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SUPERVISING MANAGING

• Congratulations! You are now a manager.
• How did this happen? By the "magic fairy dust"
  method Poof "You are a manager"? Or did you go
  to the school of hard knocks (learning through
  trial and error)? Well, regardless of how, the
  more important question is are you trained and
  prepared for the new intellectual and emotional
  challenges that await? Too often, employees are
  placed into the role of manager with little or no
  management training and development skills. The
  following are ideas, tips and techniques we at
  A.E. Schwartz Associates have uncovered. They
  are presented here as an excerpt from our most
  popular program, entitled The School for
  Managers.

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SUPERVISING MANAGING

• Question
• Can you identify your leadership style?
• By examining the varieties of leadership styles,
  their advantages and weak- nesses, as well as
  your employees and the given situation, you can
  decide what is the "best" leadership style for
  you. You should adopt astyle that you are
  comfortable with to lead you to future success.
  There are many different leadership styles, but
  one trait is prevalent in every successful leader
  - the ability to bring people together to
  accomplish a task!

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• This can be done by
• Involving employees in decision making.
• Encouraging two-way communication.
• Sharing power.
• Being flexible.
• Developing employee commitment and building a
  resource base of peers, former managers and
  previous managers of your new organization are
  very important. The more extensive your network,
  the easier it will be to handle the new
  challenges that accompany your efforts with time
  management, delegation, communication and
  motivation.Question Are you in charge of a
  motivated workplace?

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• If you take time to focus on your employees and
  their environment you will create and sustain a
  cohesive, enthusiastic team which produces at or
  above the level expected by top management. To
  build a solid, productive workforce you should
  take the employees you have and train them to be
  highly competent.
• Doing a good job of training and coaching is the
  most practical way to have successful and
  productive employees. If you keep your employees'
  interests, priorities and goals in mind when you
  organize tasks, you will achieve your intended
  goals and also build a stronger team.

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• Question Do you set achievable goals?
• Goal setting gives direction to the work of an
  individual employee as well as to a department
  and organization by
• Providing a stimulus for articulating what the
  individual wants to achieve and what the
  organization expects from the individual.
• Getting people to discuss activities and action
  rather than personality characteristics.Forcing
  management and employees to plan for the future.

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• This process allows an organization to check on
  the attainment of both its short-term and
  long-term objectives.
• Question Are you communicating clearly with your
  employees?
• Successful communication is a complex and
  difficult process. A broad development of
  awareness, understanding and hard won new habits
  is required in order to gradually improve your
  skills of effective communication.

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• A good communicator always
• Exchanges ideas, feelings and values.
• Uses appropriate language, tone, pitch and
  volume.
• Gives relevant information.
• Uses non-verbal signals to emphasize and support
  messages.
• Solicits feedback.
• Conveys understanding.

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• Effective communication means getting through to
  the other person what you mean in a way that they
  understand. The end result is to get things done
  with minimal or no problems so that you, the
  organization and the employee will all be
  satisfied.
• Are you familiar with the problem solving process
  and your own decision making style?

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• Solving problems and making decisions are
  challenges managers encounter daily. Effective
  problem solving and decision making depends on
  using a method rather than relying on luck such
  as the ready, fire, then aim syndrome. Whether
  the problem is new or recurring, a systematic
  approach will have these stages
• Identify and clarify the problem.
• Seek out the causes of the problem.
• Solicit a variety of potential solutions.
• Select an alternative.
• Plan to implement the solution.
• Use the solution and evaluate the results.

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• You can use this system by yourself or with a
  group.
• While working alone may seem more efficient,
  there are benefits to involving others in the
  problem solving and decision making process
• you can get a greater variety of perspectives,
• use the group dynamic to generate creative ideas,
  and gain a greater commitment to solving the
  problem from everyone involved.

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• Question Are you overwhelmed by insurmountable
  projects, endless paperwork and constant
  interruptions?
• Instead of thinking about how you can manage,
  create and save time, think more about ways to
  utilize it. Once you have accomplished this, you
  may invest in time what you value. To help you do
  this, keep in mind some of the principles of time
  management
• Time management needs to be simple, organized and
  efficient so that it is effective.
• Understand what you are doing and create a plan.
• Ask SMART questions (Specific, Measurable,
  Attainable, Realistic and Time based).
• As a new manager, you will soon realize that you
  can not accomplish all of your tasks by yourself,
  you must learn to delegate.
• Consequently, now is the time to assess yourself.

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• Question
• Are you an effective delegator?
• Delegation is a challenging skill for all
  managers to master because it involves effective
  communication, motivation, goal setting and
  leadership.
• Three essential components to successful
  delegation are
• Proper assignment of duties.
• Granting authority to perform.
• Creating a climate of responsibility.

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• Unless all three are achieved, the delegation
  process will not be effective. To make your
  decision easier, clarify the parameters of the
  delegation for yourself by considering these
  three questions
• What is the purpose of this delegation? Knowing
  if it is to decrease my workload or to develop an
  employee helps in determining whether or not to
  delegate a task.
• Should I delegate this task? Knowing the purpose
  of the assignment assists in determining whether
  or not to delegate a task.
• What exactly do I want done? Specify the scope of
  the assignment.

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• Effective delegation can save you hundreds of
  hours of unnecessary work, increase productivity
  and provide invaluable training to your
  associates and employees.
• Successful leaders build high performing and
  profitable organizations through the use of three
  key elements knowledge, experience and insight.
  By developing your management skills you will
  realize enormous benefits in increased
  productivity, decreased stress and increased
  confidence. Your employees will also receive and
  feel these same benefits, and you may find
  employee grievances and turnover decrease.
  Training is the key.
• By striving for awareness of your employees and
  your work environment, and with appropriate
  management development and skills training, you
  too can be a successful leader.

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Supervising New Managers

• 1. Set realistic expectations
• There is more to a promotion than new job
  responsibilities and a bigger office. The
  expectations that are often left unstated need to
  be openly discussed. You want to "be on the same
  page" with your new manager.
• 2. Establish clear goals
• Goal setting gives purpose and direction to the
  work of the individual manager as well as to the
  manager's department/subordinates. It ensures
  alignment to corporate strategy.

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Supervising New Managers

• 3. Communicate
• Successful communication is a learned process
  that must accommodate individual needs. As the
  boss, you establish the norms. Solicit feedback,
  encourage discussion (especially alternate points
  of view), and be accessible.
• 4. Support
• A manager is not made by title alone. Anyone new
  to a supervisory position needs to develop
  certain professional skills. Your mentoring will
  be the key to success.
• 5. Be the Model Manager
• Lead the way! Have others do as you say and do.

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Supervising Newly Appointed Managers

• 1. Don't Expect Too Much Too Soon
• Realize that old habits die hard. A position of
  management necessitates new skills and new ways
  of thinking. These just won't happen you'll need
  to learn them.
• 2. Do Unto Others...
• Sometimes when people are promoted they forget
  what life used to be like. Commit to managing
  subordinates as you would have liked to be
  managed.

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Supervising Newly Appointed Managers

• 3. Admit Mistakes/Not Knowing
• A management title doesn't erase one of
  fallability. You'll be surprised by the respect
  you'll generate from saying the words "I don't
  know." But be sure to quickly follow those words
  up, however, with "but I'll find out.
• 4. Know Your Role
• It's essential that you know what your
  department's role is and how it fits in to the
  organization's mission.
• 5. Learn How to Juggle
• As a manager, you're now in the delicate position
  of dealing with missed deadlines, conflicting
  priorities, and petty office politics. Keeping
  "all the balls in the air" will become a
  much-needed art form.