Best Practices_ Managing People_ Secrets to Leading for New Managers - Barry Silverstein [4]
—Sam Walton,
founder of Wal-Mart
Sometimes management challenges turn out to be opportunities. The flip side of a maddeningly difficult quality can be a strength on a specific project. For instance, an individual who demonstrates a lack of flexibility may be just the hyperorganized, methodical, and detail-oriented person you need for your next big project.
Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan
A manager can accomplish very little without a plan of action. Start by establishing a goal. Then figure out what it will take to reach that goal. What staff will you need? What resources will be required? Are there budget constraints? What efficiencies can you achieve? What contingencies will you have if things go wrong?
Next, work your plan. Create a step-by-step plan of action for accomplishing your goal. Assemble everything you need and get started.
Provide a common purpose and good direction to your staff and delegate appropriately along the way.
POWER POINTS
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PLANS
Good managers plan their work carefully. Here are the elements of a plan:
Setting goals
Orchestrating staff buy-in
Defining resources—staff, outside suppliers, budget
Determining each step
Identifying achievable milestones
Anticipating snafus and setting up a plan B for each one
“Excellent companies are the way they are because they are organized to obtain extraordinary effort from ordinary human beings.”
—Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.,
authors of In Search of Excellence
The key word here is delegate. This does not mean stepping aside entirely. Be supportive, involved, and available. Help your people succeed. Monitor progress from beginning to end, and step in as necessary to provide direction or keep things on track. Strive for success. At the same time, look ahead, anticipating what could go wrong. Have contingencies and alternative plans available just in case things don’t turn out as anticipated.
Finally, when your goal is reached, always let your staff know how much you appreciate their hard work.
Essential Skill I Managing Individuals
“A great manager is brilliant at spotting the unique differences that separate each person and then capitalizing on them.”
—Marcus Buckingham,
coauthor of Now, Discover Your Strengths
Regardless of your organization’s size, as a manager you are faced with the same basic challenge: You manage individuals, not just teams, work groups, departments, or divisions. Consequently, you need to understand each individual’s strengths, weaknesses, talents, abilities, and goals.
You must be aware of any organizational, emotional, or work-environment issues that could be affecting an individual’s job performance. You have to be patient and calm, and at the same time find ways to keep people motivated so that work is accomplished and progress is made.
While no two people are alike, there are certain sound management principles you can always apply to make your job easier.
First: Remember that you have a significant impact on an individual’s job satisfaction and career development. This is a serious responsibility, one that provides you with the opportunity to participate in someone’s success. Nurturing employees, guiding them along the way, and watching them achieve their goals can be one of the most rewarding things about management.
POWER POINTS
ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS
Whether employees do well at work has everything to do with the competence and conscientiousness of their managers. To succeed they need the following:
Effective training
Honest, regular feedback—both positive and negative
Access to the information and tools they need to make good decisions
Second: Recruit and hire the right people, then give them the training and tools they need to do their jobs well. When you bring quality people into your organization, or promote outstanding workers from within, you are establishing a standard of excellence.
Third: Help individuals