Archive for the 'Management Training' Category

You have really arrived if you have your own secretary. Usually you will share one with other people or, even more likely, use the secretarial pool. If you share a secretary, I advise you get to know the people who do your typing and congratulate them if a job is done particularly well or faster than you had expected. You will thus be assured of attentive service in the future.

If there is a secretary who works for you and for one or more people, you will need to find out the approximate amount of time you can count on for yourself by discussing this with the people who share the secretary. There are periods of heavy work, others of lighter loads. Check to see how much the secretary has to do, and always say how speedily you will need a particular piece of work. For example, I ask my secretary, whom I share with other faculty members, whether she can get an assignment out on the same day and am thankful if she can. If I have a project that is not urgent, I always let her know, and she’s grateful for the information so that she can manage her time better.

Over the past decade or two, there has been a major change in the way that managers do their jobs. While, in the past, managers were supposed to closely direct their employees’ efforts, today’s best managers are coaches - that is, they support and encourage the efforts of their employees. Managers who act as coaches and not just as bosses can help employees achieve outstanding results as their organizations perform better than ever.

But beyond supporting and encouraging the efforts of employees, coaching plays a critical part of the learning process for employees who are developing their skills, knowledge, and self-confidence. Employees will never learn to be self-sufficient when you’re always telling them what to do. In fact, they usually don’t learn at all, making them more reliant on you going forward, rather than less reliant. As the old saying goes: “Tell me … I forget. Show me … I remember. Involve me … I learn.”

It’s difficult for employees to learn efficiently when you assign new tasks with no instruction or support whatsoever. Most employees will eventually figure out what to do (assuming they don’t get bored first or tired of trying), but they’re going to waste a lot of time feeling their way around.

It takes the work of a team of people whom are all working toward common goals for an organization to accomplish great things. So, regardless of the urge to try to do everything in an organization, effective managers know they can attain far faster and more efficiently by assigning specific tasks to their employees. Managers allocate the responsibility for completing tasks through delegation. But merely assigning tasks and then walking away is not enough. For delegation to be effective, managers must also give employees both the authority and the resources necessary to complete tasks successfully.

Skillful delegation is a win-win activity. By delegating well, you plan yourself for promotions and train someone who could take your place so you can move up. By delegating, others do much of the day-to-day work in your organization, freeing you up to manage, plan, and take on the kinds of jobs that only you can do as a manager. Not only that, but as your employees develop a broader range of skills as a result of having tasks delegated to them, they are likely to be more satisfied and ready to move up the organization with you. This in turn builds trust, enhances your career potential, and improves your organization’s bottom line.

Applicants who want to work for your company can come from many sources. These sources may range from your company’s newspaper ads to a family friend who is trying to help someone get a job. However, the best prospects may be just within your reach whom are already working in your organization.

People working in other positions in your company may fit your needs so look there first. In addition, you can seek people from outside your organization through a variety of channels. An efficient manager will understand how to recruit personnel and provide training for evaluating application forms and resumes and conducting interviews that will give the interviewer meaningful information on which to base hiring decisions.

Hire From Within

People who work for your company may make valuable members of your team. They may work at jobs in which they don’t use their full potential, or they may be ready for new challenges. Joining your team would be a move up for them. Even if an opening isn’t an immediate promotion, a lateral transfer might enable that person to take a step forward in reaching her career goals.

Ask the above question to most managers and they will likely stare at you as if you were slightly bananas. While all managers have a philosophy, many probably don’t know it and can’t explain it to you. They have generally just accepted whatever management philosophy existed in their organization when they arrived and have tried to work with it over the years for better or worse. While they undoubtedly understand that there are many different ways of doing things, they probably have never tried to put their approach to work or management into a comprehensive philosophy or context.

In the past, a fragmented, unexamined management philosophy may have been tolerable, but not today. Today, it is imperative that managers have a coherent, comprehensive, well thought-out management philosophy and apply it consistently. Otherwise, they will lose out to those managers who do understand what they are doing and why.

The problem of discrimination in the work place is extremely complex. There is no simple solution and no perfect solution for one of the most sensitive situations in the working world today. Even managers with the best of intentions and most pure of motives are likely to become involved in this controversy from time to time. The problem is multi-faceted. How can we recognize and address the more subtle forms of discrimination? How can we undo past wrongs without creating new wrongs? Does reverse discrimination generate a backlash, which then perpetuates traditional forms of discrimination?

Factors such as age, sex, race, religion, and national origin are among the non-merit factors that do influence decision-making. In some organizations, traditional forms of discrimination are still in existence, and in others, especially public organizations, reverse discrimination has become prevalent.

Can anything intelligent be said about this problem? No, probably not, but I’ll try anyway. Most positions on issues related to discrimination are largely self-serving. Minorities argue with passion and sincerity about the dreadful conditions under which they have suffered and how this justifies preferential treatment today. Non-minorities present many elaborate and thoroughly rational arguments to the effect that they should not be discriminated against today and that the only way to stop discrimination is to remove race, sex, religion, etc, as factors in the decision making process rather than institutionalizing discrimination by giving minorities special treatment based upon non-merit factors. Both sides have good arguments and both positions are basically self-serving. Neither set of arguments does much to advance the source of understanding.

In many companies, employees have been given perks - those little extras that may not seem like much, but they often are significant additions to the traditional compensation package and have been a great help in keeping people from leaving.

Why do perks motivate people to stay on a job? Why not give the employees cash bonuses and let them purchase or lease their own car, pay their own dues to the country club, or buy what they wish? Companies have found that most employees like receiving perks. If they did get cash equivalent, they would probably use it to pay bills or fritter it away. Perks keep reminding them that the company is giving them something. Every time they step into the company car, it reinforces their loyalty to the company. Every time they pass the day care bill to the accounting department, they thank the company for taking that burden off them.

Perks shouldn’t be confused with benefits. Benefits such as pensions, health care, and life insurance are part of the compensation package. Today almost all large companies provide these standard benefits. Perks usually are add-ons to make life more pleasant for employees.

The ability to make good presentations is a key ingredient for career advancement. When you present well, you gain the respect and support of others. You’re seen as being more authoritative. People seek you out and enjoy being around you when you’re at ease in front of an audience. And upper management sees you as someone they want to develop as an important representative of the company.

The value of being a good presenter can’t be overstated. Because it’s such a comparatively rare skill, it’s all the more important that you develop your abilities in this area. However, don’t mistake the ability to make excellent presentations with being a great public speaker. The two are miles apart. In fact, making excellent presentations is far easier than most people assume.

The following guidelines will help you turn a mediocre presentation into a stellar one every time.

• Use visuals as much as possible. Studies have shown that the average reading level of employees, including college graduates, is between a sixth and eighth-grade level. Although you’ll have to use words, you’ll be much more effective if you intersperse those words with effective graphic images.