Management 101
Management 101
An examination of the internal approach to what constitutes good ‘management’ should be one part of a larger examination of the organizational soul. While one Regional Vice President of a local retail organization lamented that ‘good’ managers are hard to find, the counter argument to that statement is that good managers are easy to ‘build.’ The thinking behind this approach is that managing is primarily ‘skill-based’ as well as an applied process that is rooted in an organizations’ mission. It is the uniqueness of the times that warrant a full throttle break from Management 90210, and a return to the basics of Management 101. Those basics include teaching, training and supporting the role of managers and the process of management with a focus on:
Communication skills: This set of skills never go away, nor will they ever because it sits at the heart of the management process. Managers have to ask questions, listen to what is being said, think about and process what is being heard, and convey direction through one-on-one or group interactions. The advent of email was to supplement the communication process, not replace it altogether.
Problem-Solving skills: Some of the unique problems that land in a manager’s cubicle rarely require a new and elaborate approach to finding a solution. Most of the time, pulling together employees for a half hour and using a basic problem solving approach will resolve many simple problems before they become complex.
Decision-making skills: The process of management is about timely decisions made and solutions implemented. Managers, by definition, have a certain range of decision making authority. It is always wise to gather input on decisions that have an impact beyond an individual department, but it is important to remember that input leads to recommendations, the manager still has to decide.
Delegation skills: It won’t get done if the load isn’t shared. Assign whole tasks and the needed authority that contribute to the completion of work and the growth of staff members.
Morale skills: Managers are expected to set the tone for the attitudes within the work environment. What makes for a great workplace is not the luck of having happy employees, but the atmosphere established by a manager who understands the importance of making sure that everyone is ‘OKAY’.
The work of a good manager is not a matter of how they work, but how they go about getting work done. It’s as basic as that.
Management 101 - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Meadows's Website.
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Tough times, higher productivity, demanding customers, organizational restraints and an environment that is about as predictable as a knuckleball serve as the backdrop for the return to, the often overlooked, but crucial set of skills that have been around since the first train wreck of the 1840’s ushered in its formal beginning. The birth and growth of the role of manager is the result of an accident that could have been avoided. Over one hundred and fifty years later, the approach to managing is symbolic of that train wreck, and the oncoming collision between ‘business profits’ and ‘people issues’ represents one of the emerging challenges in which managers are placed in the middle and told to prevent the accident. However, the much practiced skill of yelling ‘HALT’ has rarely prevented an organization from running into itself. Managing is the application of a set of defined skills to a process (management) designed facilitate the accomplishment of tasks performed by people to achieve an organization’s primary objective. Note, the operative word is the ‘organization’s’ primary objective, not the manager’s ‘personal’ objective. This reality, combined with the overwhelming need to do ‘something different’ in order to compete, suggests that businesses search the heavens for new answers to difficult problems. The problems may be complex, but the answers may be simple. Perhaps the search is not a matter of looking up, but looking around.
An examination of the internal approach to what constitutes good ‘management’ should be one part of a larger examination of the organizational soul. While one Regional Vice President of a local retail organization lamented that ‘good’ managers are hard to find, the counter argument to that statement is that good managers are easy to ‘build.’ The thinking behind this approach is that managing is primarily ‘skill-based’ as well as an applied process that is rooted in an organizations’ mission. It is the uniqueness of the times that warrant a full throttle break from Management 90210, and a return to the basics of Management 101. Those basics include teaching, training and supporting the role of managers and the process of management with a focus on:
Communication skills: This set of skills never go away, nor will they ever because it sits at the heart of the management process. Managers have to ask questions, listen to what is being said, think about and process what is being heard, and convey direction through one-on-one or group interactions. The advent of email was to supplement the communication process, not replace it altogether.
Problem-Solving skills: Some of the unique problems that land in a manager’s cubicle rarely require a new and elaborate approach to finding a solution. Most of the time, pulling together employees for a half hour and using a basic problem solving approach will resolve many simple problems before they become complex.
Decision-making skills: The process of management is about timely decisions made and solutions implemented. Managers, by definition, have a certain range of decision making authority. It is always wise to gather input on decisions that have an impact beyond an individual department, but it is important to remember that input leads to recommendations, the manager still has to decide.
Delegation skills: It won’t get done if the load isn’t shared. Assign whole tasks and the needed authority that contribute to the completion of work and the growth of staff members.
Morale skills: Managers are expected to set the tone for the attitudes within the work environment. What makes for a great workplace is not the luck of having happy employees, but the atmosphere established by a manager who understands the importance of making sure that everyone is ‘OKAY’.
The work of a good manager is not a matter of how they work, but how they go about getting work done. It’s as basic as that.
Management 101 - To learn more about this author, visit Lee Meadows's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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