What Every Manager Should Know About How to Become An Effective Executive
In his book, The Effective Executive, Peter Drucker pointed out that the effective executive is the person who focuses on making a contribution. This focus on the making of a contribution is the key. And the key to effectiveness comes in three areas: 1. in a person's work, its content, its level, its standards, and its impacts; 2. in his relationships with others, his superiors, his associates, and his subordinates; and 3. in his use of the tools of the executive, such as meetings and reports. The executive who focuses on efforts and who stresses his authority downwards is a subordinate no matter how exalted his title and rank might be. But the executive who focuses on contribution and who takes responsibility for results, no matter how junior he is, is, in the most literal sense of the term, "top management". And what applies to the good executive applies to the good parent, or the good teacher, or the good spouse, or any person of great responsibility. People who do not ask themselves, "What can I contribute?" are not only likely to aim too low; they are likely to aim at the wrong things as well. Above all, they may define their responsibilities too narrowly, like the person who sees something wrong that he can easily and quickly set right, but who says, "That ain't my job, man!" Remember: When you maximize your potential, everyone wins. When you don't, we all lose. © Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in ezines, newsletters, and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required. Mail to: executiveandgroup-consulting@yahoo.com. Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW, Management Consultant and Trainer, conducts seminars, lectures, and writes articles on his theme: "... helping you maximize your potential." He offers management, marketing, and parenting resources at Maximizing Your Potential blog.
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Keep Your Good Workers by Building Good Leaders
A recent report from the American Hospital Association's Commission on the Workforce asked healthcare workers key questions about the performance of their front line managers. The study concluded that an employee's decision to stay with or leave an organization is primarily based on his or her relationship with an immediate supervisor. No matter what industry or setting or company size, effective leaders:
Possess personal integrity.
Can easily adapt to change.
Work to build the talent of others.
Communicate well with their people.
Have the ability to build and lead a team.
Can analyze problems and create solutions.
Encourage a collaborative work environment.
Five Ways to Develop More Effective Front Line Managers:
Encourage and give managers time to attend leadership courses. Learning and growing is part of their job.
Develop an approach to hire and assess managers based on the above key competencies, not on old job descriptions.
Reward effective leadership on a regular basis whether it is through a "Manager of the Month" award or free movie tickets.
Get creative with training. Start peer coaching groups - managers with similar levels of authority meet once a month to discuss challenges in managing people, dealing with organizational politics, or other thorny issues.
Do short reviews every three to six months to catch performance problems before they blossom into big leadership headaches. When problems are identified, action plans should be put into place to rectify the issue before the next appraisal.
Customer Focus - Just 5 SimpleThings You Need to Think About
You can boil down the difference between successful businesses and the rest in how they work with their customers, in just five areas.So, what does this mean?
What They WantSelling what your customers really want is just critical.
Being on good enough terms with your customers to research, (hey maybe just by
chatting with them - radical idea, huh?), helps you find out how you can best
serve their needs.
Price is RightBy balancing the kind of pricing you want to offer
with exceptional service levels, there is a fascinating calculation to be made.
Prices rock-bottom with inadequate attention to item 5 are not likely to bring profitable
consumers rushing to your door. Providers have an ongoing dance between price
and service - be aware of it. It is not possible to sustain your business with
lowest prices and poor service.
When They Want ItIn the internet world, availability of your
goods and services is measured critically far more than ever before. You may
not need to be 24/7, but you certainly need to be aware of it. More traditional
customers are also becoming more demanding. So businesses need to be especially
sensitive to the hours they trade, whether they sell goods or services, by stores
and/or phone.
Easy To BuyWith the advent of the internet, making it easy to
purchase is vital. Why not make purchases from the comfort of your home study
or workplace office? So having your people who are available, exactly when your
customer wants them, to make payment for goods and services relly easy is a
serious point worth considering. Even in shops, the sensitivity of simply having
staff focused on delivering the very best of attention is critical. Every day
there may be threats to different shopping channels, so the adage that you 'only
have one chance to make a first impression' is becoming ever more important.
Trusted Follow UpBy ensuring that you have all your ducks in a
row so far, sustainably building whatever business you are in, is vitally dependent
on how you handle ongoing customer service. Indeed if you are only focusing on
a one-time purchase, then, frankly, you are not going to have much of a future.
Repeat business is very inexpensive for you, so an investment of post-purchase
excellence is very worthwhile.By focusing on these five elements,
teasing out the consequences with your management teams, you will have a great
chance of making business progress. If you choose not to take the time to
analyse what you truly need to do, there will be a jeopardy for you in the not
to distant future.
A Rare Leadership Skill: Dealing With People Who Want Out By Offering Crowns For Convoy
As a leader, you'll inevitably be faced with people wanting to leave your team or organization. Dealing with the challenge is critical for your leadership success. Your response will have ramifications far beyond your immediate circumstances. One of the best ways to respond comes from Shakespeare's Henry V.
Business Innovation ? Core Competency and Competitive Advantage
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
Examining the Relationship Between Employee Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction
Researchers have undertaken numerous studies to look at the connection between customer and employee satisfaction. A majority of these studies were able to uncover a correlation between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction and profitability.
Group Discussion Guidelines
DISCUSSION METHODS: There are two basic types of discussion methods; the conference method and the workshop method. The conference method involves meetings of staff members, usually from the same organization, and is convened to pass on information, communicate management policies or decisions, or to solve organizational problems. These meetings are usually held for only one or two days, and generally consist of large discussion groups. The workshop method, on the other hand, is usually utilized when there are participants from a range of companies meeting for periods of longer than two days, for the purpose of devoting their attention to a specific problem or shared interest. The discussion groups tend to be small, and techniques such as role playing, case study, critical incident are commonly used.
Micromanagement and Delegation
Micro-Management and Delegation
Recently I had a long discussion with a friend of mine about Managers and managing. She is a former HR Manager for several major companies and was bemoaning the fact that training for managers has been cut back so significantly in recent years and that managers no longer receive the type of help, guidance and assistance that they received just a few short years ago. My background has been in retail and telecom. Hers was neither. Yet the same problems and issues seem to rise in every industry. Of course, this is exactly the reason that I got into coaching. Coaching allows those managers who want to improve a very personalized venue to do just that.
We went on to agree that the common pattern these days seemed to be for the department star performer to be promoted from contributor, to team leader, to manager in seemingly record time. We agreed that new managers have difficulty moving from the contributor to the manager role because no one is willing to spend the time and energy to coach them through the various hurdles that new managers and leaders face. We agreed that this lack of training never seemed to lower the expectations of the manager, just the performance.
Then we disagreed, strongly. What caused the disagreement? The
concept was micro-management. My friend explained to me that she has "coached" many employees recently and that many of them complained about one particular manager who was micro-managing them. She told me that she helps the employees understand and come to grips with "their problem". "You're not going to be able to change that manager, she explained to me, "so you've got to change the employees". She explains to them that if they are being micro-managed, there's probably a reason for it. They are probably doing something wrong. If they just identify that problem and improve, their manager will stop the micro-management. "The employees need to improve themselves. It's as simple as that."
I wish my life was as simple as that.
She acknowledges that with that many employees complaining that
it's likely the manager is the problem. But changing the manager is too much trouble, she says, so let's tell the employees it's their fault.
While it is true that it is sometimes necessary to micro-manage
people, her explanation makes little sense to me. You might micro-manage an employee if their performance is lacking. Or because the project they are working on is very high visibility and any chance of error must be minimized. But when a number of employees are complaining about the same manager micro-managing them it implies one of two things.
Either this manager:
1. Has a lot of problem employees and needs to start weeding them out, or
2. This manager does not know how to let go and properly
delegate to their staff.
Excessive micro-management is not the sign of a healthy manager.
When someone is constantly micro-managing their staff it's generally their problem, not the employees.
If you are micro-managing your staff, refusing to delegate routine, and not so routine tasks to them for completion, then you are setting yourself up for trouble. Have you ever heard yourself say, "I would delegate this to someone else, but it's just as easy to do it myself"? Or maybe you say, "This task is too complicated to delegate. I have to make sure it's done right."
If so, I hope you like your job. Because you aren't going anyplace higher. Delegation can be difficult to learn because it looks like a huge risk and a huge leap of faith. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are techniques that you can learn that will help you delegate and get you out of the detail. And you have to get out of the detail if you really want to be an executive.
So, You Want to be in Management? Five Essential Factors that Will Determine Your Chances
The following information is based upon over 500 interviews with senior executives with whom I conducted over the past four years. These senior executives represent a variety of industries and organizations. It is interesting to note the similarities of their responses. The research concentrated on five areas:
What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate
Today's successful organizations are the ones which carry on open and honest communications with their employees. If employees know and understand the mission, they will help communicate it to customers.
How to Get Your Procedures Project Done
Wouldn't it be nice for business owners and executives to be finished with their policies and procedures project already? They know they need to get it done, but maybe it's taking too long. Or perhaps their people are staring at a blank piece of paper, and they don't know where to begin. Or maybe they're not sure what to write. Or they're just too busy.
What Makes a Crisis a Crisis?
If you're old enough and were living in America about 30 years ago, you may remember the scandal in the motion picture industry known as "the Begelman affair" or "Hollywoodgate."
Spirits in the Corporate Boardroom.......Oh, sure......
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Pricing Strategy for Retail Flower Shops
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When Code Freeze Turns To Code Slush
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If you are like many high-performing business people, you have an annual ritual to set your plans for the coming twelve months. Some people do it in December, others at weird, miscellaneous times of the year, but most -- me included -- tend to do it the beginning part of the New Year.
Managing People - No More Mr Tough Guy
I believe the media and our culture sends the wrong messages
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I Am Not A Number - Why Too Many Change Projects Fail
Many of you will recognise this quote from the 1960s TV show, "The Prisoner". Patrick McGoohan used the phrase to describe his frustration at not being treated as an individual, and being kept in the dark about what his superiors were up to in a very confusing environment. This experience is not dissimilar to what employees face in most change projects.
Disaster Prevention Tips For Hiring A New Manager
It happens over and over in businesses every day.
Take the Easy Route - Delegate
It was 2.30 am. It was cold and dark and I'd been in bed for just a half hour when the phone rang.
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