November 29th, 2009 — careers, first time manager, management Tagged loyalty, manage your boss, superiors
A manager’s future career path often will depend upon his/her subordinates and superiors.
Should you be loyal to your manager?
Nobody follows a leader blindly these days in management circles. If a policy has been made that contradicts your expressed opinions you may be expected to follow it or even implement it regardless. See if you can find out how that decision came about and the processes that led to the decision. Don’t be narrow sighted, people don’t like change generally and you have to see the bigger picture as much as possible.
Your responsibility to your manager
You need to keep your manager informed of your plans, actions and team projects. Where you need to present arguments or concerns make sure this is done factually with back up evidence and examples where possible. Be open minded and listen to your manager’s point of view because they may be right.
Dealing with an unreasonable manager
Sometimes it’s hard to see the big picture when you’re covered in the proverbial at work. If you and your team have a long term problem with your manager you need to think why top management is allowing this to continue. If it is a problem only for you, then it’s a different situation. Believe it or not, sometimes bosses don’t realise if they are causing you problems so the best approach would be to be direct but professional in bringing the problem to their attention. It also helps to find a mentor somewhere else in the organisation that can offer you advice on how to handle the situation.
Driving good people away
During an economic downturn, some companies may take advantage of this and make their employees work harder as it is more difficult for people to leave. Doing this however can cause the top performers to leave, retaining the less capable employees. At the same time, it has a major impact on morale and production.
The skill to attain is to learn how to manage your boss. You can begin to do this by first study his or her management style…
Styles Of Leadership That Can Motivate Anybody!
October 25th, 2009 — first time manager, management Tagged communicating, hiring, manager, monitoring, organizing, planning, responsibility, training
There are six main responsibilities of a manager, regardless of where they work or who works for them.
1. Hiring – a manager finds individuals that are suited to positions required to complete a job as part of a larger project. The individuals must have the required skills and commitment, or can be coached or trained to succeed in the role.
2. Communicating – with employees. A manager needs to share the goals of the organization and company objectives so that employees know how their role fits into the bigger picture.
3. Planning - A manager needs to plan the works to ensure they are completed by the right people in the right time frame.
4. Organizing – Managers are responsible for ensuring that the right resources are put in the right roles to complete the job. This means deciding which employees do which tasks and means they also have to understand their teams strengths and weaknesses.
5. Training – If there are gaps in the skill level of your team, managers provide opportunities for training for development.
6. Monitoring - this involves monitoring each of your employees and ensuring they are succeeding in their tasks. Managers need to also be aware of the work load of their employees so that they are not bored or snowed under.
October 13th, 2009 — communication, first time manager Tagged active listener, active listening, poor manager, successful manager
One of the great secrets of a successful manager is the ability to listen actively. This is done by asking questions, making clarifying statements and summarising what you have heard to show you have actually been listening to what the other person has been saying.
Remember, you have two ears and one mouth so you should be listening twice as much as you talk.
Why Poor Listeners Fail
Poor listeners love the sound of their own voice and have to let other people hear it as well. Sometimes poor listeners also spend their time thinking of some smart arse remark with which to interject rather than listening to the other person. Poor listeners make poor managers. Remember that.
Some people can comprehend much more per minute through reading than through hearing someone talk (at a comparatively slower rate). This is especially true for speed readers. So when someone speaks, it is only natural they tend to zone out since the speaker doesn’t demand their full attention. This “comprehension gap” is another reason why some people are poor listeners. The amount of people actively listening are few and far between, so it doesn’t really take much to differentiate yourself among other managers by being an active listener.
How To Be An Active Listener
Encourage the other person to talk. Nod occassionally to show comprehension but more importantly look at the other person when they are talking to you. Don’t turn your head away or be distracted by a piece of paper. Stay focussed as much as possible.
Some well-placed comments work well in conversations: “That’s interesting. Tell me more”, “Why do you suppose that is?” To be an active listener you need to send the same signal with all of the following:
- the words you use
- your facial expressions
- your tone of voice
Naturally, when you become a good listener (and therefore a better manager) some people will start coming to you more with your problems. This can waste a lot of your time.
Conversation Terminators
Some managers use verbal cues such as “I appreciate you coming in” or “Let me think about that a while” to indicate that a conversation has come to an end for the time being. More subtle ways I’ve witnessed include a manager placing his hand on the telephone to indicate he is about to make a call when you leave. Sometimes when all else fails a bit of direct communication would not be considered rude given that all other signals have been ignored. Both parties should be actively paying attention to tune in to each other’s signals.
At the end of the day being an active listener means you are more aware of what is happening around you, especially with your direct reports, making you a more effective manager.
October 6th, 2009 — first time manager, management, relationships, remuneration Tagged appreciation, employee, project management, what people want
Most managers stuff up because they do not give their direct reports praise. One of the reasons they don’t show appreciation may be because they were never shown appreciation themselves.
People Remember Appreciation.
When employees are asked about the best and worst examples of management they have seen, it is nearly always linked to some sort of appreciation and whether it was received or denied. Everyone wants to know that the work they are doing is important. Furthermore, appreciation is free and has the potential to improve employee performance more than a measly salary increase.
Appreciation: The Skill
Remember to be specific with regards to the tasks that you appreciate and want to have repeated in the future. Remember to describe the impact of how that tasks fits in and has helped improve the bigger picture. Don’t overdo it. Too much feedback lessens its impact and can also come across as being insincere.
What People Want
What do Gen-Y employees need from their Baby Boomer managers that Gen-Xers don’t? How does gender affect employee-manager relationships?
September 22nd, 2009 — communication, first time manager, management, relationships Tagged Building Confidence, Building Trust, Confidence Building, Employee Handbook, Experiences, Goals, Habit, Perfectionism, project engineer, Relationship, Success And Failure, Team Building, Templates, Work Share
Building trust and confidence among your direct reports is essential if you want to be an effective manager.
The Success Habit
When assigning tasks to your team, and more specifically to new members, give tasks that can be mastered and build from there. Don’t assign an extremely challenging task such that the poor employee is stressed, struggling and destined to fail. Start with the small success to faciliate the larger ones later on.
Furthermore, if an employee should fail at a given task, never criticize them publicly. Talk to them privately in your office and never make it seem like the end of the world. Explain why an action was wrong and how it should be done next time. Remember, people come to work wanting to do a good job.
Do You Expect Perfectionism?
I must admit I do, for myself, as a project engineer. But I don’t make the mistake of thinking that others are the same as me. People have different abilities.
As a manager, don’t pretend to be perfect – others will resent you for it. Involve your employees when formulating a plan to improve your business or divisional performance. This brings ownership and a better chance of success as your team want to “make their idea work”.
Building Trust
Some other ways to build trust:
- Give clear directions when you are assigning tasks. Explain why the task is required and how long they have to complete it.
- Share the vision or your goals. Don’t guard everything close to your chest because you think people only need to know the minimum to do the job. Communication is key. If you explain how each task fits in to the bigger picture, your team will appreciate its importance and take more care in their work as they understand how it affects other people’s work.
- Share your “success and failure” experiences. This makes you human and you will develop a better relationship with your team, making you a more effective manager.
Making People Management Easy
Use Employee Handbook Templates to help you manage your staff in half the time.
Note: these are designed for Australian businesses.
Trust or Bust: How to Win by Building Trust in the Workplace
