Most of us take pride in keeping our judgments strictly objective. Yet, the truth is, we are all subject to what we may call the “halo effect”—what happens when we allow one trait of a person or one aspect of a situation to influence our judgment of another trait or another aspect.

Unrecognized, it can result in management problems like these:

During interviews. A manager permits the pleasant appearance or verbal skills of an applicant to blind him to the fact that the individual has held six jobs in two years. And, of course, the “halo effect” can work in reverse: an unattractive appearance or manner may prevent you from appreciating an applicant’s assets.

Giving assignments. Bob Brown does an excellent job of investigating and reporting on an inventory problem. His boss promptly gives him another assignment: analyzing a recent rise in absenteeism among the staff. Brown makes no progress. Finally, his boss realizes that Brown is fine when dealing with tangibles: inventory, warehousing, and so forth. But when it comes to human relations, he’s a washout.

Judging performance. “Jack’s doing a terrific job,” a sales manager tells the vice president of sales. “This is the third month that he’s among our top five producers.”

“You’re overlooking one thing,” points out the vice president. “He also leads in the number of customer cancellations.”

It’s important for a manager not only to understand how the “halo effect” works, but also to be aware of preventive measures that can be taken to neutralize it. For example—

1. Don’t forget the “halo effect” in your rating of people. Remind yourself from time to time that a person who is industrious is not necessarily creative; that an individual who is eager to please is not necessarily the best one for a demanding assignment.
2. Judge only one trait at a time. Suppose you’re rating your group’s cooperation and initiative. By rating everyone on cooperation first, you largely eliminate the danger of allowing White’s cooperation rating to influence his mark for initiative. By the time you get back to White to rate his initiative, you’ve broken through the dazzle of the “halo effect.”
3. If you devise your own rating form, don’t put similar traits close together. For example, follow a work performance trait like “quality consciousness” with a personality trait like “judgment.”

In short, remember that our judgments are always susceptible to illogical influences. Awareness of this phenomenon can be a major protection against unbalanced judgment, and therefore an additional guarantee of effective management.

How to End A Meeting

Ideally, participants should leave a meeting with the feeling that something substantial has been accomplished; conclusions should be clear and definite. As leader, you should summarize the highlights of the discussion and emphasize the major conclusions.

In your summary, make sure that the group knows what it is expected to do or what it has decided to do as a result of the meeting. If there is to be another meeting, announce the time and place as well as why it is necessary.

Conclude the meeting as naturally as it was started with a simple statement like, “That completes our session for today. I look forward to seeing you next week.”

If possible, remain a few minutes after the meeting if anyone seems anxious to talk with you. But be careful not to keep him talking too long. He may have other duties or commitments and not know how to break away.

While events are fresh in your mind, now is the time to hold a postmortem of your meeting. If it ran overtime, for instance, you may have tried to cover too much, or been too permissive and allowed it to wander, or spent too much time on minor points. Next time try to do better.

Assignment + Right Employee = Success

It should come as no surprise that the most expeditiously executed assignments are those given to the employees best suited to carrying them out.

Yet, many managers, occupied with other concerns, will simply turn a job over to the first person with free time. On the face of it, this makes a certain kind of sense. It’s democratic; it exposes everyone to different challenges; and chronological order would seem the easiest way to dispose of jobs.

But people are not quite so interchange-able. They have different talents, different interests, different strengths and weaknesses.

The man with a penchant for order may be the ideal candidate for a job requiring attention to a large number of details. But he may be sadly lacking in the imagination needed to examine all those details and come up with a general strategy designed to take those details into account.

A woman with the ability to turn out exceptionally neat work may lack the speed demanded by a tight deadline. By the same token, her faster colleagues may never miss deadlines—but hand in unacceptably sloppy work.

As manager, what you must decide is: “What does this assignment require above all?” Then identify the employee best suited by ability and temperament to meet those requirements. Even if the employee is currently working on something else and the assignment must wait its turn, in the long run you will be better off, for the odds favor the job being done right the first time.

How Tough Minded Are You?

One of the marks of an effective manager is surely the degree to which he can tolerate frustration and still get a job done. Add to this the ability to stick to a course of action once he knows it’s the right one, let the chips fall where they may, and you have a bona fide tough-minded manager. This little quiz should help you determine how “tough in the head” you are.

1. When necessary, can you plow through red tape without blowing your top?
2. Can you endure the delays and runarounds of committees and clearances to get the payoff you seek?
3. If you had to choose between maintaining old relationships and getting the job done, would you be prepared to decide in favor of the job?
4. Once convinced that a decision is right, do you stick to your guns, regardless of what anyone says?
5. Do you put in long hours and work hard—harder than most in your position?
6. Do your people think of you as being tough, but fair?
7. Do you stick by your people through their honest mistakes?
8. Do you demand the very best your people are capable of?
9. Are you good at overcoming obstacles, solving problems that stymie others?
10. Are you self-confident?
11. Deep down, do you harbor the conviction that you can do your boss’ job at least as well as, if not better, than he?
12. Do you have a timetable for achievement? For example, a set of deadlines for that next raise, that next promotion?

The correct answer to each of these questions, of course, is yes. If you could honestly answer 10 or more questions in the affirmative, you are one tough-minded manager—and will probably get ahead, despite some social run-ins.

What People Dislike About Managers

It should come as no surprise to learn that the majority of employees view their immediate bosses as somewhat less than perfect. If you consider your own work history, you almost surely had bosses who drove you up the wall, too. If you are typical, therefore, you are probably not regarded as an unalloyed treasure by your people, either, but you can improve—providing you take to heart what people object to most in their bosses.

People do not like managers who:

• Never receive both sides of a problem from their subordinates.
• Never tell their people what they are really after.
• Never defend their people to their superiors.
• Feel that personal contact with their people doesn’t befit their position.
• Procrastinate over making decisions.
• Are often surprised by unanticipated events.
• Have no idea of their own inadequacies.
• Kill new ideas because they originate from people with less experience than the managers.
• Have never learned to criticize or reprimand without causing resentment.
• Think the threat of punishment is the best motivator.
• Have forgotten the power of the phrase, “Thank you.”
• Demand flattery and deference from their people—even in social situations.