The Rules Of Management: A Definitive Code for Managerial Success, Expanded Edition

Chapter 28. Adapt Your Style to Each Team Member

Adapting your style does not mean you have to be a chameleon. It means you have to be sensitive to your team’s individuality and work with it. You may have outgoing members who like to be praised in public, and then you might have quieter, more introspective members who would shrivel up and die if praised in public and prefer to be told they are doing a good job privately. There, you’ve changed your style without changing your skin, spots, or personality.

I have one team member, a very good one, who does her job superbly but who absolutely hates appraisals and would do anything to get out of them. She loathes having to talk about herself in any way—and this borders almost on a real phobia. I have ...