Training & Development
Follow the
WHAT makes a good manager? That’s a question you may have often heard, and the answer depends on many issues, for example the team, the environment, the industry etc. A good leader in a military unit might have to work quickly under great pressure, and insist on absolute discipline to ensure his team survives the day. However, a team leader in charge of a group of workers in the advertising industry will be totally different in character as his team.
Your responsibility as a manager to your team is:
- To develop people to high performance standards using outstanding people management practices
- To provide leadership that is inspiring and motivating
What do you mean by inspiring, I hear you ask?
Well, the Department of Trade and Industry have done a bit of research on this one (Inspirational Leadership DTI, 2006), and found that the best leaders do the following
1.Communicate the vision: share this with others so that they “catch” your excitement and want to contribute
2.Enthuse, grow and appreciate others. Be a good listener and be quick to trust others with responsibility. Delegate and celebrate the growth and success of others
3.Clarify and apply values: be inclusive, human and compassionate
4.Achieve success: find new ways of solving problems; see and set priorities, work towards these with determination and rigour; be energised by your work, naturally curious, love learning and be very teachable. Make time to reflect and know yourself well enough to be able to manage yourself
If we think about this, we can see these traits in people like Sir Richard Branson who have built huge organisations based on these values.
So, how are you going to do this?
1.Communicate performance standards (what you want to achieve and expect from your team) and objectives in a way that engages and can be understood by staff
2.Give regular feedback; encourage people to continuously develop and get better at what they do. This can be formal, such as in an appraisal, or ad hoc, such as giving praise when a job has been well done
3.Let people know when they have improved or performed above the expected level. This does not mean you have an employee of the month award (as some people hate that sort of thing), it simply means letting that person know that you think they have done well
leader...
Andrew Wight, Head of Work Based Learning for Land Based Industries at Oaklands College, gives some personal views on leadership skills
Should you shoot the lame horse?
At some point in time, all staff will under perform. The issue is, what you should do about it.
People often dislike working with team members who are under performing; if you fail to address this, you will lose respect as a leader. However, the shoot first, ask questions later method is not the best to employ as a manager either, as you will be accused of being uncaring and a bully. By giving people the opportunity to improve, we are being fair to them.
Most staff realise that we have their interests at heart and can ultimately value the time we’ve spent in discussing improvements with them. Quite often, under performance can be a cry for help.
In addressing under performance you are contributing to the raising of standards and, in the longer term, the performance of your team should improve. In addition to this, your life is often made easier if you are tackling issues as they occur rather than leaving them to grow into a monster that is going to be hard to kill.
What happens if we do not support people to improve?
If we do not look at improving the teams abilities, we could make ineffective decisions regarding the delegation of tasks, i.e. give the wrong job to the wrong person. When this happens, morale in a
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interests at heart and can ultimately value the time we’ve spent in discussing improvements with them”
“Most staff realise that we have their
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