major victory for them needs to be yours as well, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you. Case in point, one of my people fixed a minor bug that had been driving him crazy for weeks. When I rolled by his cube, he grabbed me and told me he nailed it. “Really?” I said. “Sweet. Lemme see.” I have no idea whatsoever about what he showed me since I don’t speak XML fluently, but it was painfully apparent that this was something he felt strongly about, and did actually fix. It took exactly 30 seconds out of my day to stop, see and acknowledge his victory, and give him a “pat on the back.” See? That phrase does still work pretty well. Use it. John C. Sabatini Bob’s Last Word: If you want more on the subject, take a look at this old column. Technology Industry