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 Congratulations! You are now a manager. How did this happen?
By the "magic fairy dust" method: Poof: "You are a manager"? Or
did you go to the school of hard knocks (learning through trial
and error)? Well, regardless of how, the more important question
is: are you trained and prepared for the new intellectual and
emotional challenges that await? Too often, employees are placed
into the role of manager with little or no management training
and development skills. The following are ideas, tips and
techniques we have uncovered.
Question: Can you identify your leadership style?
By examining the varieties of leadership styles, their
advantages and weaknesses, as well as your employees and the
given situation, you can decide what is the "best" leadership
style for you. You should adopt a style that you are comfortable
with to lead you to future success. There are many different
leadership styles, but one trait is prevalent in every
successful leader - the ability to bring people together to
accomplish a task! This can be done by:
- Involving employees in decision making.
- Encouraging two-way communication.
- Sharing power.
- Being flexible.
Developing employee commitment and building a resource base
of peers, former managers and previous managers of your new
organization are very important. The more extensive your
network, the easier it will be to handle the new challenges that
accompany your efforts with time management, delegation,
communication and motivation.
Question: Are you in charge of a motivated workplace?
If you take time to focus on your employees and their
environment you will create and sustain a cohesive, enthusiastic
team which produces at or above the level expected by top
management. To build a solid, productive workforce you should
take the employees you have and train them to be highly
competent.
Doing a good job of training and coaching is the most
practical way to have successful and productive employees. If
you keep your employees' interests, priorities and goals in mind
when you organize tasks, you will achieve your intended goals
and also build a stronger team.
Question: Do you set achievable goals?
Goal setting gives direction to the work of an individual
employee as well as to a department and organization by:
- Providing a stimulus for articulating what the individual
wants to achieve and what the organization expects from the
individual.
- Getting people to discuss activities and action rather
than personality characteristics.
- Forcing management and employees to plan for the future.
This process allows an organization to check on the
attainment of both its short-term and long-term objectives.
 Question: Are you communicating clearly with your
employees?
Successful communication is a complex and difficult process.
A broad development of awareness, understanding and hard won new
habits is required in order to gradually improve your skills of
effective communication. A good communicator always:
- Exchanges ideas, feelings and values.
- Uses appropriate language, tone, pitch and volume.
- Gives relevant information.
- Uses non-verbal signals to emphasize and support messages.
- Solicits feedback.
- Conveys understanding.
Effective communication means getting through to the other
person what you mean in a way that they understand. The end
result is to get things done with minimal or no problems so that
you, the organization and the employee will all be satisfied.
Question: Are you familiar with the problem solving
process and your own decision making style?
Solving problems and making decisions are challenges managers
encounter daily. Effective problem solving and decision making
depends on using a method rather than relying on luck such as
the ready, fire, then aim syndrome. Whether the problem is new
or recurring, a systematic approach will have these stages:
- Identify and clarify the problem.
- Seek out the causes of the problem.
- Solicit a variety of potential solutions.
- Select an alternative.
- Plan to implement the solution.
- Use the solution and evaluate the results.
You can use this system by yourself or with a group. While
working alone may seem more efficient, there are benefits to
involving others in the problem solving and decision making
process: you can get a greater variety of perspectives, use the
group dynamic to generate creative ideas, and gain a greater
commitment to solving the problem from everyone involved.
Question: Are you overwhelmed by insurmountable
projects, endless paperwork and constant interruptions?
Instead of thinking about how you can manage, create and save
time, think more about ways to utilize it. Once you have
accomplished this, you may invest in time what you value. To
help you do this, keep in mind some of the principles of time
management:
- Time management needs to be simple, organized and
efficient so that it is effective.
- Understand what you are doing and create a plan.
- Ask SMART questions (Specific, Measurable, Attainable,
Realistic and Time based).
As a new manager, you will soon realize that you can not
accomplish all of your tasks by yourself, you must learn to
delegate. Consequently, now is the time to assess yourself.
Question: are you an effective delegator?
Delegation is a challenging skill for all managers to master
because it involves effective communication, motivation, goal
setting and leadership. Three essential components to successful
delegation are:
- Proper assignment of duties,
- Granting authority to perform.
- Creating a climate of responsibility.
Unless all three are achieved, the delegation process will
not be effective. To make your decision easier, clarify the
parameters of the delegation for yourself by considering these
three questions:
What is the purpose of this delegation? Knowing if it is to
decrease my workload or to develop an employee helps in
determining whether or not to delegate a task.
Should I delegate this task? Knowing the purpose of the
assignment assists in determining whether or not to delegate a
task.
What exactly do I want done? Specify the scope of the
assignment.
Effective delegation can save you hundreds of hours of
unnecessary work, increase productivity and provide invaluable
training to your associates and employees.
Successful leaders build high performing and profitable
organizations through the use of three key elements: knowledge,
experience and insight. By developing your management skills you
will realize enormous benefits in increased productivity,
decreased stress and increased confidence. Your employees will
also receive and feel these same benefits, and you may find
employee grievances and turnover decrease. Training is the key.
By striving for awareness of your employees and your work
environment, and with appropriate management development and
skills training, you too can be a successful leader. **
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