University of Texas football coach Mack Brown stated that the No. 1 reason his team won the 2005-06 national collegiate football championship was that, for the first time in his life, he started learning more about his players – the type of music they listened to, publications they read and so forth.
This enabled him to have superior communications and get along much better with his players during the season, especially All-American quarterback Vince Young.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
Don Shula, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, said something very similar. When asked how he set the record for the most career wins by an NFL coach, he said: “I try to find out as much as I can about every player on my team and then try to get the most out of him and blend these talents into a team.”
I’ve always felt that Mackay Envelope Co. should have a firm grip on the attitudes and concerns of our employees, which is why I created the Mackay 33 for Managers in the late ’80s. It’s all about getting our managers in touch with the people they manage. The complete Mackay 33 is available free on my Web site, www.harveymackay.com.
The questionnaire examines three distinct roles: the employee individually, the employee in relation to the people around him or her, and the employee in relation to his or her goals. Briefly:
•Personal profile – What are their hobbies/interests, strengths/skills, attitudes toward education/management? What motivates the individual? How do they accept criticism?
•Self-awareness and relationships – Are they aware of their strengths/weaknesses and relationship with other workers? Are they a team player, a role model, a spokesperson?
•Goals and aspirations – Where do they want to be in five years? In 10 years? How realistic are these goals? What are they doing to achieve them? What can we do to help? Do their goals match with Mackay Envelope goals?
Once we get the information and analyze it, we have a pretty good handle on how we can motivate our people. Good managers tend to be good teachers.
These reports are absolutely confidential. We make sure our people use the information carefully. The files should be kept current and updated every year. Like any other reports, they’re only as good as the people who use them, so we evaluate them in conjunction with our annual management-appraisal process.
There’s nothing fancy in the Mackay 33 for Managers. No trick questions or attempts at deep Freudian analysis. The writing – and reading – required isn’t too demanding.
Still, we do have a hidden agenda.
Managers learn something filling out these reports beyond how to evaluate their people.
The questions are a means for communicating our standards for job performance, to teach managers that they have to focus on people in an objective, fair, reasonable way. They’re designed to help managers avoid sexist, racist and ageist judgments.
Don’t just ask a manager to fill out this report on others. The first person she should fill it out on is herself. If her perception of herself is unrealistic, how much can you rely on her perceptions of others?
Read through enough of these reports, and you’ll often find out more about the people who wrote them than the people they’re writing about.
If all of the people John describes in his reports seem “insecure and concerned about their future,” it may suggest that John’s management style makes them feel that way.
Do you have interdepartmental friction? Have the managers fill out questionnaires on someone else’s personnel. For instance, if the managers of production and accounting seem to regard everyone in marketing as “arrogant and abusive,” that may give you a clue as to how the manager of the marketing department is training his people to deal with other employees.
No one’s immune. Is there a fuzzy understanding of the company goals? Then it’s a pretty good indication the CEO has done a poor job of communicating those goals.
All I can tell you is the Mackay 33 for Managers works. When these reports are properly prepared and used, they can generate some real breakthroughs.
Don’t limit the use to negative intelligence. We try to find a way to positively recognize as many employees as possible. Employees should know the 33 list is used for that purpose.
Mackay’s Moral: People don’t care how much you know about them once they realize how much you care about them.
Harvey Mackay is author of the New York Times best seller “Pushing the Envelope.” He can be reached through his Web site, www.mackay.com, or at Mackay Envelope Corp., 2100 Elm St., Minneapolis, MN 55414.
