Developing an excellent manager

If you’ve ever read the comic strip ‘Dilbert’ the average reader can muse upon it’s all about those who are average and will’t completely do the job well end up managing.

However in reality, it is one of the most important roles you will ever have in an organization. Those who are average could lead to poor results in an organization. Those who are fantabulous can get outstanding results.

But what is  it that separates an outstanding manager from an ok one?

Is it capability  ?

That’s  part of it, but certainly not all. Of course you need to be good at what you do, but you also need to know what other people need to do so they may be outstanding at what they do, and perhaps most importantly you have to be able to share it to them.

There are too frequently people around who are totally ok at what they do, but are all too pleased to share other people what they consider they could need to do to be good , when in fact they probably have no clue !

In fact I was recently at a martial arts class where one quite an average guy would all the time start to advise other people what they had to do, when in fact they don’t absolutely know themselves! There’s nothing more bothersome and people have no respect for them whatsoever – that’s definitely not an good manager!

it’s genuinely important to not just share other people what to do, but also to be good at what you do and have the respect of the teams that work with you.

So what are the keys to good management?

1:  You must know what you need to do to be brilliant on the job – as discussed earlier, if you’re average at what you do, you probably don’t know what you or other people may need to do to be outstanding and people certainly won’t respect you

2:  it’s crucial to know what other people need to do to be outstanding on a job – you have to be able to distinguish between ok behaviour and outstanding behaviour in other people and know what may make the difference. You might need to help the team lift the bar and, more Edit this text know how they might get there.

3: that’s not enough – you need to share them! Knowing, but not saying isn’t going to help anyone! You have to communicate others what do and just as importantly you will need to learn communicating skills to tell them effectively! Getting a subject across to other people where you might have to get them to change their behaviours will be challenging! So you must tell them in a way that inspire s their travel to excellence!

Follow these secrets and you’re well on your way to good management!

A outstanding way to develop good communication is to learn NLP. NLP teaches brilliant communication skills. Hypnosis downloads also offer an outstanding way to improve resourcefulness in interacting.

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us At Work and at Home

You can decide for yourself whether or not this is surprising to you.

If you’ve come across motivation-hygiene theory, some of the ideas of Buckminster Fuller, or intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, some of the concepts will be somewhat familiar; but the video comes at this from the perspective of economics, rather than psychology.

The presentation also illustrates how higher pay actually leads to a reduction in performance.  And that bad things can result from this.

I have some personal opinions about remuneration which includes a high proportion of performance-related pay, precisely because of the short-termism I have witnessed in some such circumstances.  But take a look and make up your own mind.

The video presentation walks through these concepts in a fun and clear way, and I’m sure you’ll find it well worth the 10½ minutes it takes to watch.

Enjoy!

Job seekers tend to concentrate more on the attire to be worn during interview. They forget those little things that is also being observed by employees. Tiny things that we often disregard of. There is nothing wrong on getting a nice tailored custom dress shirts, or getting a matched dress shirts and pants from your favorite store. It is just a part of your majority appearance. But remember it is just a part of it, there are still few parts that we tend to forget but also being noticed by employers.

It is great to see a guy in a smartly poised mens dress shirts topped with a neatly fitted tailored suit. But what about other aspects such as the hair, jewelry, perfume, tattoos, nails, earrings or piercings, purse or briefcase, wallet, portfolio, and breath mints? 

Keeping your hair nice, neat and well groomed is the only way to flaunt it. You do not need a special hair style for the interview. For men, it is better to trim beards and facial hair, as there are some organization or company that frown in dislike seeing a man with unshaven/ untrimmed beard and mustache.

Nails should also be clean and neatly trimmed. For women, wearing of nail polish is okay as long as the colors are not bright. Go instead for neutral and conservative colors and make sure that the polish is not chipping off.

Minimize your jewelry and go for those that flatter but not overpower. Such as stud earrings instead of chandelier earrings. Obey the “thirteen rule” of wearing jewelries. That means wear not more than thirteen accessory pieces such as earrings, watch, and buttons of the shirts or blouses where we often not think about.

Better have your tattoos and body piercing be removed or have it hidden. Do not let your employers see these, or else it might eliminate you as a candidate for interview.

Always bring with you your portfolio packed with all the documents that you may show during the process. Have a pen or a pencil and a notepad to jot down information. Leave your big briefcase and just carry a small purse or wallet with you. Also, do not forget to carry breath mints that may chewed before the interview starts.

Corporate awards are commonly given to top employees inside companies. If you would like to recognize workers within your company, it’s best to undoubtedly think about establishing an award ceremony to your business. This article will briefly focus on a couple of primary info about company awards today. Many companies have realized that employee satisfaction is often elevated when workers feel that the work they’re performing is being acknowledged by their superiors. Additionally, corporations and entire industries have witnessed will increase in productivity when employees are recognized for their efficiency whereas on the job.

Because of this, corporate awards are rising in popularity. Increasingly firms are beginning to realize that their staff are merely on the lookout for a small amount of recognition for the exhausting work they do every day. If you own a company though, you are doubtless involved concerning the expenses which can be associated to establishing an award ceremony. If you’re working with a budget, you should buy cheap trophies and awards in order to keep your costs down. There are additionally many trophies being produced as we speak which might be very expensive and effectively designed as well. You may buy customize trophies with the intention to lower the price of awards, or you maybuild a customized trophies so as to enhance the worth of an award in the eyes of your employees.

You can too buy awards that are made out of many various materials. Some awards in the marketplace at present are merely made out of plastic though. These awards are the most cost effective products on the market today. Since these awards are reasonably priced, many firms purchase these merchandise in an effort to recognize numerous employees within their organization.

Some firms are simply in search of a method to acknowledge their star workers though. If you want to only acknowledge your best employees, it’s best to look into some of the customized awards and different refined trophies which might be on the market today. Among the most expensive trophies on the market today are made out of crystal. Crystal awards are sometimes the perfect awards out there for firms that wish to recognize star employees, as a result of they’re usually the most fascinating awards accessible within the eyes of staff in general.

To make these expensive awards even more helpful in the eyes of employees, you can customize them with the name of the people you are rewarding. You can even add the brand of your company to those products with a view to make the award much more special as well. Also, these awards can be carved in quite a lot of different ways so as to characterize stars, sailboats, or practically some other sort of object in the world. Even organizations on a price range can reward their workers for the hard work they do for the organization on a daily basis. An awards ceremony can immediately improve employee satisfaction inside an organization, while also growing worker productivity
in the future as well.

The country’s brightest female students are rejecting careers in the City as they see the Square Mile seen as unethical and rife with discrimination, a survey has shown.

Source: Recruitment and talent management: News from People Management 22 March 2010

          Managers are those groups of employees who are at the first level of line management.   As the rank and file employees answer directly to them, the managers have the greatest influence on how the employees behave and how positive their attitudes are toward the company they are working for.    The employees’ perception of the company and how important they perceive their own roles in the company are vital to the success of the business.

          This is the exact reason why managers should have the right “ people skills ” to be able to effectively motivate the staff and deal with difficult problems.    The managers must serve as the guide of the staff  so every employee would have a someone to look up to and turn to  for coaching and support and for questions that they might have for their career development and work efficiency.    Thus, a manager must be a good leader and also a follower of company rules to serve as a model for his subordinates.

          The culture in the business and good staff management  are powerful forces that affect staff retention.    It is to be remembered that employees who feel good about themselves and are satisfied of their roles  and their contribution to the business are going to reflect this in the way they help push the company forward.    In much the same way that improper people management  can also force the workers to resign.    Thus, it is of utmost importance that managers have the knowledge on how to motivate, guide and oversee his staff.

          Since managers are in the frontlines dealing directly with the staff and faced with various issues,  for example, poor work ethics, various customer complaints, bad performance, low work productivity, etc., they must know exactly how to handle these problems, take appropriate action, and cope with stress at the end of the day.

          Statistics show that almost two out of three employees who do not show up for work is not physically ill.   Unscheduled absences are one of the major causes of low productivity.   This is most often due to lack of firm staff policies and want of  good staff discipline.  

          For most companies,  dealing with staff absenteeism is upon the frontline managers.   This is because it is the immediate supervisors or frontline managers who are most aware of the circumstances surrounding the absence of their subordinates.    Also, the managers are in the best position to be aware of the problem as soon as it starts and also in the position to very well identify its causes.   Therefore, their active involvement in the company’s absence policy and disciplinary procedures  is vital to the effectiveness and success of these policies.

           It is, however, unfortunate that most managers are not very well trained in managing absenteeism in the workplace.   They have been left on their own and without any means to carry out the often unpopular task of identifying, confronting and resolving frequent absence abuse.

          To ensure that supervisors and frontline managers are comfortable and competent in their role of managing absenteeism, they need to have the full support of senior management.    Everybody must be aware of the different objectives of the absence policy.    If there are misunderstandings between departments, the policy is bound to lose its effectiveness.

          To provide more consistency, supervisors should be trained in their responsibilities about managing absenteeism, advised how to conduct effective return-to-work interviews,  and educated in the imposition of disciplinary sanctions if the need arises.

          Managing absenteeism requires a firm company policy.    But, above everything else, it must have a “Plan B” is ever the problem persists.   It must ensure that the work is appropriately covered during the term of the employee’s absence.    A reliever should be assigned in order to cover the work so as not to hinder productivity.

          Importantly, critical actions must be taken to instill to the employees that absence abuse will not be tolerated and there are appropriate sanctions for these unjustified absences.  Some of the usual policies and absenteeism deterrents can be:

•  Having an absence policy in written form which provisions are made known to all the employees;
•  Confirming from the employee’s household when  the employee phones in sick for the day.  This will require a visit to the employee’s domicile.
•  Having a detailed record of absences which specifies the cause of the absence, medical record form the physician, days of absence, date of return and the like;
•  Identifying the diverse patterns of absences and the possible causes of these;
•  Conducting a thorough interview when the employee gets back; and
•  Imposing disciplinary sanctions if there is a need to do so.

Although advance planning for resource allocation is the ideal scenario, many organizations found themselves caught short by the severe constraints imposed by the economic downturn. What are the alternatives when organizations are operating in crisis mode and there is no “Plan A?”

Given the need to make decisions about how to curtail their operations immediately, leaders have two options that can help them in the short-run: (1) increase inputs or (2) decrease outputs. Within each of these options, there are several alternatives, some of which will be more viable than others depending on the given situation. Let’s look at each set of options in turn, and examine their feasibility.

Increase Inputs
Here are four ways to increase inputs:
1. Delegate
2. Outsource
3. Work more hours
4. Increase efficiency

Alternatives #1-3 presume the availability of resources such as people (i.e., those to whom you can delegate things) and money (e.g., paying others to do the work, paying overtime). Organizations that are short of those resources are unlikely to be in a position to select those choices. Although some employers may argue that they could avoid paying overtime simply by having salaried staff work more hours, such a view is short-sighted: people will burn out quickly, and they will be very likely to leave the organization at the first opportunity. Thus for most organizations in crisis mode, increasing efficiency seems to be the most sustainable way to increase inputs in the face of scarce resources.

Decrease Outputs
Here are four ways to decrease outputs:
1. Delay the promised goods or services
2. Provide partial delivery of products or services
3. Reduce service or performance standards
4. Decrease the number of products or services

Although none of these alternatives may seem very palatable, in a crisis situation they may be preferable to not being able to achieve the organization’s mission at all. For example, some customers may be open to a delay or partial delivery due to their own financial situations. Others may be unhappy with a delay but will accept it as an alternative to non-delivery.
Reducing service or performance standards may be a viable option for some organizations. For example, one organization I worked with recently is justifiably proud of its tradition of providing “excellent” service across the board. Given severe budget constraints, however, its leaders now are considering the possibility that customers will find “very good” or “good” service levels acceptable, at least in the short-term. This will allow the organization to re-allocate some resources or to continue to operate in the absence of others. However, for an organization whose mission focuses on providing exceptional service, this option is not feasible – unless it revises its mission statement.

Decreasing the number of products or services actually may serve the organization well in the long-term as well as in the short-term. Most likely some customers will be disappointed to find fewer choices. Considering the alternative is the inability to achieve the organization’s mission at all, however, the decrease may seem like a reasonable “price” to pay. And over time, if those products and services in fact are very important to the organization’s mission, they may be reinstated.

Recommendations for Successful Implementation
Here are four recommendations to help ensure that decisions about how to operate most effectively within existing constraints have the greatest positive impact:
1. Ensure the above decisions are the result of conscious, strategic choices based on the mission.
2. Once set, communicate the decisions clearly and in a variety of ways to employees, customers, and other stakeholders.
3. In most cases, radical changes will require the adjustment of stakeholders’ mindsets. For example, people who have worked for years under the notion that providing anything other than excellent service are likely to find it difficult to provide anything less. Leaders must address this issue in order to ensure successful change.
4. Recognize that the organization’s mission may have to change to reflect existing circumstances. This change may be short-term or long-term.

© 2010 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.  Article Source: http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com

About the Author:
Pat Lynch, Ph.D., is President of Business Alignment Strategies, Inc., a consulting firm that helps clients optimize business results by aligning people, programs, and processes with organizational goals. For additional articles please visit our web site at www.BusinessAlignmentStrategies.com. You may contact Pat at Pat@BusinessAlignmentStrategies.com or at (562) 985-0333. Copyright 2010 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.

In the College Student Career Confidence Survey, 61% of college students said they expected to be with their first employer for less than 3 years. 16% expect to change jobs as quickly throughout their career, 34% will switch every 4 years, while 50% expect to change jobs every 5 years or longer.

In a different survey conducted by Citrix, 61% of workers would like to be able to web commute on a frequent basis. In fact, workers preferred this benefit over stock options and on-site childcare.

What’s this mean? It means organizational leaders need to begin connecting their people more intimately with the values that drive their companies, and learn to connect with the values of their employees.

The Citrix survey underscores how the workforce has changed over the years, reflecting a society that is more mobile, versatile and focused on personal freedom than at any other time in American labor history. Never before have we been more connected. But, connected to what?

Unless leaders connect their people to something bigger than themselves (or bigger than a paycheck), they can expect to see turnover rates, and the subsequent costs of recruiting and training, continue to rise. Based on the survey, every 3-4 years 50% of their workforce will have turned-over.

Organizational storytelling – capturing the stories that drive the values of the organization and connect people to a vision or a noble cause – can go a long way toward reducing turnover. More to the point, connecting people to a larger vision propels the entire organization forward at an exponentially faster rate…allowing everyone in the organization to experience the benefits of accomplishing company goals much more quickly.

So, where do you find these stories? And, how do you make them believable? Here are five tips on establishing effective organizational stories.

1. Look around, be aware. Andrew Grove, former Intel CEO, espouses "management by walking around". There are a number of benefits to this. You remain connected to your business from the floor-up. You connect with your people. It’s also a great way to collect stories. As you engage your people, ask them about challenges they’ve encountered and how they overcame barriers. Collect these stories. Connect them to the values of the organization.

2. Structure the story for the listener. If you use stories, then you are a storyteller. This means focusing on the need of the listener. In walking around you’ll have discovered the personal values that drive your people. Infuse your stories with these themes and you’ll capture their attention.

3. Be real. Many people have a disdain and mistrust for those in authority. To overcome this barrier you need to be authentic and real. If you tell a personal story, do include situations in which you failed…and what you learned from that experience. Be able to laugh about it. Also tell stories about how you succeeded before you were a leader. In each case you’re meeting your people where they’re at.

4. Be consistent. If you undertake the storytelling strategy, you need to stay with it. Over time people will connect with you through the stories. They’ll come to expect them. If your stories are effective, they’ll look forward to your stories.

5. Be strategic. Use your intuition. Know when to deliver a story and when not to. Telling a good story can become addictive…so use your stories at strategic moments and don’t over-do it.

6. Get help. Storytelling is intrinsic to the human experience. We all learn through stories. However, because of education, training and life experience, not everyone is comfortable scripting, structuring and telling an effective story. If you’re in this group, don’t be afraid to get help. Remember, organizational stories are strategic. They’re meant to deliver a specific result. To ensure the best results possible you should strongly consider seeking a little extra help.

So, in the Age of the Hopper (people hopping from job to job), leaders must focus on internal branding as much as they focus on outward branding efforts. Stories accomplish this internal branding. You’ll be infusing the values of the organization you’re your stories. You’ll support the mission. You’ll give the vision flesh and blood. So, in a time when people are truly seeking connection, organizational narrative can be a powerful tool in accomplishing the goal of keeping the hoppers at home.

(c) 2008 James Phelps Creative

Coach, consultant and copywriter, James Phelps, is the creator of "Practical Creativity: The Complete System for Powering-Up Your Creativity for Unrecognizable Results". To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for his FREE how-to articles and other resources, visit http://www.See-Create.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_V_Phelps