Overcoming the Challenges of a Manager

Do you end up solving the problems that your team members are supposed to?
Do you finish the unfinished or half finished work of your team members?
Do you allow your team members to delegate their work upwards to you?
Do you check for or chase for progress of work every few minutes
Do you end up saying, "Never mind, I will do it myself."

If you were to watch many managers at work, you may begin to wonder whether the traditional notion of the manager being the one who gets things done through others still exists. The problem is that when an employee’s title changes and now contains the word manager, they are suddenly expected to start to act like managers, yet receive little help and support in making the transition.

The lack of training and mentoring shows up in their struggle to plan, organise, prioritise, delegate and solve problems. More important, it also shows up in their struggle with managing people, especially in influencing them to do what they want them to do.

Learn to give a good brief and allow your staff space to grow

If you need a task done, it is important for the manager to first give his employee a good brief. The brief not only needs to be clear, specific and actionable, it also needs to be inspiring. The inability of managers to set the task against the right context and be able to show the big picture leaves employees confused about why they need to do the job and how it will help them and the organisation.

Managers tend to swing between two extremes in their style of securing results — at one extreme, you have those that nurture their staff and are almost patronising in their style. They are so frightened of not being liked that they are too helpful and eager to give advice and complete the work on the employee’s behalf.

At the other extreme, we have managers who believe that employees learn to swim when they are pushed into the water and therefore offer little support and can come across and condescending and arrogant.

Another common problem is that managers can tend to micro manage their employees in the anxiety for results, thereby robbing them of the elbow room and the opportunity to learn.
All this can be very exhausting and does nothing toward gaining the respect of your team. Get into the habit of taking a step back and allowing your team to grow and perform at their best, asking them questions or opinions rather that constantly instructing them.

Yvonne Bleakley is the manager's mentor, director of http://www.coachuk.ltd.uk and creator of The Silent Motivator System, the proven step-by-step programme to maximise staff and gain true respect and commitment.

Download your free e-book "How to Maximise your Staff and Gain Respect" at http://www.silentmotivator.com

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How to Recognise and Deal with Stress in the Workplace

Stress, simply put, is a person’s natural reaction to the demands and pressures of everyday life, both in the workplace and in our personal lives. Appropriate amounts of stress can stimulate and motivate all of us into action. This in itself is not a harmful or dangerous thing; indeed it is quite necessary.

However if the demands and pressures we face are too great, or are prolonged, the stress we experience can become harmful. In this difficult economy, workplace stress is a very real occurrenceStress in the workplace reduces productivity, increases management pressures, and makes people ill in many ways, evidence of which is still increasing. Workplace stress affects the performance of the brain, including functions of work performance; memory, concentration, and learning.Typical causes of workplace stress

· Lack of job security
· Lack of recognition
· Bullying or harassment, by anyone, not necessarily a person's manager
· Feeling powerless and uninvolved in determining one's own responsibilities
· Continuous unreasonable performance demands
· Lack of effective communication and conflict resolution
· Long working hours
· Excessive time away from home and family
· Office politics and conflict among staff
· A feeling that the reward is not congruent with the responsibility

How to Recognise Stress

Stress can be the cause of certain behavioural changes and as managers, it is not only important to recognise this in your self, but also those around you. Here are some clues as to what may be going on:-
· It may be hard to concentrate and remain focused on tasks in hand.
· It can become easy to lose the thread of what is being thought or said, even in mid–sentence.
· Memory, even for familiar things, declines.
· As a result of all these above, more errors are made than was previously the norm.
· The ability to relax, to feel good or happy, to ‘switch off’ anxiety reduces.
· Personality traits or standards might change
· Feelings of self-esteem and competence might diminish.

How to Deal with Stress

· Improve communication
· Share information with employees to reduce uncertainty about their jobs and futures.
· Clearly define employees’ roles and responsibilities.
· Make communication friendly and efficient, not mean-spirited or petty.
· Consult your employees
· Give workers opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their jobs.
· Consult employees about scheduling and work rules.
· Be sure the workload is suitable to employees’ abilities and resources; avoid unrealistic deadlines.
· Show that individual workers are valued.
· Offer rewards and incentives
· Praise good work performance verbally and institutionally.
· Provide opportunities for career development.
· Make management actions consistent with organisational values.
Stress is just an emotion and it is important that we feel no attachment to it. When you notice any of these clues to stress, just allow either yourself (or your staff member if applicable) to become aware of the emotion and to feel it rather than try to ignore it. It is when we ignore and stuff down our emotions that we incur problems.

Yvonne Bleakley is the manager's mentor, director of http://www.coachuk.ltd.uk/ and creator of The Silent Motivator System, the proven step-by-step programme to maximise staff and gain true respect and commitment.

Download your free e-book "How to Maximise your Staff and Gain Respect" at http://www.silentmotivator.com/

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Do You Play The Blame Game?

When something goes wrong, most organisations and managers need someone to blame and almost instigate a hunt to put a name to the culprit without ever thinking of the impact that this has on employees. If this is what is going on in your organisation then all employees will do is try to cover up mistakes and hide problems hoping that no one will find out. Genuine mistakes may go unnoticed and un-reported which may lead to even greater problems in the future. The result is that nothing ever gets resolved.

However, the impact of harnessing a blame culture is far greater that unresolved issues. Staff will lack initiative and creativity in case they make a mistake and are more concerned with covering their own back rather than engaging in more productive actions. If any staff member receives negative feedback for their actions, then this will soon become common knowledge within the workplace, especially if they have been dealt with harshly. They will start to loose trust and respect for their leaders.

If you use or hear such language as “who is responsible for this” or “when will they ever learn?” then this is the language of a blame culture. Rather than being focused on learning how to improve the situation or on the solution, this is focusing on finding someone to blame because it is always someone else’s fault.

So how do you move from a blame culture towards a culture where people feel empowered to take responsibility and feel personally accountable to solving problems?

Recognise that everybody makes mistakes.
Thank people for bringing problems to your attention.
Praise what people have achieved.
Take responsibility for your own actions.
Clarify what lessons can be learnt.
Recognise staff for identifying problems early and for suggesting improvements.

There is no such thing as failure, only results. If we learn from our results, then we can never fail.
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4 Steps to Dealing with Difficult Staff

Most managers will do almost anything to avoid having a "difficult conversation" with an employee, because they simply don't know how to do them!
Why? Well, most good managers were promoted into management because they almost always did the right thing - without being told. They had initiative. They produced results..
Every manager in their career stumbles across a challenging employee….one who frustrates them and takes a lot of their energy to manage such as:-
· Someone with an “attitude”
· Doesn’t work well with other members on the team
· Challenges everything
· Fail to meet expectations
· Great at some things and weak in others
· Attendance issues
· Fail to follow procedures
As anyone who has had to put up with difficult behaviour knows, it is not funny when a colleague causes problems at work, and the effects can ripple out, having a negative effect on relationships, productivity, and general staff welfare.
Managers fear that if they speak with employee they may react defensively or the issue seems minor and mentioning it could de-motivate the employee. The stress brought about by difficult behaviour at work can be serious. Many people lead pressured lives anyway, without the unnecessary stress of having to cope with the behaviour of someone who sapps our energy and enthusiasm.
The cost of disputes at work goes far beyond the direct impact on those involved. The trouble isn't necessarily the fact that conflict exists. It's the damage that it causes when conflicts aren't resolved. The impact of an ongoing dispute at work can be catastrophic to those in the dispute, but also to their colleagues and the business as a whole.
Difficult people exist in every organization and although your natural instinct maybe to ignore and avoid them, you do so at your peril. As a Manager you’re not only responsible for your own success and job satisfaction but also that of your team. Challenging people should be a top management priority as they can adversely affect self-esteem, workplace happiness, business success and team member retention.

1. Create some notes around the behaviour or performance issue you find disturbing or challenging. This helps keep you focus especially if the employee gets defensive.

2. Sit down with the employee and find out how they feel about their job and do they have any concerns or issues they want to discuss.. Don’t rush into your agenda, but rather be open to what they have to say. This open conversation can potentially eliminate a lot of stress for both of you.

3. State clearly the behaviour or performance issue you want to address with them and provide no more than three examples to support your concern. If they become defensive, listen to them for a while to see if there you can gather information to further understand how to support the employee. If they are rambling, bring them gently back to the issues and ask them what they think they need to do to correct the situation. Help them come up a suitable solution.

4. Follow Up! No matter what the outcome of the meeting, always follow up with the employee. If you need to provide further clarity for the employee, then do so. If the employee has solved their problem, then acknowledge them. Let them know that you are available to help them with any of their concerns, your role as their manager is to support them.

Yvonne Bleakley is the manager's mentor, director of http://www.coachuk.ltd.uk and creator of The Silent Motivator System, the proven step-by-step programme to maximise staff and gain true respect and commitment.
Download your free e-book "How to Maximise your Staff and Gain Respect" at http://www.silentmotivator.com
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Are You Delegating for Success?

Have you ever noticed that great leaders are also excellent delegators? Delegation saves time, develops and motivates people, and makes an organization more productive. Therefore, it is fair to say that this is one of the most critical skills for any leader or manager to acquire. For this reason, I encourage every leader to become a master delegator.

On the surface this seems like an easy task. Give your work to someone else; sounds nice, doesn't it? So why are so many leaders so reluctant to delegate? And when they do, why do so many leaders delegate so poorly?

The problem is that many leaders have acquired the skill of delegation through on-the-job learning. There is no course in school and only minimal reference to delegation in textbooks at school. Delegation is not easy and is a process that has a sequence of steps. Like any process, if you miss a step, it does not work properly.

There are Seven Steps in the Delegation Process:

Defining What to Delegate - There are really three reasons to delegate work: to better control our use of time, to build our people, or to motivate our people. So the first question you will need to answer is: why are you delegating? When looking through these three lenses, we usually find a reason to assign most of the work on our desks to others. The higher you are in the organization, the more your role should be growing and developing the organization and less "doing." Delegation is the primary tool!

Selecting the Individual or Team - Too often leaders go to the same people over and over again. They get too comfortable with specific individuals or teams. This is usually a mistake as it de-motivates other team members in the organization and may even compromise the performance of your best team members. Your team usually depends on support from the rest of the organization to get things done. If you are not using other members, this may prevent the organization from coming together to its fullest potential. While I think we should always give our most important projects to our best players, we need to involve and delegate to the entire team at some point. With each person, consider why you are delegating (motivation, growth, or time management) a task, and match the appropriate tasks to that person's capabilities.

Assess Appropriate Level of Delegation - Typically, leaders delegate using the same style for every person on their team and this is a mistake. The level of delegation should be adjusted based on the task and the person being delegated to. Delegation is not just telling people what to do and expecting them to do it. There are many different degrees of supervision and involvement required of the person who is delegating the task. The more experienced and reliable the other person is, the more freedom you can give. The more critical the task, the more cautious you need to be about extending a lot of freedom, especially if the company's financial future or reputation is on the line.

Communicate Tasks In Specific Terms - This is where most delegation fails. Many leaders and managers do not do a good job of expressing what they want. People are not mind-readers. Many hours have been wasted doing re-work because leaders failed to explain what they wanted up front. If you want something done a specific way, tell them. If you are not clear about what you want, take the time to brainstorm with your colleague before they start working. Ask for feedback to ensure that your instructions have been understood.

State Measurable Results - Explain how a task fits into the overall organizational picture, describe the measurable results you are looking for, and let them know how you will rate their performance.

Agree on Deadlines - The deadline is the most underappreciated part of delegation. Too many leaders give people tasks without asking what else they have on their "to do" list. This is a motivation killer. Not only is it disrespectful to the recipient, it is disrespectful to anyone who is depending on the person you just delegated to. Most people are trained to never say "no." They have been wired to say "yes," even when they know they already have too much on their plate. Often, the delegator already knows this, but chooses to take the position of "not my problem," which in the long run destroys trust and respect for the delegator and decreases employee morale, organizational productivity, and profitability. When you delegate a task, you must sit with the person you are delegating to and make sure that realistic deadlines are being created. It is your job as the delegator to help your people be successful and not set them up for failure. If you are delegating to someone who has a history of over-committing, it is important to help reconcile commitments to make sure that the most important things get done first.

Follow-up and Feedback - It is essential that you have a feedback system in place so that you know that things are on track. Provide support should they need help in getting the task accomplished. It is essential to let the person know how they are doing and whether they did a good job. In the end, as the leader, you should take the blame for failure and pass on the credit for success.

Delegation is one of the most important tasks as a leader. When done correctly, it develops your succession, increases your personal productivity, and motivates your people. Many leaders develop excuses not to delegate that include: they can do things faster themselves; they like doing things themselves; their people are not ready. These excuses and others all have short-term benefits but long-term adverse consequences. However, the investment in delegation is usually worth the positive long-term benefits.

Actions

1. Start keeping a time log. Record everything you are doing every 15 minutes. Be completely honest with yourself. You will be surprised at how much time you are spending doing simple tasks.
At the end of each day look down your log and make a note of all the tasks that you could have got someone else to do.

2. If they are regular tasks, create a system or instruction sheet. This allows you to delegate the same task to different people at different times without too much effort. You may have to put in a little effort with this at first but it will save you heaps of time in the long run and means that you always have a contingency if your regular assistant is unable to complete the task, or indeed, leaves the company.

3. Delegate!

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How to Lead a Team and Gain Respect

Most of us start at the bottom of the career ladder and work our way up. We become so proficient at our job, earning respect of the management and becoming a valued member of our team. Eventually promotion is offered, usually within the same team and we can find ourselves leader of the team we were once part of.

This does have its advantages, however, doesn't come without its problems. There is nothing that can gain respect more than people knowing that you have been there and done the job for yourself. You know the systems and procedures, what is expected and the problems that your team may encounter. You can see things from their point of view. This can be a great advantage when leading a team. You know when to cut the slack because of genuine difficulties, but you also know an excuse when you hear one.

The problems arise though when some of the team members may have been there much longer than you, may be older with more experience, or may feel that they were the ones that deserved the promotion. You may find it difficult to be assertive and to feel that you are taken seriously as a manager. Since you were once in their position,you will know how hard the job is and may feel guilty for enforcing deadlines. So how can you gain respect from your team and get them to do what you need them to without them thinking that power has gone to your head?

Firstly, stop beating yourself up and congratulate yourself on your promotion. It is quite normal to feel this way when you have been used to working on the other side ofthe fence, as it were. The dynamics of your team have now changed so now you need to embrace this change and take control. In order to gain respect, you have to give it. Show your team that you value them and support them by listening to how you can help them. Listen to any ideas that they may have. Think back to when you were in their position. If you had a problem, how would you have liked your leader to have handled it? Remember that the only way to get what you want is to ask for it. Never assume that anyone in your team knows exactly what is expected of them. When enforcing a deadline, explain to them when it has to be done by and why, then ask how they think they can achieve it, what do they need to make this happen, how can you best help them?

Once they know that they have your full support, then they will do whatever they can for you.

Goal Setting - 6 Simple But Effective Steps to Get What You Want When You Want It

Happy new year to you all!

What goals have you set for yourself this year? How determined are you to achieve them? Here is a reminder of the criteria we use to set powerful, achievable goals.

Did you know that 70% of people who set new years resolutions will have abandoned them by the 3rd week of January and of the 30% that don’t, 90% of them will have given up by June?

SO……..what can you do now to ensure that you arrive at the end of 2009, in the top 5% of those that do follow through and achieve what they set out to achieve at the beginning of the year?

Follow my top tips for setting and achieving goals and notice the difference when you see yourself still on track as the months go by.

Step One
Always write your goals down on paper. It is proven that you are 70% more likely to achieve your goal if it is written down.

Step Two
Use my SPADE criteria when setting your goals:-

S stands for specific. Be as specific as you can. If your goal is to earn more money, then exactly how much? If you earned an extra £1 you would be
earning more so your subconscious needs to know exactly how much more.

P is for present and positive tense. Write your goals as if they are happening now and always in the positive so don’t write what you don’t want, write what you do.

A is for achievable, you don’t want to set yourself up for failiure.

D is for date, When are you going to achieve this by?

E is for emotional evidence. You need an end step so that you know that you have got your goal and put some feelings into it.

SPADE - The essential tool for digging great goals!

Step Three
Now you have your goal you need to chunk it down into manageable milestones and diarise them.

Step Four
Read your goals every day and visualise yourself there. Imagine that it’s happening now. Remember, you get what you focus on so focus on what you want to be happening.

Step Five
Take action. Ask yourself everyday, “what can I do to get me closer to my goal.” “Is what I am doing now moving me closer or further from my goal?”

Step Six
ENJOY THE JOURNEY

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