Managment Fundamentals

Management Fundamentals

This training workshop is a tool for your leadership development. It is designed to help you create and accomplish your personal best, and to help you lead others to get extraordinary things done. At its core, leadership means setting goals, lighting a path, and persuading others to follow. But the responsibility entails much more. By accepting the challenge to lead, you come to realize that the only limits are those you place on yourself.

Upon completion of the program, you shall be able to :

1. Identify your leadership profile and explore how you can use this knowledge to create your own future

2. Assess your leadership competencies and learn how you can develop your strengths

3. Identify those additional skills and tools that can make you a better leader

4. Develop your ability to influence and communicate with others

5. Become a better problem-solver and decision-maker

6. Discover how you can prepare for and embrace the forces of change

7. Create a strategy to actively use these skills back in the workplace

In your new management role, you will probably be focused on two things: assuming responsibilities and building relationships.

Hello, I'm James Wagner, and I'm going to introduce you to the fundamentals of management. We're going to look at how you can balance your work, staff, and expectations and at how you can build solid relationships with your manager, direct reports, and former peers. Ready? Let's begin.

Have you ever fantasized about your dream job? Everyone has a different vision of what his or her dream job would entail, but most people agree that it would involve three things: meaningful work, good relationships, and reasonable expectations.

In fact, these are the cornerstones of every management position. And, if you know how to manage each of these areas, you can transform your job into your dream job.

In this lesson, I'm going to talk about how you can fulfill your management responsibilities. In particular, I'm going to help you discover ways that you can excel at managing work, people, and expectations.

Managing:

1. Work

2. People

3. Expectation



When you become a manager, you have a new role. Of course, there are still things that you need to complete, but unlike individual contributors, who are responsible only for completing their own work, managers must accomplish things through others.

There are other differences to being a manager, as well: individual contributors are expected to perform as part of a work unit, while managers need to direct work units. And, contributors need to have specialized, task-specific skills, while managers need to have broader leadership skills.

Imagine, for example, that you were promoted from marketing specialist to marketing manager. How might your job be different?

Well, your former responsibilities might have been to create marketing materials, write press releases, coordinate company events, and contribute to team projects. Now, in your role as manager, you are still responsible for these things, but you probably won't actually do them, you'll manage someone else who does them.

So, you'll manage the creation of materials, decide what is press-worthy, determine what types of events to promote, and lead team projects.



Managing People

Managing people is a primary management responsibility. And, there are several things that you can do to make sure that you manage your staff effectively, including energizing them, empowering them, supporting them, and communicating with them.

Explanation:

Energizing people is about getting them excited about their jobs and inspiring them in the workplace. Energizing your team members can be done by recognizing them and rewarding them.

Recognition might be as informal as a compliment or as formal as announcing their success at a meeting, in an email, or even at an awards banquet. Rewards can vary just as much, from an afternoon off to a merit increase or corporate perks.

Empowering people entails creating an environment in which they are free to use their own creativity and expertise to do their jobs. It means allowing them to feel a sense of ownership over their projects.

For example, you might allow them the freedom to "do it their way," or to "be creative." You might ask for their insights and opinions, and allow them to exercise decision-making authority.

Supporting people means giving them the resources that they need to do their job, and making yourself available to provide guidance.



Support comes in many forms – ongoing feedback, guidance, encouragement. Support your staff by checking in with them to see how things are going. And, by lending an ear, asking questions, and listening.

Communicating with people involves letting them know how they are doing and what is expected of them. It's critical to keep your staff informed of your expectations and any changes that might arise – things that come up, changes in protocol, changes in resources. Basically, anything that affects your direct reports or their responsibilities.

Managing expectations:

In addition to managing work, namely, the things that need to get accomplished, as well as the people who will carry out the work, there's one more thing that you'll need to manage: expectations.

Expectations are often unspoken and ongoing; they may underlie specific projects and assignments. Common expectations are to support your manager, use good judgment, add value to the company, keep management informed, promote your team and the company, and stay within budget.

Let's see how each of these interplays with the other things that you manage, namely, work and people. Say that you've been assigned a large project to create a company directory with information on everyone in your company to hand out at the annual company picnic. And, you only have three weeks to put it together, three team members to help you, and $3000 to spend on printing.

Whether you know it or not, every decision that you make will be guided by the expectations that underlie your management position. You will begin by accepting the project, even though it is on a tight deadline, in order to support your manager. Then, you use good judgment by deciding what will be included in the directory, job profiles but nothing personal.

By emailing your manager with updates on the team's progress, you are keeping management informed. And, by brokering a deal on the printing and staying under budget you are adding value to the company and meeting budgetary expectations. Finally, by placing design credits in the directory, you are promoting your team.

Initially, you may have thought that the only expectation you met was creating the company directory, but you actually met many more.



Building Relationship:

What's the one thing that can do to guarantee that your job will be smooth sailing? I'll give you a hint: it doesn't involve the actual work that you do, or the responsibilities that you have. It involves relationships. The key to finding workplace satisfaction can be to build strong relationships with the people that you see day in and day out.

I'm going to let you in on a few secrets that will help you to build successful working relationships. In particular, we'll look at how you can start working with your manager; start managing your direct reports; and start managing your former peers.

Start Working with Your Manager:

Becoming a good manager involves having a good relationship with your manager, for obvious reasons. Your manager sets your agenda, determines your salary, and guides your future.

Senior managers develop confidence in those managers who keep them informed, are solid performers, and enthusiastic team players. Rather than waiting for your manager to call a meeting, take the initiative to schedule a preliminary meeting yourself, if possible on your first day in your new role. Discuss what your manager expects of you, forthcoming deadlines, and any problems you foresee.

Conclude the meeting by scheduling a series of regular, formal update meetings. Then, use these meetings to update your manager on your progress; discuss your short and long-term goals; and express ongoing enthusiasm for the projects with which you are involved.

Let's look at an example. Imagine that one of your colleagues was just promoted from a recruiting specialist to the recruiting manager. What should she do to begin to build her relationship with her own manager?

She should arrange a preliminary meeting to discuss her immediate responsibilities, and what she is expected to accomplish. She might be expected to develop an advertising campaign and launch a web site by the end of the next quarter.



She should consider whether she faces any problems. For example, she doesn't have an onsite web designer. Will she work with an agency or does she have approval to contract or hire one?

She'll need to update her manager on the status of the ad campaign and web site and she should also discuss her goals. The short and long-term goals might include learning more about Internet marketing and e-commerce or getting an advanced degree, like an MBA. Bringing these goals to light allows her manager to help her reach them.

She should always try to show enthusiasm. In this case, she might express zeal in the direction that the new ad campaign is moving.



Start Managing your Direct Reports:

Your relationship with your direct reports is just as important as your relationship with your manager. Starting off on the right foot with your direct reports will go a long way to establishing the type of working relationship you will have with them.

One of your first actions should be to schedule individual meetings with each of your direct reports and a team meeting with your workgroup.

The individual meetings will provide an opportunity for you to inquire about each individual's goals; set individual objectives; begin coaching individual skills; delegate certain tasks; and provide early encouragement.

The team meeting, similarly, will enable you to deliver a team vision; communicate team objectives; begin to build the team; discuss individual assignments; and recognize team success.



Start Managing Your Former Peers:

If you were promoted into your new management position, one of the biggest challenges you will face is how to manage former peers. Of course, many of them will be happy for you. But, if some of them were competing with you for the position, you might also have to contend with feelings of jealousy or resentment.

In general, there are four rules that you can follow to help ease the transition. You should remain personable, professional, objective, and firm.

First, remain personable. Don't become standoffish, uncomfortable, or over-confident because of your promotion; instead, act as you always do: friendly, approachable, and upbeat.

Second, remain professional. Even if you surmise that there are complaints about your performance or spitefulness about your promotion, handle it in a professional manner, following established management protocols for your company. If this kind of behavior escalates, consider enlisting the support of your own manager or the human resources department.

Third, remain objective. Treat your team members fairly, regardless of your prior peer-to-peer relationships with them.

And fourth, remain firm. Don't compromise your performance standards, allow yourself to be manipulated, or bend the rules.



As you begin working with your colleagues, superiors, and subordinates, always remember that starting off on the right foot will win you support and help you gain confidence. It will also keep you and your team on the right track in the months and years ahead. Taking time to hold initial meetings and provide guidance goes a long way toward building the relationships that will propel your career forward.