Blog Archives

Managers need to make decisions

3/27/2011

Part of a managers job is to make decisions. The decisions will not always be the right one's, but it is better to make a decision and be wrong than to dither and not make a decision at all. And face it, we probably learn more from our bad decisions than we do our good ones. To make a good decision (more often than not) you should:

Clarify the real objective
Develop creative alternatives
Understand the consequences of the decision
Make appropriate trade offs amongst conflicting objectives
Deal sensibly with uncertainties
Take account of your risk taking attitude
Plan ahead for decisions

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Managers need to lead

3/17/2011

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We will all have experienced good and bad leaders during our lives. Unfortunately having the title “Manager” does not make the leader, which is a shame as management roles involve leadership either directly through managing people, or indirectly by influencing the actions of others.

Hopefully you know at least one good leader:

Someone people want to follow
Someone who makes ideas real for people
Someone who creates energy and drives people towards a common goal

So what is it about a good leader? Research has shown that effective leaders have these common traits:

They think about the job at hand and the people
They are able to achieve goals by enhancing productivity and job satisfaction
They are proactive
They start with the end result in mind
They prioritise and put first things first
They aim for a win-win situation
They listen before they speak / act
They make sure all things work well together
They make sure the right tools / skills are in place

If you know a good leader, take the opportunity to learn from them. You will learn more about leadership from their mentorship then you will from a book. Now, not everyone can be a great leader but that should not stop them from being a good manager. . As a good manager it helps to know the various styles of leadership:

Autocratic – do as I say
Bureaucratic – we must follow the process
Diplomatic – not lazy, just work challenged
Participative – what do you think?
Task-Oriented – we must finish this tonight
People-Oriented – how are you today?

Most managers will have a “one style fits all approach”, but good managers know that they need to adapt their management style to the people they are managing. This is because they will be a diverse group and will differ in: gender, age, race, culture, religion, education, lifestyle, and sexual orientation. They will also know that different people react differently to each style because people are both rational and emotional in behaviour. A persons response is a consequence of rational (conscious) and emotional (unconscious) influences.

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To improve a process you'll need to change people's behaviour

3/6/2011

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Because people act in response to both internal choices and environmental influences, their behaviour is a function of both who they are and the environment they are in. You also need to remember that everyone is unique and will act differently because of their individual differences in abilities, needs, motivation to work, and work attitudes. This means that to motivate someone or change their behaviour, you will need to select the most suitable approach for the person and situation you facing to achieve the desired change.The basic approaches you can use to change behaviour are:

Positive reinforcement (the carrot) - this is the best way to ensure the behaviour will be repeated
Punishment (the stick) – this can have an immediate effect but it may not last
Extinction (getting left behind) – this achieves change through recognition that the person has no choice
Avoidance learning (bad things happen) – here the person learns that the consequences of not changing are outweighed by the need to change

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Managers need to make decisions

Managers need to lead

To improve a process you'll need to change people's behaviour

theprocesshub.com

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