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As a manager, you're more than just a leader who hires, trains, and motivates employees and provides needed resources. Managers play a variety of additional roles as well. These are just a few: Spokesperson: You represent your group to the larger organization.
Liaison: You ensure positive networks between your group and others both inside and outside the organization. Disseminator: You feed crucial data about the competitive environment and your company's vision and performance to subordinates. You also relay information about your unit's performance and needs to senior managers. Entrepreneur: You initiate projects to improve your unit's processes or profits.
Mediator: You deal with crises, resolve grievances, and promote agreement within your group and between your unit and others in the organization. Decision maker: You ensure that decisions are made (either by you or in collaboration with others) and then communicated, coordinate the impact of interrelated decisions, and are held accountable for the day-to-day operations of your group.
With your peers: You get to know other managers of units on which your group depends, as well as those who depend on your group. Through these connections, you act as an advocate for your groupprocuring the resources your people need to do their work. You also act as a buffer, protecting your people from unreasonable or unnecessary requests made by other departments or teams. Likewise, you work to understand your peers' needs and communicate them to your employees so they can support other units' efforts.
With your superiors: You demonstrate your commitment to meeting your unit's short-term goals as well as the company's highlevel strategy. And you accept personal accountability for your unit managing it as if it were your own business.
Tools: Identify Your Crucial Contacts and Beginning to Build Your Network To identify key contacts that you'll need to establish within your organization and to begin to build your network, see the "Identify Your Crucial Contacts" and "Beginning to Build Your Network" tools.
Adopt a long-term view of the futurefor example, what will your group need to contribute to the company three or five years from now?
Set the agenda for your unit to ensure that your people focus on what's most important. Balance your company's needs and expectations with your staff's emotional and developmental needs.
Think analyticallygathering information systematically, identifying patterns in the problems that crop up, and seeking input from others. Use judgmentmaking decisions under time pressure and with incomplete information.
In addition to thinking and making decisions differently, you'll need to hone these skills: Communicationfostering open dialogue with bosses, peers, and employees; listening to others' ideas; delivering effective presentations; and preparing well-written proposals and other communications.
Leadershipproviding direction, influencing others, fostering teamwork and collaboration, motivating others, and coaching and developing others.
Interpersonal effectivenessbuilding relationships, leveraging networks and diversity, and managing conflict and disagreement.
Tool: Identifying Desirable Managerial Traits Clearly, being an effective manager is no small feat. But by taking the time to understand the many different dimensions of this challenging role, you can boost your chances of succeeding. While this list of competencies may seem overwhelming, if you have led projects or teams in the past, you probably have already practiced some of these skills. Use the "Identifying Desirable Managerial Traits" tool to help you identify managerial qualities that you've encountered in your previous job experiences and that you may want to demonstrate in your current position.
Managing Performance: Build your skills for managing performance, delegating, setting goals, coaching your direct reports, assessing performance, and creating opportunities to help employees grow.
Organizing Resources, Meetings & Time: Examine the administrative responsibilities that come with your new job, learn how to make meetings more productive, and develop an effective time management strategy.
Cultivating Your Team: Discover the key elements of creating a high-performing teamestablishing clear processes, clarifying communication standards, developing team norms and group culture, protecting the team from illegitimate or unnecessary requests from the organization, and determining team performance measures.
Supporting Your Boss & Organization: Learn how to support your boss by understanding his or her agenda, fostering an atmosphere of partnership, agreeing on group and individual performance goals, and aligning those goals with the company's strategic objectives.
Networking with Colleagues: Discover the importance of cultivating relationships with people both inside and outside your organization, and developing influence strategies to build and strengthen your network.
Evolving as a Manager: Examine your transition into management, evaluate your role as a manager and a leader, reflect on how you relate to others, and create a continuous learning path.
Misconception 1: You'll need the same skills as a manager that you needed as an individual contributor
The skills that spark success for an individual contributor differ markedly from those needed to manage. For example, successful sales representatives understands the features and benefits of the products they sell, are
knowledgeable about the market and competition, and know how to close dealsvaluable skills indeed. But as sales managers, they need an entirely differentand far more extensiveset of talents. They have to know how to work through others, create an environment in which direct reports can excel, and set the agenda for their region. They will also need to cultivate positive relationships with peer managers and represent their group to the larger organization. Dealing with crises, initiating projects to improve unit performance, and putting the spotlight on their people's successnot their ownconstitute additional required skills.
It's easy to assume that managers have far more power than individual contributors. After all, many managers have more formal authority; for example, control over budgets and staffing. They also have higher status better offices, expense accounts, and other perks. And they have more access to important resources, such as the attention of top-level executives and professional development opportunities. In truth, managers have far less power than they might expectfor these reasons: Formal authority has severe limitations. Subordinates don't necessarily follow their manager's direction or do as they're asked.
To compete in a global economy, many companies have replaced the traditional corporate hierarchy with horizontal networks and crossfunctional teams. Managers have less formal authority in these structures than in the traditional hierarchy. Managers have no formal authority over their peersindividuals who greatly influence whether managers obtain the resources or support they need.
Many new managers believe they'll have immense freedom to make decisions and take action. After all, they have subordinates to do all the work! In truth, managers have far less freedom than they might have anticipated. That's because, in addition to their employees, they depend on numerous other peoplepeers, supervisors, customers, suppliersto get things done. They also shoulder a whole new set of responsibilities that bear little resemblance to the challenges individual contributors worry about. A manager who is accountable for the group's performance can't freely make unilateral decisions or take immediate action when a problem arises. Instead, the manager must carefully consider the complex, long-term implications of each decisionfor the unit, the company, and outside constituents such as customers and suppliers.
Misconception 5: You'll always feel smart, in control, and satisfied in your managerial role
Even the most self-assured managers have their moments of frustration and uncertainty. This is normal. Owing to the complexities of the role, you can expect to feel some or all of the following once you start the job:
Constrained by limited resources and time Unsure about whether you can handle the job Overwhelmed by the challenges of leading others Frustrated when direct reports don't do as you ask
Annoyed by all the "politicking" you need to do to build influence and get work done
With practice and experience, these emotions become somewhat less intense. You'll find yourself feeling more excited, competent, and fulfilled in your job though not every minute. First Step: Thinking About Your Expectations By understanding common misconceptions about the managerial role, you can start your new job with a clearer picture of what to expect. The payoff? You'll be less likely to experience disappointment when the realities of management hit home. If you haven't already done so, complete the First Step assessment Thinking About Your Expectations (under Overview) to assess your susceptibility to some common misunderstandings about management.
Ask yourself strategic questions, such as, "What marketplace trends are we seeing that could affect my group this year?" and "What resources does my group need in order to accomplish its goals?"
Prepare written plans for your boss, documenting strategic goals and concrete, supporting actions.
You don't Your team cannot hit its set clear targets or achieve its objectives: objectives. You establish ambiguous or unrealistic goals for your group.
Early on, create explicit objectives that include descriptions of the desired end result. Set objectives that are SMART: specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound. Define objectives that directly support your company's strategy. Attend management meetings that are open to you and introduce
Typical Mistakes with other managers: You neglect to build relationships with peers and colleagues in the organization.
Consequences other parts of the company face. You lack a set of contacts to rely on for support and resources.
How to Avoid
yourself to your colleagues. Schedule individual lunches with managers from other parts of the company. Through meeting with other managers and getting to know their problems and concerns, find ways to offer help.
Typical Mistakes You fail to delegate: Under pressure to produce, you take on subordinates' tasks because you fear losing control or overburdenin g others.
Consequences Failure to delegate blocks your staff's advancement. They can become resentful then disengage.
How to Avoid
Break complex projects into manageable chunks with clear milestones. Take small risks in playing to your staff's strengths. Early successes will build your confidence in them and their confidence in their own abilities. Empower your direct reports by delegating projects or specific tasks along with the requisite authority to complete them. Doing so will engage your direct reports and build mutual trust. If you are unsure of their abilities, start with lower risk projects.
You fail to
Typical Mistakes give constructiv e feedback: You neglect to applaud good performance and avoid correcting inadequate performance. You don't keep your group informed: You provide incomplete information or fail to share knowledge with your group.
Consequences unrecognized and positive work behaviors are not reinforced. Performance problems don't get fixed, and you lose your credibility in the minds of your boss, peers, and direct reports.
How to Avoid
role-play giving feedback centering on behaviors and their consequences, not personalities. Remind yourself that constructive feedback strengthens employees' skills and encourages more effective ways of working.
You deprive your staff of Establish a formal communication information they need to do system to keep track of decisions their jobs effectively. that are made and action items that are pending. Ensure that your group receives information about your company's competitive situation and challenges.
Ensure that you have clearly communicated your goals to your boss and peers. When you have information that your boss needs to keep from being blindsided, deliver the information to him or her as soon as you can. When you have information about impending problems, give your boss a "heads up."
Typical Mistakes You don't ask for help: You view yourself as in servitude to your manager, rather than in partnership. To avoid seeming vulnerable, you don't ask for help.
Consequences You fail to gather the resources and support from your boss that you need in order to be successful in your job.
How to Avoid
Bring up problems during meetings with your boss. Offer possible solutions and be prepared to engage in joint problem solving. Network to meet other managers in the organization so that you can turn to them later for help. Prepare agendas for your regular meetings to help organize your thoughts about what you need.
Be open to feedback and acknowledge that you can learn from mistakes. Create a system for gathering feedback about your performance from your peers, supervisors, direct reports, and other people with whom you work. Resist any temptation to get defensive if someone gives you critical feedback.
You don't energize your team. Your peers may take advantage of you or fail to respect you.
Cultivate constant awareness of the image you're projecting. Express any feelings of insecurity to your bossbehind closed doors. Explain the purpose of initiatives you're pushingrather than saying,
Consequences
How to Avoid
"Senior management has mandated these changes." With family and community members, clarify priorities and define strategies for ensuring that your nonwork commitments are fulfilled. Review your calendar periodically and determine whether you are devoting enough time to personal matters.
You neglect You put family, community, your and spiritual commitments personal at risk. life: Consumed by your new job's demands, you fail to protect your personal life. You don't cope with stress: You don't spot the symptoms of debilitating work-related stress. You suffer mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion and become internally focused (focused on how you think, feel, etc.) rather than engaging in the events and activities taking place around you.
Learn the symptoms of "bad" stress such as headaches, sleeplessness, irritability, and inability to concentrate. Try to determine the root cause of the problem. Make an observation about your situation and then continue to probe with the question, "Why?" For example, "I just snapped at one of my direct reports." Why? "I'm tired and was not thinking clearly." Why? "I've been working late and have too much to do." Why? "I'm not delegating enough." Master relaxation techniques that work for youwhether it's yoga, meditation, or playing a vigorous sport.
To learn more about common mistakes and to think about your potential vulnerabilities to some key pitfalls, be sure to complete the Activity section in this module.
went well? How can it be sustained? What didn't go so well? How can it be improved? What lessons can I extract from this experience and apply to other situations?" The Reflections section of this program is designed to help you take the time to reflect and learn in a periodic and structured way.
Seek out workplace experiences that will help you better contribute to your company's strategy. Such experiences might include managing a special cross-functional task force that's exploring a new technology, or leading a team that's investigating new sales techniques. Look especially for experiences that allow you to master and apply skills that your company values. Linking your learning to your organization's strategy makes you a more focused, effective manager. As an added benefit, you will probably find it exciting to have a clear line of sight between what you're doing on the job and how your company is performing.
Be open to feedback
To learn from on-the-job experiences, you need feedbackfrom superiors, peers, direct reports, and external constituents such as customers or suppliers. This broad and deep feedback can help you better understand your strengths and weaknesses, and how others see your leadership style. Of course, feedback can be painful. For example, one new manager was shocked to learn from an internal survey that his employees viewed him as aloof and intimidating. But feedback is an essential tool for extracting lessons from your workplace experiences. It helps you see gaps between what you intended to accomplish in a particular decision or situation and what you actually accomplished. Once you've identified these gaps, you can more easily modify your behavior to produce the outcomes you desire. To get the most honest, valuable feedback, you need to make others want to give it. Send the signal that you're willing to hearand seriously and consistently considerwhat others have to say about you. Ask for specific comments, suggestions, and feedback in areas that you are attempting to improve. Avoid becoming defensive if what you hear is disturbing. Most
important, express your appreciation to those who give you feedback and put relevant feedback to use. If others see that you act on the feedback that you receive, they will be more inclined to give you constructive, candid feedback in the future.
Assess any cultural challenges. Ask yourself whether your group's culturethe way people make decisions, work together, and handle problemssupports the group's efforts to achieve its goals. For example, if innovation is key to your company's competitive strategy and your group's immediate goals, your employees will need to feel comfortable taking some risks and enjoy exchanging ideas. In that case, if your group has a more cautious or subdued culture, you'll need to know how to go about changing it.
To assess your group's culture, observe the way people interact. Do they work well together as a team? Feel comfortable disagreeing with one another? Make decisions effectively? Follow through on action plans? Determine whether the group embodies the culture needed to be successful or if the cultural environment is an obstacle. Understand your group's place in the organization. Your immediate need for networking skills depends on whether your group is highly interdependent with other units in your company. On whom do you depend to do your work? And who depends on you to do their work? Your answers shed light on the networks of influence you'll need to navigate to succeed as a managerand to meet your group's immediate needs.
You'll also want to quickly identify cross-functional tensions. For example, does your department consistently compete for IT resources? Do IT resources play a part in your group's ability to carry out their tasks? If such competition for resources jeopardizes your group's success, you may need to hone conflict resolution skills or negotiating skills.
You've assessed your group's immediate priorities, your team's perceived needs, your group's current culture, and your unit's place in the company's informal network. Now you need to meet with your supervisor to confirm whether his or her take on your group's immediate needs is the same as yours, and to prioritize multiple needs. If there is a disconnect between what you and your supervisor consider urgent, work with your supervisor to clarify priorities.
You've assessed your group's immediate priorities and worked with your supervisor to reach a common understanding. Now ask yourself, "Given my assessment, what skills and knowledge do I need to acquire to begin making a real contribution as quickly as possible?" For example, you may find that you need to obtain resources to support your group. Therefore, you decide you need to sharpen both your influencing and presentation skills. Or, you may find that a more specific problem, such as a longstanding rivalry between the engineering and marketing groups, could hinder your group's success. In this case, you might decide that networking and repairing this cross-functional tension is your most urgent need. Finally, prioritize your learning needs, and then develop a plan for achieving the skills and knowledge you've identified. This initial learning plan should strategically address your most crucial learning needs. As you continue to learn about your group and their needs, you should return to and update your learning plan. Tool: Planning Your Immediate Learning Needs To begin to prioritize your most critical learning needs, use the "Planning Your Immediate Learning Needs" tool.
Conflicting Expectations
Your supervisor, meanwhile, will expect you to minimize your functionalor individual contributor skills and focus your efforts on strengthening your leadership skills; for example, setting direction for your group, motivating others, fostering teamwork, and championing change. 3. Define the "big picture" in terms of the group's challenges. Your direct reports will want you to set the direction for the group and create strategies to meet the group's challenges. Your supervisor, on the other hand, will expect you to monitor what's going on in the organization and competitive environment, and to update your agenda accordingly. 4. Support my personal career interests, even those interests that are not related to my company's needs. Your direct reports will want you to create an environment in which their professional and personal needs are addressed and recognized. Your supervisor, meanwhile, will expect you to develop your direct reports' skills so that they serve the company first and the direct reports' careers second. 5. Meet frequently with me, work with me to explore ideas, and support me emotionally during stressful times. Some of your direct reports may want you to meet with them on a regular basis to collaborate on ideas and help them work through emotions associated with stressful times. Others might prefer a less-involved management style. Your supervisor will expect you to divide your time between your direct reports and others in the organization so that you can cultivate a strong network. 6. Protect me from major changes taking place in the organization so that I could focus on getting my work done. Your direct reports will want you to shield them from organizational changes taking place from within the company so they can get their work done.
Conflicting Expectations
Your supervisor, meanwhile, will expect you to make any changes necessary to support the company's strategy and direction. 7. Support me and my group by meeting my requests for resources, knowledge, and input on carrying out my work. Your direct reports will want you to be a leader by procuring resources they need to get their work done and by supporting them in their professional development. Your supervisor, on the other hand, will expect you to lead by setting an agenda that furthers your company's interests and by taking responsibility for your group's results.
To Learn More To learn more about what is covered in this module, click the options on the left above.
Act as a liaison
One of your responsibilities in managing a group is to serve as a liaison between your direct reports and the organization. You do this by continually monitoring whats going on in the company and sharing important information with your team. You also filter requests from other parts of the organization so that inappropriate or unnecessary demands are not placed on your group. Simultaneously, you listen to suggestions and concerns made by your team and either respond to them or convey them to upper management as needed.
To ensure the success of your group, you must make sure their work aligns with the objectives of your supervisor and organization. When you become a manager, you will initially want to talk with your supervisor to make sure you understand the overarching purpose of your group and the groups goals. You will also need to understand and clarify the existing individual goals of your direct reports. Over time, you will help establish your groups priorities and be responsible for translating those priorities into individual employee goals. You will also be responsible for aligning your groups goals to the strategic goals of the company. Tool: Clarifying Your Groups Purpose and Goals
comments and thank them for their input. Listening shows that you take people seriously and value their ideas. You also support your employees by acknowledging their desire to grow professionally. View training and development as investments in your employees' future productivity. Give them stretch assignments that enable them to master new skills. If they make a mistake, help them analyze what happened and apply what theyve learned to future challenges. Provide constructive criticism in a positive way. Tool: Creating a Supportive Environment To provide your employees with the resources they need, make sure you understand your groups goals, objectives, and desired results. Then consider all the resources that are available to you in the organization. Resources include equipment, time, technologies, systems, office space, training, and people. For each resource need, identify the expected benefit to your team. Then work with your supervisor to determine how you can provide needed resources cost effectively. By creating an environment in which people feel supported and enjoy their work, you enable both the individuals in your group and your organization to achieve higher levels of success.
Demonstrate your honesty. Answer employees questions honestly: Dont pretend you know more than you do. If you dont know an answer, say soand promise to investigate. Then follow through on your promise.
Accept responsibility for your mistakes. When you own up to your mistakes, people see you as a truthful personon the assumption that most dishonest individuals try to conceal their faults.
Build a track record of trustworthiness. Follow through on promises and commitments you've made. Share or give credit to those who contribute good ideas. Present consistent values. By behaving in a trustworthy manner, you earn a reputation for being trustworthy.
Put others' best interests first. When people believe that you have their interests in mind, they tend to trust you and your ideas more. For instance, suppose a marketing director helps a valued direct report get promoted to a different department. The marketing director knows it's difficult to lose a top-notch team member, but accepts that helping others develop their professional skills is part of a manager's job. As a result, the marketing director earns the trust of that direct report and also of the other department headwhich may come in handy in the future.
Encourage the exploration of ideas. Listen to others' concerns to encourage dialogue and demonstrate your openness to others' perspectives. Establish an environment where everyone can share their ideas and know that their opinions are valued.
first few days in your new role, you will want to introduce yourself to your group and plan meetings with each of your direct reports.
Introduce yourself
Your first team meeting sets the tone and serves as your initial introduction to the group. Hold this meeting, or at least schedule it, on your first day on the job. If team members are virtualor physically separated from one another make every effort to include them in your kickoff meeting. Virtual teammates can be connected by telephone or, if your company has the capability, by videoconference. Prepare for this meeting by listing questions your employees may ask you and then rehearsing responses to each question. For example, if you've recently joined the organization, your employees may ask you what your perceptions are of the company and its products. If you've been promoted, they may ask about your priorities and goals. Prepare clear and concise responsesbut try to avoid making pronouncements that might give the impression that you think you already know all the answers. Also prepare a short personal introduction highlighting previous experience that relates to your new job. Finally, obtain a list of your employees names and brief biographical information from the human resources group so that you can be familiar with the important work that each of them performs. If possible, hold the meeting in a room that encourages comfort and enables everyone to see one another. After introducing yourself, ask each employee to do the same. You might invite employees to share their thoughts about the challenges that they think the group faces or successes that they are particularly proud of. Keep the conversation focused on them, not you. Remember, your goal is to be an active listener so that you can better understand your direct reports concerns.
End the meeting by telling your group that you will be setting up individual meetings with each of them to learn more about their challenges and concerns and that you will hold a follow-up meeting with the group at a later date.
What do you like about your work? What are your other areas of interest? What are your favorite hobbies or pastimes? Where would you like to see yourself five years from now? What are your professional goals?
Although your intention is to get to know your employee, be prepared to share similar information about yourself, if asked. Take the time to record your thoughts after each of these meetings: What have you learned about each of your employees? What are their interests and goals? How might these fit into the work the group does? At the second meeting, talk specifically about the persons job, clarify goals, and determine whether any support is needed. Questions to ask might include:
What are your individual performance goals? What challenges do you have in meeting these goals? How can you best be supported in your job? What changes do you think are needed?
In what ways do you think that your efforts support the strategic objectives of the unit and organization?
After youve conducted second meetings with all of your direct reports, use the Capturing Key Insights from Your Meetings tool to record your observations and summarize overall themes for your group. Tool: Capturing Key Insights from Your Meetings
Skill levels
Know more than they do about their Strengthen your leadership jobs, so you can help solve their skills, not your individual problems contributor skills Define the big picture as the groups challenges and strategies for addressing them Support their personal career interests, regardless of whether those interests relate to the companys needs Define the big picture as your companys competitive challenges and strategies for addressing them Help your people develop skills that serve the companys needs first and their career interests second
Professiona l developme nt
Issue
Your boss wants you to Cultivate contacts with peers and other constituents that enable you to collaborate constructively with other parts of the company
Networking Engage in frequent interactions with them to help them solve problems, explore ideas, and gain emotional support during stressful times Buffering
Shield them from major change so Ensure that your group makes they can focus on getting their work the changes necessary to done support the companys direction
Leadership Define leadership as meeting their Define leadership as setting requests for resources, support, an agenda that furthers your knowledge, and ideas for carrying companys interests and taking out their work responsibility for results
How to handle conflicting expectations? Theres no one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, you need to handle each case separately. However, forthright communication can help you understand the forces behind conflicting expectations as well as begin addressing them. If you sense frustration among your employees after youve made a particular decision, ask them to explain their view of the situation. Follow with an explanation of the reasons behind your decision. You may uncover important differences between perceptions and reality. For instance, Joan, a sales rep, has become embroiled in a dispute with a customer. She asks you to intervene. You promise to gather more information about the conflict. Joan becomes visibly frustrated when you dont immediately contact the customer. When you ask her to explain her
perceptions, she expresses concern that youre being indecisive and unsupportive. Heres an opportunity for you to manage Joans perceptions: Explain that decisiveness and supportiveness dont always take the form of instant action. In fact, the best decision makers take time to gather needed information before reacting to the situation. Moreover, by waiting a day or two before contacting the customer, youre giving both Joan and the customer time to cool offlaying the groundwork for a more productive conversation about the conflict. In addition, youre providing Joan with the opportunity to come up with creative solutions on her own. Its always helpful to explain the big-picture rationale behind unpopular decisions. For example, the more your people know about the companys strategy and your units role in supporting that strategy, the greater the possibility that theyll understand and accept decisions that on the surface seem ill-considered.
You also need to adapt your management style to each employee, depending on his or her level of professional development and skill. The table below shows some examples. Developme Situations nt level Employee is inexperience d, but has a high degree of commitment
Directive: You monitor the New employees or person more closely and employees who have transitioned provide more explicit to a group from another instructions and demands. department who are enthusiastic. For example, a direct report is just starting out in his or her careeror just takes on a new set of responsibilities.
Coaching: You identify the Employees who are persons concerns and work experienced, but are wavering in together with him or her to their commitment to the job or create an action plan for organization or are unmotivated. resolving the issues. For example, an individual feels frustrated about challenges he or she has encountered on the job.
Supportive: You encourage the Employees who have person to identify and build on mastered the skills of the job, but his or her strengths, and to (for whatever reasons) lack gradually take on more complex confidence in applying these challenges. skills.
For example, a staff member who has completed training in conflict resolution skills avoids
Developme Situations nt level dealing with a difficult peer: The person has not actually practiced these skills before and therefore lacks confidence. Employee is extremely competent and highly committed
Delegating: You give the Employees who are strong person significant latitude and performers, require little entrust him or her with key task supervision, are committed to the responsibilities and decision organization, and are proactive in making. developing their careers and capabilities.
For example, an employee has a broad understanding of how his or her work supports the units and companys efforts and embraces goals enthusiastically.
Source: Adapted from Situational Leadership by Dr. Paul Hersey and Dr. Ken Blanchard, 1969.
Matching a learning style to a particular person and situation is not an exact science. In fact, one direct report might need different styles, depending on the tasks at hand. For example, you may have a direct report whos been grappling with a work-related problem for several days. The more he works on the problem, the more frustrated he gets. You might use a coaching management style to help him understand and work through the problem. Once the problem is resolved and the direct reports frustration has abated, you might use a supportive management style. By modifying the way you work with individuals in particular situations, you can help them reach their highest level of performance on a specific goal or task. This, in turn, results in greater organizational effectiveness.
3. MANAGING PERFORMANCE
Performance Management: A Daily Activity
Performance management and employee development are crucial management activities that ensure alignment of individual performance goals with organizational goals, keep employees motivated and engaged, and help build key competencies. Most companies have established employee performance management processes that encompass some or all of the following activities: Setting standards and/or goals for individual employees based on shared expectations of the work that needs to be done.
Delegating tasks based on agreed-upon performance standards and goals. Providing feedback to employees about their performance as well as listening to their concerns. Coaching employees to help them improve performance or develop new skills. Evaluating whether an employee has achieved his or her defined goals. Creating a development plan to help employees grow professionally. In many organizations, managers conduct formal performance appraisals once or perhaps twice a year. These appraisals can affect whether an employee is considered for a salary increase, bonus, or promotion. Performance appraisals can therefore play an important part in the performance management process. However, the appraisals are only one step in the process. Managing performance is an ongoing task that involves a number of management skills.
As a new manager, how might you begin weaving performance management into your daily activities? First get acquainted with your direct reports, through the following steps: Review your employees previous performance evaluations, job descriptions, and goals.
Hold one-on-one meetings with each staff member to clarify his or her job responsibilities and to assess developmental goals. Ask: What skills do you want to improve? What new types of work assignments do you want to try? The insights generated by this get-acquainted process will help you set work priorities consistent with each employee's performance goals and delegate assignments that enable your people to strengthen their skills and gain experience in new areas. These insights will also help you give constructive feedback to your direct reports, identify opportunities for coaching, conduct effective formal performance appraisals, and work with your direct reports to create development plans for further growth. The following foundations take a closer look at each of the elements in the performance management process.
Setting Goals
When you start out in your new role, your direct reports will most likely already have existing goals. Eventually, however, you will be in the position of setting goals with your employees for the coming year.
Clarifying and setting goals for each employee is a vital part of the performance management process. Without goals, your employees wont know whether theyre performing adequately. How do you go about defining individual employee goals? The following process can help:
1.
Meet with each employee and ask him or her to describe the individual goals established by your predecessor. Ask the employee to explain how each goal relates to the units objectives or to the employee's personal development plan. For example, suppose you lead a product development unit. Your companys strategy hinges on increasing market share, and the product development unit has been charged with introducing breakthrough innovations as well as new features to refresh sales of existing products. To meet those objectives, perhaps your predecessor assigned some team members the task of developing new product features, while asking others to create entirely new products.
2.
Given your understanding of your units objectives and your companys competitive strategy, consider what (if any) changes you need to make to each employees goals. Consider revising or eliminating goals that are not tied either to business objectives or employee development. For instance, suppose your company has determined that enhancing existing products by adding new features is a more cost-effective and faster way to gain market share than investing in entirely new innovations. In this case, you might decide to put more employees in charge of developing new features and task fewer people with
3.
SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-limited. Here are several examples of SMART goals: By the end of the second quarter this year, reduce by 10% the number of errors in customer orders that you process. By year-end, launch new versions of five existing products into the marketplace. Within six months, teach everyone in the department to use the new customer database. Whether youre affirming an employees preexisting goals or defining new ones, ensure that each goal is SMART.
4.
For each goal that you establish for the employee, clarify how the work will affect your assessment of the employee's job performance. For example, Your performance rating will be determined according to whether youve met or exceeded these goals. Also explain how the goal supports unit and company objectives. Finally, point out ways in which the goal will help the employee achieve his or her developmental objectives. You will also want to indicate which, if any, of the goals are more important than others. If you cant make a link between a goal and these criteria (performance assessment, unit and company objectives, and developmental
objectives), reconsider whether the goal or task is appropriate for that employee.
5.
For each goal that youve defined for an employee, ask the person what resources he or she will need to achieve the goal. For example, will the employee require new equipment? Additional office space? Training? Access to specific individuals who can provide needed information or expertise? Assistance from part-time workers who can free up the employees time to devote to the goal? Once youve clarified needed resources, investigate which are possible to obtain and make arrangements to procure them. If you cant obtain new resources, explain the reasons to your employees and investigate alternative resources or goals.
Tips for Setting Goals Break long-term goals into a series of smaller, measurable achievements. This enables you and your employee to track progress and determine whether he or she would benefit from additional skill development or coaching.
When setting goals that require an employee to learn new skills or take on new responsibilities, allow latitude for the employee to make mistakes.
Identify stretch assignments as suchthose tasks that help an employee strengthen existing skills or acquire new ones. Define these goals in terms of both their minimum requirement and their ideal performance.
Make sure that you and your employee agree on how youll both know when the employee has achieved a goal. For example, Jim, well know
Tips for Setting Goals youve achieved this goal when everyone in our department can create correct reports using the new software that youve trained them on. To help your employees achieve their individual goalsand thus ensure that your unit reaches its objectivesyoull need to know what kinds of tasks to delegate to your direct reports. Youll learn more about delegating, a core managerial responsibility, in the next foundation.
Learning to Delegate
Being a manager is about getting work done through others, rather than completing tasks yourself. To succeed, you need to be able to delegate. But delegating is more than randomly assigning projects or deliverables to whichever employee seems to have the most free time. Instead, delegating involves complex judgment calls. It can often be a means to motivating an employee or developing an employee's skills. At the same time, you must be careful not to abdicate your own accountability for the assignment. Delegating can be a surprisingly difficult skill for new managers to master. You will need to learn what to delegate, how to communicate assignments, and how to determine the appropriate level of follow-up. Delegating also carries an emotional component. You may feel that you are losing control over the outcome when a direct report carries out a task using a process that is different from yours. When you delegate decision making, you will need to be receptive to a decision that is different from what you expected. If you delegate a project to an employee who does an outstanding job, you may worry that your own contribution will go unrecognized.
Help your people develop specific skills, or give them an opportunity to demonstrate competencies in new areas. Increase the capacity of your group to respond quickly to changes in your business.
What to delegate
First, you need to decide what to delegate and what to keep. One way to approach this decision is to decide what you can't delegate, such as higherlevel tasks and responsibilities or those that are core to your jobexamples include responsibility for contracts, determining strategy, building alliances, and setting standardsand then put everything else on the table. This approach will help you avoid making the mistake of delegating only routine or tedious tasks while holding on to more meaningful projects.
Many routine tasks can be incorporated into employees' regular job functions rather than delegated on an ad hoc basis. For example, others in your group might collect progress updates and compile monthly status reports for your approval, schedule recurring meetings, and search the Internet for news about your industry. Routine tasks that do not legitimately fall within a particular job function might be delegated to teams or individuals on a rotating basis so that no one feels particularly singled out for additional work. Special projects are also good candidates for delegating. If your supervisor asks you to do an analysis to determine whether new equipment will reduce costs, this doesn't mean that you personally have to collect and analyze all of the information. Unless the project needs to be kept confidential, your direct reports can help you complete your supervisor's request. Complex projects can often be divided into a collection of tasks that can then be delegated to different individuals. A task or project that you do not initially know how to accomplish may not be a good candidate for delegating until you can identify what controls or checkpoints are appropriate. If you are new to the department or function you
are managing, you might begin by asking those in your group to help you better understand the task's requirements.
Capability to complete the assignment successfully. How do the required skills compare with their strengths and experience? Remember that not everyone is going to do everything correctly, especially on the first try. You might build some slack into the assignment so that your employees will have opportunities to practice unfamiliar skills and, if they make mistakes, to learn from the experience. Interest in the assignment. What aspects of the assignment might make it attractive to an employee? Will they have a chance to do something different, exercise higher skills, or get exposure to senior management? Understanding why an employee might have an interest in a particular assignment will help you find ways to motivate them.
Development needs. You can delegate work that helps employees develop specific skills and allows you to assess their capabilities to do different types of work.
If an individual lacks a required skill or is inexperienced, be prepared to provide additional coaching as they progress with the assignment, or consider asking another more-experienced employee to be the coach. Have a contingency plan in case the employee finds the task overwhelming. Rather than delegate exclusively to one or two top performers, try to spread out your assignments among different employees Although you may have greater confidence in your top employees, they may become overburdened, and you will miss opportunities to strengthen other members of your group. Consider asking for volunteers for an assignment. Tool: Planning to Delegate Use the "Planning to Delegate" tool to identify tasks that you might delegate to your direct reports.
Your objectives How the work will benefit the department or organization
The potential benefits to the employee of working on the assignment Your time frame How you will monitor progress What training or assistance you will provide Constraints on how the work is to be accomplished How you will measure success
Provide a written summary of what the employee is accountable forwhat specific results are to be achieved, and when. If the task is significant, you may want to add it to the employees formal performance goals. Also, identify significant constraints on how the work is to be accomplished. For example, in delegating the task of collecting on past due accounts, you might establish that using scare tactics or intimidating customers is not acceptable. Use the
"Clarifying Task Expectations" tool to document the details of a task you are delegating. Tool: Clarifying Task Expectations
completed a project or given a presentation). A performance review takes place once or twice a year. Unlike a formal performance review, an ongoing feedback session or conversation should not affect an employees compensation or eligibility for promotion. When employees understand the difference between the two types of reviews, most will prove more open to receiving ongoing feedback from you. There may also be a difference in documentation requirements.
Many experts maintain that a formal performance review should constitute a recap of issues that you and your employee have already discussed. Ideally, anything said during a formal performance review should not come as a surprise to your employee. Consider these guidelines for providing ongoing feedback: Keep feedback sessions on ongoing work separate from performance reviews. Consider conducting a weekly or monthly status review with each employee to provide guidance on ongoing projects and work in progress. During such meetings you can ask how things are going and ask whether the employee needs help to complete a project, and you can discuss any new ideas for the project.
At these sessions, you and your employee can also explore ways to work toward larger goalssuch as improving work quality or timeliness, or furthering the employees professional development. Recognize accomplishments. Managers often forget to provide positive feedback that shows appreciation for the work an employee has accomplished. During ongoing feedback sessionsas well as during your daily encounters with employeesremember to praise your employees achievements. Many employees experience the absence of positive feedback as negative feedback.
When giving positive feedback, be genuine and specific. For example, Sally, I really liked the way you handled that customers complaint this morning. You showed him that we care about the quality of our service, and you offered a good solution to his problem. This kind of
Present critical feedback effectively. Providing ongoing feedback to guide an employees current efforts or address a performance problem is a key component of managing and developing your staff. When you give ongoing feedback effectively, your direct reports can further enhance their performance and make even bigger contributions to your group.
As explained in the Coaching Your Employees and Conducting Performance Reviews foundations included in this module, giving critical feedback requires skill and thoughtfulness. When you provide critical feedback outside of a formal performance review or coaching session, keep the following principles in mind: Provide the feedback as soon as possible after youve identified a performance problem.
o o o o
Frame the feedback in terms of the persons behavior, not his or her character or motives. Explain the impact of the persons behavior on his or her ability to meet individual goals, and describe the impact of the behavior on the rest of your group or unit. Clearly define the change in behavior needed to correct the problem.
o o
Offer assistance in helping the employee to change this behavior. Invite feedback from employees on your performance as a coach and manager. At ongoing feedback sessions or after youve provided feedback on a specific effort (such as a team presentation or a completed project), ask simple questions such as, "Was this conversation helpful to you?" or "How might I have been more effective?" By inviting feedback you demonstrate that youre open to learning and to improving your own performance, thus you act as a role model for
receiving feedback. But make sure you respond positively to whatever you hear in response to your questions. Rather than reacting defensively to any criticism, use active listening techniques. For example, paraphrase to verify that youve heard the message correctly. Request any needed clarification. And periodically summarize the discussion. Avoid responding in defensive wayssuch as making justifications, apologizing, or explaining. A defensive response could inhibit your employee from giving you feedback in the future. Tool: Preparing to Give Feedback Use the "Preparing to Give Feedback" tool to plan how best to deliver positive or constructive feedback to your employee.
goals, avoiding character judgments or assumptions about employees motives. The following table contrasts ineffective and effective observations.
Observations Rather than assume that Susan is careless and doesnt care about the quality of her work. Frame your observations as Susan submitted two reports containing several errors on each page. When Milo tried to follow the instructions in the reports, he became confused. He had to go back to Susan for clarification, and he completed his task late. The last two times I suggested to Joe that he give presentations on his projects, he came up with reasons not to do so. As a result, other group members arent getting information they need to do their jobs.
Joe is too timid and is letting his timidity keep him from helping out the rest of the group.
Angelina doesnt respect others Angelina interrupted others seven times contributions to brainstorming. during the last brainstorming session, and Shes being too pushy. only two of the remaining ten participants contributed ideas during the session. If needed, check your observations with otherswhile respecting your employees confidentiality. For instance, ask several group members other than Angelina how they feel the brainstorming sessions are going. Also consider whether youve inadvertently contributed to the problem. For example, have you dominated several sessions, sending the message that collaborative brainstorming isnt important to you?
You can coach employees during your daily interactions with them, as well as schedule coaching sessions to discuss specific problems or growth opportunities. In either case, coaching is a three-step process: Prepare for a coaching discussion. Before broaching the subject of needed change with an employee, prepare a discussion plan. Start by documenting the purpose of the discussion; for example, To prepare Joe to deliver successful presentations. Note whats needed, such as Joe will need to attend several training seminars on public speaking. Write down whats at stake: Other group members cant perform as well if Joe doesnt share information about his projects with them. And list desired outcomes: Joe will begin delivering project presentations weekly starting next month.
1.
Conduct the discussion. Meet with your employee and clarify the purpose and importance of discussing the needed change in his or her behavior or performance. Ask questions to ensure that the employee understands why youre having the discussion.
2.
In specific terms, describe the undesirable ways in which the problem behavior affects your group. Explore ways to handle the situation offering ideas as well as encouraging the employee to brainstorm alternatives with you. Then agree on an action plan and the outcomes you both desire. Be open to a range of ideas presented by your employee. Ensure that the action plan includes a timetable and benchmarks for assessing progress. Follow up on agreements. Schedule one or more follow-up meetings to check on the employees progress once he or she has begun to implement the agreed-upon action plan. At these meetings, continue using your coaching skills to help the employee improve in areas that still need work. For instance, perhaps Joe has made improvements in using graphics during his project presentations, but he needs to get better at summarizing his ideas at the end of his talks.
3.
Practiced thoughtfully, coaching can help your employees give their best on the job. Coaching itself takes practicebut youll find the results well worth the effort. This three-step process is typically completed over a period of days or weeks, but can be compressed in situations where coaching must be conducted immediately. For example when you are working with or observing employees and see that they are proceeding incorrectly and need correction immediately, but also need an understanding of how to choose the right path in the future, you might interrupt, ask permission to offer a bit of coaching, and then conduct the coaching discussion.
Tool: Planning a Coaching Session Hone your coaching skills To be effective as a coach, you'll need to develop specific skills, including: Asking effective questions. Ask questions to assess the employees views about whats going on. Open questions (those that dont require a yes or no response) can help. Consider these examples:
Susan, what do you think are the most important characteristics of a well-prepared report? Joe, if you delivered a short presentation on your project during next weeks status meeting, what do you think the impact would be? Angelina, what ideas do you have for ensuring that everyone in the group has a chance to contribute ideas during brainstorming sessions? By asking open questions, you encourage the employee to actively participate in the conversation. You also begin generating ideas for how to address the problem behavior. Listening actively. During coaching conversations with your employee, listen actively to show interest in the person as well as his or her ideas and concerns. To listen actively, avoid distractions putting other work aside during your coaching conversation. Make eye contact with the employee, smile, and resist any urge to interrupt. Demonstrate relaxed body posture. Speak in a friendly tone of voice, and periodically show that youre listening.
Most important, paraphrase occasionally to demonstrate that youve understood the other person accurately. For example: So, Joe, you feel intensely anxious about public speaking? Or: What I hear you saying, Susan, is that you havent had time to thoroughly familiarize yourself with the new report-preparation software. Is that correct? Giving feedback. Share your observations of the troubling behavior with the employee in question. Frame your comments in terms of the persons behavior and its impact on your groupnot in terms of character or motives. Describe behavior in specific terms. And dont forget to praise the person for his or her positive behaviors and accomplishments.
For example: Susan, when you make errors in your reports, other members in the group get confused and have to come to you for clarification. They end up performing their part of the project late. You
do a great job of providing clear summaries and analyses in your reports. Reducing the number of errors would help you produce even higher-quality work. Most important, youd be helping the rest of the group to do their jobs more quickly and accurately. When you give feedback honestly, objectively, and fairly, you earn your employees trust. Gaining agreement. Questioning, active listening, and giving feedback can help you and your employee agree on new goals and action steps for achieving them. For instance, based on your conversation with Joe, you and he might agree that Joe needs to strengthen his public-speaking skills. Together, you might set a goal for him to take a one-day course on giving presentations. You might set another goal for him to develop a project presentation that hell deliver to the group in a month.
If Joe tends to hear constructive feedback as criticism, emphasize the importance of strong presentation skills and express your confidence that he can master the art of public speaking. Stress how much you value his contribution to the group.
conducting the review. The next foundation focuses on how to create a development plan with your employee following a performance review.
Your company's performance review policies and forms. The employees job description.
Goals and performance criteria established for the employee for the current period. Typically, these will have been defined during the previous review. The employees work history, including skills, past training, and past job performance.
Your documentation of performance observations and other relevant data. Relevant and specific feedback from customers, peers, or other individuals with whom the employee works. Self-reporting by the employee (if included in your company's review process). As you review this material, note specific examples of both positive performance and problems that will provide support for your assessment and enable you to give meaningful feedback. Where the employee's performance is below expectations, consider possible contributing factorssuch as unclear goals, lack of resources, insufficient training, or ambiguous direction or instruction. If you have been giving your employee ongoing feedback on performance, there will be no surprises during the review. Help the employee also prepare for the meeting by reminding him or her of the purposes of the review beforehand. In addition, outline the steps that the review will takefor example, Well start with your appraisal of your own performance, then well talk more about future goals. In addition, we will follow up by creating a development plan.
Generally, it's a good idea to start by asking the employee to share his or her impressions of how things have been going. This helps you understand the employees point of view and prevents you from controlling too much of the conversation early on. If youve identified performance issues that the employee doesnt bring up, you can then ask for his or her perspective on those issues. In some cases, however, you may decide to begin the meeting with your evaluation of the employees performance and your ideas for improvement. Why? This approach can be helpful if the employees performance needs substantial improvement and if other, less direct attempts to communicate these issues have failed. You may also use this approach with an employee who is inexperienced, relatively new to the job, and who looks to you for significant direction. The purpose of a performance review is to encourage good performance or correct poor performance. In both cases, frame your comments on how the employees specific accomplishments compare to agreed-upon goals. Keep the focus on the performance, not the employees character or motives. This is also the time to confirm whether the employee understands his or her responsibilities and has the skills and resources to fulfill them.
Start by describing the differences between the employees goals and his or her actual performance. For example, We agreed that you would get an average of five new customers per month over the past six months, and you got an average of three per month. If possible, explain how improving the performance will help the company reach its goals: By getting more new customers, we have a better chance of increasing our market share. Also
emphasize the importance of performance improvement in terms of the individuals career goals: When youve met these targets, youll be eligible for promotion. Its vital that you gain the employees agreement that improving performance is important. To that end, the following strategies may help you offer effective feedback: Encourage the employee to respond to and articulate points of disagreement.
Orient your feedback toward problem-solving and action. To keep ownership of the problem with the employee, give him or her the first opportunity to suggest a plan for closing the gap between desired and actual performance. Avoid using subjective judgments; for example, "You arent a leader," or "You arent committed to the job.
Avoid generalizations such as, "You just dont seem involved with your work." Instead, offer specific comments that relate to the job, such as, "Ive noticed that you havent offered any suggestions at our service improvement meetings. Why is that?" Be selective in the data you choose to share. You dont need to recite every shortcoming or failing.
Define the consequences or impact of the persons behavior. People can and do change when they understand how their behavior affects others. Once youve discussed the employees performance, its time to generate a development plana strategy for helping the person close performance gaps and enhance his or her skills. The next foundation examines this phase in detail.
appraisal. However, in an attempt to separate the functions of evaluating employees performance and supporting them in their development, some organizations encourage managers to hold two separate meetings when possible: one for the performance appraisal and another for the development plan. The purpose of the development plan is to help an employee acquire the skills needed to grow within the organization and to advance his or her career. A development plan might also be created as part of a coaching arrangement.
When you meet, make sure you and your direct report discuss the questions shown in the table below: Question What goals do you want or need to achieve? Example Patricia wants to learn how to use the new customer database your company just installed. Her interest in this skill is good news for your unitsince your group could accomplish its work faster if more of its members were familiar with the system. Patricia also wants to improve her presentation skills. She believes that her timidity and lack of confidence have prevented her from delivering effective project updates to her colleagues. When will Patricia will strive to demonstrate knowledge of the new database
Question
Example
you achieve three months from now. the agreedupon goals? She will also aim to deliver an acceptable project update to her colleagues two months from now. What steps do you need to take to put this plan in action? What are the outcomes you and I want to see? What assistance do you need in order to reach the goals in the plan? To develop her IT skills, Patricia will need to take the online tutorial provided in the new database. To strengthen her presentation skills, she will need to read some literature on public speaking, take a course in making presentations, and observe several effective presenters in action. As a desired IT outcome, Patricia will update the customer database without error and generate correctly formatted reports. As a desired presentation-skills outcome, she will begin delivering effective project updates to her team every week or monthin an informal meeting setting. To reach her goal regarding the database, Patricia will need time to practice using the database. Some coaching and feedback on her IT skills from Angelina, in IT, would also be valuable. To strengthen her presentation skills, Patricia will need to ask a trusted colleague to observe her rehearsals of a project presentation and provide critical feedback. My feedback after her presentations would also be useful.
As you and your employee create the development plan, ensure that you reach agreement on the goals and steps required to achieve them. Also test the persons commitment to carrying out the plan. One helpful technique is to ask your employee to affirm the benefits that he or she will gain by achieving the agreed-upon goals. For example, you might ask: Patricia, what do you see as the payoffboth for yourself and the companyif you successfully carry out this plan? The commitment you are looking for might sound like: I think that by learning how to use the database Ill come up with good ideas for serving customers better. Also, if I improve my presentation skills, I can position myself for a more visible leadership role. Tool: Creating Development Plans
Following up
As with any plan, dont forget to follow up after you and your employee have finalized the development plan. Follow-up means remaining aware of the steps and timelines stipulated in the plan and regularly checking in with the employee to see how he or she is doing regarding the plan. Each time you check in, you can provide feedback, coaching, ideas, and encouragement as necessary. You can follow up by establishing a series of formal status updates, as well as by asking informal questions during your day-to-day interactions with the employee. For example, suppose you run into Patricia in the hallway soon after she had her mentoring session with Angelina in IT. You might use several coaching techniques in a conversation that resembles the following: Technique Following up and checking in with your employee Conversation You: Patricia, how did your mentoring session with Angelina go? Patricia: Pretty well. I learned a lot, but I was a little overwhelmed by the databases report-formatting function. Its complicated. Inquiring to help the employee solve a problem You: What would help you get a handle on the function? Patricia: Hmm. Well, if I could meet with Angelina a few more times, that could help. And I might run through the tutorial a second time. You: Sounds like a good idea. Why dont you plan for those two things and let me know when youve scheduled them in.
Technique making suggestions, and setting milestones Providing praise and encouragement
Conversation Also, you might ask Angelina to set aside some extra practice time on the database for you. Patricia: Okay, will do. You: Keep up the good work, Patricia. I appreciate your cando spirit and your commitment to the plan we worked out.
Helping your employees to create development plans and achieve agreedupon goals is one of the most important parts of your job as a manager. By applying the practices described above, you can enable your employees to enhance their performance and make ever more valuable contributions to your unit and company.
Documenting compliance with company policies regarding employee relations, hiring, performance management, and business ethics. Documenting compliance with regulations specific to your industry. Safeguarding confidential information.
Failing to carry out your administrative responsibilities can pose problems later. For example, suppose you don't document an employee's poor performance as it comes to light. Eventually, you may decide to fire the employee. The person could charge your company with wrongful dismissaland you wouldn't be able to provide evidence that his or her performance was subpar. Thankfully, some administrative tasks are relatively straightforward, such as reviewing and approving time sheets and expense reports, authorizing purchase orders, and reviewing activity reports. Make these tasks part of your daily or weekly routine. If you initially feel unsure of your administrative tasks, complete the "Record Keeping" tool to identify the main tasks for which youre responsible and to capture key information about each task. Tool: Record Keeping In addition to routine administrative responsibilities, you may encounter other situations in your new role that require close attention to company policies and procedures. Consider these scenarios: A co-worker tells you privately that her supervisor sexually harassed her, but that shes afraid to report the incident to the human resources department. You wonder if youre legally required to report it to human resources. Your companys administrative procedures will clarify how to handle this situation in a way that provides the protection this co-worker is entitled to in the workplace and that safeguards your job.
You interview three candidatesMary, Jim, and Robfor a new product design position. After the interviews, you believe you have a good sense of Marys abilities and experience, but you feel less confident about Jims. You therefore ask Jim for a writing sample. You are even less sure about Rob, so you ask him for a writing sample and a sample of his design work.
Ultimately, you decide to hire Mary. If this hiring situation were subjected to legal scrutiny, a reviewer might determine that you did not treat the candidates fairly (since you did not require a writing sample from Mary), which could pose ethical and legal problems for you and your organization. To avoid such potential situations, you need to follow established guidelines and work closely with your human resources department in all staffing activities. Your companys policies are designed to help you handle these types of situations appropriately. As a new manager, you may have difficulty discerning when its appropriate to use your discretion in handling such situations and when you must follow company procedures to the letter. Early in your tenure as a manager, its best to be cautious and seek counsel from the appropriate experts whenever you feel unsure of what to do.
Writing job descriptions and posting jobs Conducting interviews Making formal offers Deciding on and reviewing salaries
Approving employee requests for time off and for expenditures related to education and training programs Employee relations
Enforcing rules regarding employee attire, sexual harassment, ethics, and so forth Performance management Conducting formal performance reviews with employees
Documenting and communicating poor performance, including verbal warnings and written evaluations outlining areas of unsatisfactory performance
Terminating employees
Establishing quality controls Conducting other industry-specific recordkeeping Reviewing purchase orders and expense reports Reviewing current budgets against actual results and
Financial controls
Task
Recordkeeping/archivin g
Maintaining important departmental records, including contracts, reports, inspection records, phone logs, legal reviews, and so forth
Developing best practices for maintaining copies of your correspondence if your company doesnt provide guidelines
Confidentiality
Keeping copyrighted brands or trade secrets confidential Maintaining confidentiality of employee records
Emergency preparation
Maintaining up-to-date emergency procedures, including provisions for how to continue to service customers or clients. Most organizations designate a particular person to take responsibility for these plans. This individual may provide you with a template to complete and to keep updated for your department.
Vendor/contractor relations
Dealing fairly with vendors and contractors; for example, only using vendors from a pre-approved list and declining gifts from existing or potential vendors
forth
Employee guides and policy and procedure manuals. Your company's employee handbook outlines many of the organizations policies. You may also receive a policy and procedures manual when you begin your new job as a manager. When you find yourself wondering how to handle an administrative question, these documents are a good place to start.
Company intranet. Your company may have an intranet site to help managers handle administrative processes such as hiring. For example, if you have an open position in your department or team, you go to the site, post your position, and review applications from interested candidates. The site may also provide answers to many questions about human resources, as well as forms youll need to handle certain administrative tasks.
Training programs. If your company offers new manager training, take advantage of it. Many managers who skip or postpone such training later regret it. If your company doesnt provide formal training for new managers, make time to sit with your boss and/or someone from your HR department to ensure that you clearly understand your administrative responsibilities.
Try to understand the why behind a particular responsibility. This understanding will help you see the importance of fulfilling that task in the prescribed way. For example, suppose you dont know that your companys compensation committee depends on job descriptions written in a specific format to assign pay levels. In this case, you might describe a position in a way that results in a much higher or lower salary than the role warrants. Human resources, finance, and legal/compliance departments. Most companies have departments or individuals responsible for human resources, financial issues, and legal questions. In some organizations, one person or department may handle all three areas. Regardless of the arrangement your company has chosen, find out whom to contact for answers to questions about handling administrative tasks related to human resource, financial, and legal or regulatory matters.
Tool: Administrative Resources Contacts Complete the "Administrative Resources Contacts" tool to identify resources you can use to resolve an administrative issue.
Managing Meetings
A well-run meeting enables you to capitalize on your teams collective abilities to accomplish goals such as making a tough decision or to come up with an innovative new strategy. A poorly run meeting, on the other hand, accomplishes little or nothing and therefore wastes time and money. How to ensure that your meetings are valuable and productive? Start by assessing whether to meet at all.
Why meet?
Many managers mistakenly use meetings to accomplish goals they could have achieved through other, more efficient means, such as e-mail, voicemail, or memo. Before you schedule a meeting, consider the goals youre trying to achieve and ask yourself whether you require live interaction among people to achieve them. Your goals for having a meeting could include the following: Share information: Communicate news, identify and explain challenges, ask people questions, answer questions, plan, motivate people, and build cooperation and trust.
Make decisions: Capitalize on different experiences, styles, and perspectives to make better choices.
Solve problems: Leverage participants varied expertise to identify creative solutions to thorny challenges. Foster innovation: Inspire each other to improve processes or develop new products.
In many situations it may be possible to achieve these goals without a meeting. The challenge is to figure out when a meeting is the best way to achieve them. In general, the reason to have a meeting is to generate back-and-forth dialogue between participants. For example, suppose you want to convey information about a new company policy. If you anticipate numerous questions or concerns, a meeting might help you respond to them immediately. However, if the communication is likely to be one-way, then an e-mail or memo may be a better choice.
Because meetings involve face-to-face interaction, theyre usually the best way to motivate or energize a group, or to persuade people to agree with your point of view. In addition, youre more likely to generate creative solutions and better decisions when you bring a group together than when you sit at your desk alone. Meetings are therefore usually a good choice for decision making and brainstorming. Tool: Evaluating Whether to Meet Use the "Evaluating Whether to Meet" tool to eliminate needless meetings from your current schedule and identify unnecessary meetings youll want to avoid in the future. Once you have decided a meeting is worthwhile, use the following practices to prepare for and manage it effectively.
Create an agenda. Define how you will structure the meeting to achieve your goals; for example, a 10-minute presentation on new products followed by a brainstorming session to generate a list of possible sales approaches.
Sound out key stakeholders in advance. You'll be better prepared for a meeting if you know in advance what key participants think about important items on the agenda. By understanding and addressing their concerns during the meeting, you stand a better chance of achieving the outcome you want.
Decide who should attend. Invite only those who can contribute to your meeting goals. For instance, in considering each possible participant, think about whether the person is an important stakeholder, or someone who might have a valuable perspective on how to sell your product. Remember, the more people you involve in the meeting, the more time-consuming the deliberation process will be. On the other hand, a very small group may not represent diverse interests and perspectives.
Determine logistics, such as time and location. Review your agenda. How long should it take to cover all the items? Also consider where to meet. Are you trying to encourage creativity? If so, your usual meeting room might not be the best place. Another location, such as a lounge, may help people think outside of their traditional roles.
Distribute relevant information. Distribute your agenda and materials to be used during the meeting far enough in advance that the attendees have time to review them. If you want participants to do research or bring a list of ideas to the meeting, let them know that ahead of time.
Use the "Preparing for a Meeting" tool to help you get ready for your next meeting and the "Meeting Agenda" tool to create an agenda. Tools: Preparing for a Meeting and Meeting Agenda
Review your goals and objectives at the outset. Remind participants of what you want to accomplish during the meeting. For instance, do you want to brainstorm, or do you want to discuss the pros and cons of particular ideas? Assign a person to write key points on a flip chart or white board. These notes will keep people focused and provide a visual reminder of what the group has accomplished.
Keep conversations on-topic and encourage everyone to participate. Write down off-topic ideas and suggest that they be pursued at another time. If one person seems to be dominating the conversation, politely interrupt and encourage participation from those who have been quiet.
Encourage individuals to leave if the remaining topics dont pertain to them. For example, an account executive may want to leave if the remainder of your meeting time will focus on how to build a software demo. Summarize your decisions. At the end of the meeting, review the information on your flip chart or whiteboard. Ensure that everyone agrees the list represents the choices the group has made. Ask for volunteers to take responsibility for any action items. Establish a timeframe for completing each task, and then document that timeframe.
Manage the clock. End your meeting on time. To do so, youll need to move the conversation along if you get stuck on a difficult issue. Address unresolved agenda items at a follow-up meeting, if necessary.
Following up
When you walk out of the meeting room, your job isnt done. To ensure that the work you accomplished during the meeting is put to good use: Tool: Post-Meeting Communication Send a follow-up communication. Use your meeting notes from the flip chart and the "Post-Meeting Communication" tool to send a quick note of thanks to all meeting participants, acknowledging the progress you made. This document serves as a summary of what you decided together and lists key action items with time frames. Include in your communication any information people will need to complete the action items.
Follow up in person with anyone who didnt participate in the discussion during the meeting or who seemed dissatisfied with the results. This practice will help you gather valuable feedback and can enable you to win buy-in for any decisions youll make based on the meeting. Schedule a follow-up meeting, if necessary. Consider whether you need another meeting. What are your objectives? Is another meeting the best way to meet them? If so, determine how much time people will need to accomplish their assignments. Then schedule your next meeting accordingly.
Meeting tips
People spend 20% or more of their working lives attending, conducting, preparing for, and following up on meetings. Almost one-third of all meetings are considered unnecessary by the people who attend them. The table below shows some tips for managing meetings. Meeting tips Spend the time planning. If one person is planning for a meeting where five people are in attendance, it is much better and more efficient than creating the plan "on the fly." A good guideline is one hour planning for every hour in the meeting. All meetings have four functions: participation, process management, information management, and decision making. Meetings are best when group members and leaders make conscious choices about how each function will be managed.
Meeting tips Building agreement is a critical skill for mastering meetings. By helping people reach small agreements, you build a firm foundation for collaborative action. Everyone in the meeting should play a role in making the meeting a success. To facilitate group action, participants share a basic meeting management tool kit. Everyone in the meeting can use the tools and there is no one right way to build understanding and agreement rather many ways. Sharing expectations for a meeting builds alignment and fosters a sense of shared responsibility for success. A truly successful meeting will have at least these key ingredients: shared responsibility for success, collaborative attitude by all in the meeting, strategic thinking, and facilitative behaviors in action. Every meeting should have clear "desired outcomes." A desired outcome is what your meeting aims to achieve, the expected results. A desired outcome statement answers the question: "What will we walk out of the meeting with?" An agenda is a meeting road map that the group can consciously amend as it moves toward its desired outcome. 10. Getting up-front agreement on the agenda facilitates collaboration and is a best practice.
Source: Interaction Associates 2005.
Meetings are just one of the responsibilities youll have to juggle in your new role as a manager. The next foundation provides tips for making the most of your limited time.
Managing Time
If you often feel rushed during the work week, or you have the sense that you aren't devoting as much time to important tasks or people as you would like, you may need to improve your time management skills. A rushed and reactive work style may prevent you from spending time planning and draw you away from your most critical responsibilities. Effective managers dont immediately respond to every issue brought to them. They also dont let things like e-mail, meetings, and unforeseen situations distract them from achieving their goals. They manage their time in ways that help them stay focused on their top priorities.
Managing relationships: Time that you spend building relationships with employees, peers, higher-level managers, and customers, as well as coaching your employees. Administrative responsibilities: Activities such as status meetings, budgeting, and expense accounts.
Daily responsibilities: For example, quality control reviews, problem solving, or production goals. Self-development: Activities that help you strengthen your skills or acquire new ones. Start by defining and prioritizing your goals for each area of responsibility listed above. Break down long-term goals into smaller tasks. Youll have an easier time scheduling and completing smaller, discrete tasks than trying to tackle a large project all at once. Consider what percentage of your time you want to spend on each category of activity. For example, do you want to spend 25% of your time on business growth and development? Once you have determined these percentages, use the "Weekly Goals & Time Allocation" tool to translate them into hourly figures (e.g., 10 hours per week on business development). Then, determine which goals from each category you can reasonably pursue given your time constraints and priorities. Tool: Weekly Goals & Time Allocation
Review your goals and your decisions about how youll allocate your time with your manager or a mentor to make sure you are being realistic and consistent with organizational priorities. You may need to review and reprioritize your goals quarterly, monthly, or even weekly in response to changes in the business environment.
Schedule some time each day to be off limits to phone calls and other interruptions. Use this time to work on your current highest-priority task. Work somewhere other than your office, if necessary. Make sure to reserve adequate time for high-priority work. A few minutes here and there wont give you the results you seek.
Keep in mind your high- and low-energy times. Schedule more difficult tasks during your peak energy hours. For example, you may be more productive and creative in the morning than in the late afternoon. If so, schedule high-level strategy meetings or writing in the morning and routine tasks such as responding to e-mails in the afternoon.
Reserve time every day to deal with crises and unexpected tasks. You wont be able to anticipate everything youll need to do in a day, so build flexibility into your schedule. But be carefuldont waste this time. Have a list of things to do if some of your reserved time is not needed. For example, respond to e-mails, complete expense reports, and the like. List both quick tasks and more involved ones. That way, you can appropriately fill the time you have and avoid squandering time trying to remember what you need to do.
Consolidate time for tasks such as responding to e-mail, paperwork, and phone calls. Research indicates that the cost of switching from one task to another and back again could reduce a companys efficiency by 20% to 40%. Consolidating tasks can cut down on this start-up and switching time.
Procrastinatingputting off tasks. Common reasons for procrastination are that you view a task as being either unpleasant or uninteresting; you fear that you might not be up to the challenge; or you are overwhelmed by the project.
Overextending yourselftaking on more than you can handle. You cant say no, especially when your boss asks you to do something. You work extra hours, but still cant catch up. If you find that you're overextended, ask your manager to help you prioritize your tasks.
Failing to delegateworking on tasks that your subordinates could handle. As a manager, you probably need to spend less time doing and more time planning work assignments, organizing resources for others, and coaching people who need help.
Assuming your subordinates problemsallowing subordinates to delegate their problems to you. Your job is to help subordinates solve their own problems.
Traveling when you dont need toattending a meeting in person when you could participate by phone or video conference. While the meeting itself
may be a good use of your time, the time you waste sitting in taxis or standing in lines to get on the plane may outweigh the benefits of going in person. Attending unnecessary meetingsorganizing or attending meetings that could be handled by other people or by another means such as an e-mail or memo.
To uncover any patterns, periodically review previous weeks to see how you've actually spent your time versus what you had planned. Once you identify what is preventing you from reaching your goals, rework future portions of your schedule to reflect what you have learned. For example, you may want to build more free time into your schedule to address unanticipated issues. Then periodically assess your progress to look for additional potential improvements. Consider asking your manager and colleagues for ideas on how to better use your time based on what you learn from these assessments.
5. MANAGING A GROUP
Managing a Group Versus Individuals
Learning how to lead a group of individuals is one of the most challenging tasks facing a new manager. Whether you are managing direct reports or leading a multi-functional team of peers, your task is to encourage collaboration and create an environment that leverages individual talents in the pursuit of common goals. A common mistake new unit managers make is focusing solely on managing individuals and overlooking the opportunity to manage the group's overall performance. Harnessing the potential power of group performance requires an understanding of the degree of interdependence within your group, an awareness of what makes a team effective, and the ability to manage group dynamics.
Assessing interdependency
If individual group members rely on each other to complete their work, group performance can likely be improved by strengthening teamwork. Teamwork is essential to day-to-day operations, for example, in groups where employees need to collaborate to complete tasks, or share the burden of completing a certain volume of work. In contrast, the need for teamwork may be limited in groups where individuals work independently on unrelated tasks. To decide how much teamwork might be appropriate for your group, use the "Evaluating Task Interdependency" tool to analyze the level of interdependence of your group's functions. The greater the level of interdependence, the more important it is that your group function well as a team. Tool: Evaluating Task Interdependency
Promotes individual growth and job satisfaction. Each member of the group supports the group's priorities, yet also realizes a sense of personal
satisfaction and growth from his or her contributions to the group's efforts. To achieve this result, managers must learn to balance the groups output with the individuals need for personal development and overall satisfaction. For example, consider the situation in which Joe, a unit manager, had to lead his group to achieve a difficult delivery goal. Joe could have required his direct reports to work long hours on tasks that they already knew. Instead, he assigned some people to tasks that required them to learn desirable new skills, even though this practice slowed progress toward meeting the delivery schedule. As a result, Joe's employees felt that they had opportunities to pursue personal development goals. He achieved a balance between shortterm performance goals and longer-term employee satisfaction. Adjusts and improves over time. Individuals within a high-performing team learn over time to work together more effectively and how to collectively adapt to changing circumstances and demands. This flexibility results in part from individual team members becoming familiar with each other's work style and likely response to different situations. As a manager, you can support this process within your group by facilitating greater understanding of how individual strengths contribute to the groups success and by encouraging the group to implement processes that accommodate different work styles and strengths.
Group strategies
The remaining foundations in this module focus on strategies for strengthening teamwork and managing group dynamics, including: Establishing group processes: Clarify decision-making and communication procedures to promote collaboration and to establish clear expectations.
Managing group dynamics: Shape team norms, including how team members are to behave toward one another.
Managing conflict: Constructively manage conflicts between team members to enhance group creativity and problem-solving capabilities. Building your team: Ensure that the group has the critical competencies it needs to achieve its goals. Providing a supportive environment: Use the physical environment to facilitate collaboration and communication. Also, bargain for the resources your group needs, and provide emotional support.
Decision-making processes
Establishing ground rules for decision making early in your role as a new manager is critical. You and your group will face decisions of varying degrees of complexity and significance. For example:
Should the design of a product be changed to meet a last-minute customer request? Which subcontractor should the team use for its next project?
In determining how such decisions will be made, consider the group's past experience and preferences, what approach would result in the best decision, the need for expediency, and the risk associated with a wrong decision. Consider also that you are ultimately responsible for decision making that you delegate to others. Some common approaches to decision making include: Majority rule: Individuals meet to discuss alternatives and then vote. The choice that receives the most votes is adopted.
Consensus: Individuals meet to discuss alternatives and work to find a choice that every member of the team can agree to support. The ultimate decision may not be an individuals first choice, but is one that he or she agrees is acceptable. An individual or small group decides: An individual or small group with relevant experience and skills is selected to make the decision, usually within parameters specified by the manager.
Manager decides with input: The manager gathers input from individuals and then makes the decision.
Manager decides alone: The manager makes the decision based on his or her own experience and knowledge base. Managers may also make decisions with peer managers who lead interdependent groups. The more participative approaches generally result in broader support for decisions. But approaches that involve many people also take more time to execute and therefore are typically reserved for important decisions that impact the whole group. There is also no guarantee that a group decision will be the best decision. Decisions that have limited impact on the group, relate to a sensitive human resource issue, or are time critical may be better for you, as the manager, to make on your own or with limited input. Other decisions may not require your involvement and can be delegated to an individual or subgroup with relevant experience.
Communication
When team members work closely with each other on a daily basis, they will likely work out their own informal means of sharing information. In fact, teams that frequently communicate with each other on an informal basis, such as in hallway conversations, tend to be more effective.
But even if your group communicates well informally, you should consider how to keep everyone fully informed about decisions and issues that affect them. A formal communication process helps ensure that group members receive important information from outside the group as well as share information about activities and issues within the group. In defining a communication process, include the following: Status updates: These can be written summaries on a periodic basis (weekly or monthly, for example) rather than face-to-face meetings.
Staff meetings: A weekly or biweekly staff meeting provides a forum to discuss unresolved issues and challenges. Staff meetings also provide an opportunity for team members to share what they have learned from their recent experiences. Did someone underestimate how long it would take to complete a project? What are the implications of the division's renewed focus on customer retention? If you decide to hold staff meetings, establish a process for creating the agenda and communicating meeting results. Use of e-mails and memos: When, why, and to whom should people send e-mails or other written correspondence? Individuals should receive all information that affects how they will perform their jobs. At the same time, it is not advisable to copy every person in the group on every correspondence.
Collaboration
Collaboration occurs when individuals with similar or complementary skills work together to accomplish a group goal. For example, developing the marketing presentation for the units annual strategy meeting requires people with strategic thinking skills, writing skills, and design skills. Collaborative behavior is difficult to formally designit often happens (or doesnt happen) on its own and depends largely on the individuals. But you can encourage collaborative interactions by: Rewarding collaborative behaviors: Look for opportunities to reward individuals who contribute to the group's success. For example, publicly praise those who go out of their way to help others achieve their goals. Also consider
group rewards for achievements resulting from the combined efforts of all of the individuals within the group. Tracking the group's progress toward goals: Publishing a record of the group's progress as well as individual workloads will help build the group's awareness of opportunities for collaboration. Before reassigning tasks when one individual is overloaded or falling behind schedule, you might wait to see if someone voluntarily offers to help, or consider asking for volunteers.
Cross-training individuals to perform multiple job functions: When possible, cross-train group members so that they can perform multiple job functions. This will allow them to more easily step in to assist a coworker with a heavy workload.
Encouraging individuals to set aside a regular time during the day to be available for mutual teamwork and discussions. Deciding how to manage across different time zones, if needed, so that the burden of working late or starting early is distributed evenly among the different members of the group. Cross-cultural teams present additional challenges. Different cultures may have different business hours, holidays and vacation schedules, as well as different communication or work styles. You must be sensitive to cross-cultural issues, while still holding individuals to the same performance standards. Significant issues that may need to be addressed include clarifying how individuals will share their opinions (in some cultures, for example, open disagreement is considered impolite), and defining the authority that the manager has. Other issues to consider include:
What language will be used for discussions and reports? In what currency will budgets and monetary transactions be expressed?
What measurement system will be used for specifications (e.g., metric, UK, or U.S. measures)? How will you manage differences in national holidays and vacation policies?
Formal processes can help define many interactions among group members. However, informal processes are also important, as discussed in the next foundation.
Reward positive behavior. When you conduct individual reviews, give feedback on how the employee contributed to the group. For example, did Tina dominate conversations and hoard project resources for her own benefit? Even if she met her individual goals, you might not want to reward her as much as someone else who achieved their individual goals but also worked to improve
the group's performance overall. Reassign roles to encourage others to adopt new norms. Individuals are often unaware of the group norms that they have adopted. For example, you might notice that individuals regularly send out reports a few days after they are due. To begin to change this norm, assign someone to send out a reminder a few days in advance of a due date.
Identify desired behaviors. While you cant define all norms, you may want to explicitly state some expected behaviors. For example, explain that you encourage people to defend their views, but you also expect everyone to share relevant information with each other, even if it goes against his or her preferred choice.
The next foundation discusses how establishing positive norms for managing conflict can help individuals vent disagreements constructively and work together more creatively.
Managing Conflict
When conflict arises between individuals within your group, your goal is to manage it in a way that produces better ideas and decisions. Not all conflict is bad. In fact, if people strive too much for group harmony, that may override their motivation to debate alternative ideas. In this situation, often called groupthink, you lose the benefit of having a group of people with different backgrounds and view points.
thinking helps push the rest of us to question our ideas. How can we capitalize on her fresh perspective? Another tactic is to educate the group on differences in learning styles and problem solving approaches. Team-building exercises or personality assessments, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, can be useful tools for this purpose. Insights from such assessments can help your employees be more tolerant of and communicate better with each other. For example, if Ken prefers to dig into the details but knows that Lauren is a big picture thinker, he can present higher-level arguments to her instead of details. To benefit from diverse thinking styles and backgrounds, group members must listen to each other, be open to different perspectives, and be willing to objectively question their own beliefs. To encourage these behaviors:
Focus discussions on issues and goals. Explain at the outset of a discussion that the purpose is to come up with the best idea or decision for the group using all available information and diverse points of view.
Encourage open dialogue. Make it clear that everyones input should be valued. People should make an effort to understand and respect different viewpoints. Assign the role of devil's advocate or find other new ways of looking at an issue to help the group come up with more creative solutions to tough problems.
Ask questions. Ask people to support their ideas and opinions with data and rational argument, and look for agreement among group members on critical facts. Ask other group members if they have any information that supports or contradicts an idea.
Accommodate differences of opinion. Try to find ways to accommodate differences in opinion among group members. For example, if Theresa is concerned that a June deadline is high risk, while Marie believes that the June deadline is essential if the group is to meet this year's goals, identify what additional safeguards might be implemented to address Theresa's and Marie's concerns.
Acknowledge individuals who share their ideas in a positive manner. Recognize and thank people who were willing to take the risk of challenging your ideas or those of another group member. Point out how well they focused on the issues at hand and how maintaining focus helped the group to advance its thinking.
The disagreement impacts the groups productivity The problem is between an assertive person and a timid one The disagreement expands to include additional group members One or both of the individuals involved asks you for help
When you intervene in an interpersonal conflict, your role is to help the employees define the problem, listen to each other, look for areas of agreement, and identify potential solutions. After the employees agree on a plan of action, follow up with them to see how it is working. Use the "Conflict Resolution Analysis" tool to help you evaluate whether to intervene in an interpersonal conflict and to document your discussions with the employees involved.
your groups skill set to identify qualities you might look for when searching for a new member.
Hiring considerations
While diversity can have great benefits, dont immediately rush to hire someone just because he or she brings a different perspective or skill to your group. Group diversity can also make team process more difficult. For example, it can take much longer to make a decision when individuals interpret and respond to situations in different ways. It may also be more challenging to get people to trust each other because of different work styles or communication habits. Your employees may become frustrated with each other more quickly and your group may split into factions.
Because of these potential challenges, consider your groups primary responsibilities when deciding what to look for in a new hire. For example, if you are consistently under time pressure to complete analytic reports, you may not want to add someone whose work style is dramatically different from that of existing team members. But, if your group needs to innovate or frequently has to overcome challenging problems, consider adding people with diverse styles and backgrounds.
A supportive physical and psychological environment can help you transform a group of individuals into a high-performing team.
Create spaces to encourage communication: Informal and formal conversations are important components of teamwork. Physical spaces, such as a common lunch room or a lounge, can encourage the casual conversations that can help build friendships and trust.
Plan events that bring people together: Create opportunities for individuals to meet and talk informally. For example, invite your group to join you for lunch once a week, or begin each month with an informal breakfast meeting.
To promote effective teamwork, consider the following categories of resources and how they might benefit your group: Equipment: Consider how group members will communicate with each other. Individuals who travel frequently may need a contact management system or remote electronic access to shared work files. A white board that lists group projects and expected delivery dates can help keep everyone aware of the groups current obligations. Make sure that work spaces are stocked with needed tools. Technology: Consider technologies that could help your group work together more efficiently. Perhaps its a scheduling tool or knowledge management software. You may want to set up a team website with all of your groups relevant information such as prototypes and meeting minutes, to enable individuals to post their work and communicate with each other. Training: Consider whether any group members need training to contribute more to the team. Potential training topics range from interpersonal issues, such as working in a group, to technical issues, such as learning how to use a particular software program. For example, if you notice that some members of your group seem not to trust each other, a team-building workshop, where roles and interdependencies are clarified and differences are celebrated, may help. People: Does your group have the right number of people with appropriate skills to achieve its goals? Are individuals overwhelmed or overextended? You may need to seek help from another department (e.g., technical assistance from the IT group), or seek approval to hire temporary help or even an additional team member. Use the "Group Resources Needs" and the "Physical Environment Inventory" tools to assess your groups needs. Then, work with your supervisor to look for ways to cost effectively obtain the resources you need. Tools: Group Resources Needs and Physical Environment Inventory
A supportive environment also provides the emotional encouragement people need to feel that they are valued members of the group and helps motivate individuals to work together to achieve common goals. Much of the psychological support you provide will be in the form of feedback and rewards. A common mistake new managers make is to only provide feedback when something goes wrong or during a scheduled annual or semi-annual review. Help bolster employee confidence and build an optimistic outlook by providing regular positive feedback. Another way to motivate your group is to encourage individuals to focus on immediate milestones. Then celebrate the achievement of those milestones. Recognizing small achievements helps keep the group excited and on track toward achieving larger goals. Finally, recognize that when people are exhausted or overwhelmed, they can more easily become frustrated with each other. Look for opportunities to relieve tension and stress. For example, if your group has been working extra hours on a presentation for a major client, encourage everyone to enjoy some unscheduled time soon after it is completed.
The goals your boss has set for the larger unit or department he or she leadssuch as strengthening the units performance, ensuring it gets the resources it needs, and improving the way the unit works with other groups The outcomes your boss expects of each individual and unit under his or her direction
The criteria by which your bosss superiors judge his or her performance
Helping your boss achieve unit goals. When you know what your boss is trying to achieve in his or her unit, you can more easily develop ways to help your boss meet those goals.
Resolving conflicting expectations. Once you understand your bosss agenda, you may develop a greater appreciation for why he or she wants you to generate certain results in your group. This appreciation can help resolve any conflict between your and your bosss expectations about your responsibilities.
Clarifying information needs. A clear understanding of your bosss agenda enables you to make informed judgment calls about what information he or she will want from youand how often. It also enables you to clarify your
groups priorities and determine to which issues and events you should alert your boss. Helping your boss meet performance criteria. By understanding how your bosss performance will be judged by his or her superiorsas well as how those criteria relate to your own groups performanceyou can better define ways to support your bosss efforts.
Tool: Understanding Your Boss's Agenda A solid understanding of your bosss agenda yields numerous important benefits. To gain that understanding, its important that you learn how to manage up.
Understanding the demands and pressures your boss is under. Clarifying the personal goals he or she is striving to meet.
Knowing how best to collaborate, communicate, and make decisions with your boss. When you manage up effectively, you have a better chance of getting the resources you need to do your joband you work more effectively with your boss. After all, you and your boss are mutually dependentjust as you and your direct reports are. Managing up helps you ensure that both you and your boss get what you need to excel.
You . . . Believe its better for a manager to stay more involved in the details of direct reports work Prefer to mull over as much information as possible before making a decision
But your boss . . . Believes that effective managers delegate responsibility to their direct reports without interfering Values quick, decisive action, even if all the required information isnt at hand
Generate your most creative Is most creative when he or ideas during face-to-face, she has structured time alone impromptu discussions to brainstorm
You stay alert for opportunities to clarify your bosss performance expectations. You pay attention to clues in your bosss behaviorsignals suggesting how he or she prefers to receive information, when to deliver discouraging news about a project, or how often your boss needs to meet with you to stay informed. You accommodate your bosss work style in ways that help him or her become even more effective. For example, if your boss likes to deeply explore issues before forming an opinion, you might send brief agendas several days before a meeting to help your boss prepare.
Now that you know the benefits of understanding your boss agenda, youre ready to learn how to begin building a strong partnership with him or her. The next foundation addresses this subject.
Forging a partnership
How can you best begin building a strong partnership with your boss? Through observing your supervisor, asking him or her questions, and talking with others who know and work with your boss, assess the following: Performance expectations. Find out what your boss expects from you. How will he evaluate your performance? What standards will he want you to strive for? Verify your understanding of your responsibilities and performance standards with your boss to avoid misunderstandings.
Decision-making style. Does your boss like to be highly involved in decisions? If so, touch base frequently during the decision-making process. Or, does your boss prefer to delegate? In this case, youll want to touch base less frequently, yet also inform him or her about important decisions youve made.
Communication preferences. Dont underestimate or make assumptions about what your boss needs to know about your work. Keep her informed providing both good and bad news through processes that suit her style. Find
out how often your supervisor likes to be updated, what form she prefers (written reports? face-to-face meetings?), and how much detail she wants. Tool: Forging a Partnership Use the "Forging a Partnership" tool to develop ideas for working productively with your boss.
Be honest. When a project gets off track or an initiative goes over budget, dont shrink from sharing the bad news with your boss. He or she will likely want to be informed of problems as early as possible, before they become unmanageable. Again, provide the reason for the delay.
Respect your bosss time. Ask for your supervisors time and resources only to meet the most important goalsthe companys, your bosss, and yours. Handle less-critical matters yourself or delegate them, rather than consuming your supervisors time and attention.
In such cases, you may need to call on your powers of negotiation and persuasion to resolve disagreements. For example: Frame proposals in terms of business results. If you and your boss disagree on some expectations or priorities, identify those you consider the most important. Then make a compelling business case to persuade your boss to agree to those you consider most important. For example, I know youd prefer that I focus on other priorities. But I think if we can complete that market research project, well be in a much better position to get an early start on the new product line.
Present consequences and alternatives. If your supervisor has piled one too many major projects on you, respectfully explain what the consequences may be if you take on the extra work. Then present alternatives for his or her consideration. For example, Id be glad to work this new report into my schedule, but that will mean the key-account analysis may have to wait a week or two. One option is to hire temporary help for a few days to cover that end of things. What do you think?
Generating resources. Win needed resources by demonstrating your ability to produce results. For instance, overhaul an inefficient process, then use your resulting credibility to argue convincingly for funding a larger effort.
Identifying alternatives. Draw on your expertise to anticipateand circumventpossible obstacles to achieving your goals. For example, develop several contingency plans in case a particular decision doesnt go your way or a project doesnt go as well as expected.
By building a strong partnership with your boss, you boost the chances that the two of you will accomplish important goals together. But a strong partnership isnt enough: You also need to understand how your and your supervisors work relates to your organizations high-level strategy. The next foundation examines this subject.
Examine speeches by your companys CEO, reports to shareholders, and other documents for insights into the companys strategic aims. Notice what executives are talking about. For example, does the subject of getting costs in line keep coming up? Are you noticing frequent mention of enhancing top-line growth, building market share, or expanding product lines? Consider where the companys resources are going. Even if youve heard a lot of talk about innovation, your organization may have a very different
strategic objective if its investing most of the expenditure pie in marketing existing product lines. Check your understanding of the corporate strategy with other managers around you. They may have access to additional information that can help flesh out the strategic picture for you. Tool: Clarifying Strategy Use the "Clarifying Strategy" tool to help you better understand your company's and unit's strategy.
In all organizations, its vital that unit managerssuch as your boss and his or her peers align their goals with the companys strategy. For example, say your executive team has defined a strategy that entails providing high-quality products at the lowest possible cost. In this case, unit leaders would each develop a set of strategic objectives that would enable them to support the company-wide strategypossibly calling on you and other group leaders for input while defining the unit goals. For instance: The product development unit might set out to streamline development processes to lower costs.
The logistics unit could work toward centralizing certain supply chain processes to deliver products to customers more efficiently. The purchasing unit might survey vendors prices to find opportunities for savings.
Pointing out how your employees will benefit from the change Celebrating short-term successes to build momentum for further change Acknowledging the pain that change provokes
Communicating your confidence in your staffs ability to change the way they work Gaining your employees buy-in for the change initiative by inviting them to offer ideas for making the change happen Once you understand your companys strategy and your units goals, you can define a vision for your groupa compelling image of what your employees can accomplish in the future. The next foundation explores this aspect of supporting your boss and organization.
group visions incorporate images of valuable contributions your group could make in support of company, unit, and individual goals. Some examples of a group vision are: We will streamline all our work processes to achieve unprecedented speed and efficiency.
We will create innovative products that score huge successes in the marketplace. We will embrace change with courage, commitment, and compassion. We will become the most cost-effective group in our division.
We will generate the highest levels of customer loyalty ever seen in this company. Use the "Developing Your Group's Vision" tool to craft a preliminary vision statement that you will refine over time as you communicate your vision to others and test its effectiveness. You might ask your key employees to participate in crafting a vision statement, or you can develop a preliminary vision statement on your own and then gather feedback from others.
It paints a clear picture of the future. Your group vision makes it clear what the future work environment will look like once your group has realized its vision.
It expresses your groups core values and purpose. Your vision for your group should reflect the values you and your employees prizethe guiding principles by which your group carries out its work. These values might include respecting fellow team members ideas, communicating problems and concerns
promptly and honestly, pitching in as needed, and so forth. Your vision should also support your groups purpose within the larger organization. For instance, if you lead a customer service group, your vision will be most effective if it conveys specific images of how your employees might better serve customers in the future. It is expressed in concise, inspiring language. The best group visions can be communicated in concise, inspiring language to your troops in the form of a vision statement. As the above examples suggest, well-crafted vision statements evoke a powerful sense of teamoften by using words such as
we, our, and together. Effective statements get your and your employees' competitive and creative juices flowing. It inspires enhanced performance in your group. Your vision for your group not only supports your companys high-level strategy, it also encompasses other goals related to continual performance improvement within your group. For example, perhaps you envision helping your employees to feel more comfortable taking risks and learning from mistakes as a way to enhance their creative thinking and ability to innovate.
No matter how inspiring your vision for your group might be, youll have difficulty realizing that vision unless you translate it into actionable individual goals for your group. The next foundation offers guidelines for navigating this translation process.
1. Define the performance measures and execution strategies that are critical for your group to achieve in order to meet their goals.
Think about the vision you defined for your group. Then ask yourself what actions your group must take to make the vision real. For example, suppose you lead a customer service group and youve defined a vision in which your group sets new standards in the
quality of the service it provides. Perhaps youve determined that this vision of unparalleled customer service supports your units strategy of improving customer loyalty, which in turn aligns with the companys strategy of increasing market share. In this case, critical factors for your group might include the following:
Reducing errors in order fulfillment Solving callers problems more quickly and effectively
Deepening your staffs knowledge of company products and customers needs Improving customers perceptions of your groups competence
To define these factors, think in the broadest terms possible about how you can make your groups vision real.
2. Identify misalignments
Now assess how well each of the following aspects* of your group currently supports the critical factors youve defined: Success strategy. What approach will your group use to achieve its critical factors? For instance, will you seek to increase the number of new product ideas your group generates? Attract a new customer segment?
Structure. How well is your group set up to support achieving its critical factors? For example, is your group organized so that customers have easy access to people who can solve their problems?
Systems. Does your group have the systems required to achieve the critical factors? For instance, does current technology enable your employees to accurately track customers order status?
Skills. Do you have the right people, in the right jobs, and with the right skillssuch as a sufficient number of call center representatives who can answer customers calls on the first or second ring?
Shared values. Does your group hold the right values, norms, and assumptions about how work should be done to make its vision real? For example, do they make customer satisfaction and loyalty top priorities? Do they genuinely care about serving customers?
*Adapted from McKinsey & Co.'s 7S framework for organizational analysis. "Organizational Alignment: The 7-S Model" by Jeffrey L. Bradach. Harvard Business School Note, Nov. 19, 1996.
If you answer No to any of these questions, those aspects of your group are likely misaligned and do not support your critical factors.
Also look for misalignments between these aspects of your group. The table below shows some examples. You have If: misalignment : Between success strategy and skills Your success strategy is to increase the number of new product ideas your R&D group generates Your success strategy is to focus on a new customer segment in your marketing group And:
Your group doesnt understand the latest techniques and support tools that would let you run more experiments faster than before The group hasnt established an effective way to compile and analyze information about those customers Your group hasnt set up communication systems that enable experts from different product teams to share their knowledge
Between Youve organized structure and your product systems development group members by product line to focus specialized technical expertise on specific products
Ask yourself what changes in your groups success strategy, structure, systems, skills, and shared values would help correct any misalignment. For example, do your employees need to attend a training session on conducting R&D experiments? Should
you design more effective customer surveys that generate the information your group needs to design marketing campaigns that appeal to a new customer segment? What about setting up a series of meetings or mentoring relationships that enable technical experts from different product teams to share their knowledge? The changes you identify should become the basis for your groups individual goals.
Increase repeat purchases by key customers 20 percent over the next year.
Tool: Checking Goal Alignment Use the "Checking Goal Alignment" tool to verify that your individual goals are aligned with company and unit goals. Aligning individual goals with group goals, unit goals, and your companys high-level strategy takes time and skill. But the rewards are worth it. When you achieve alignment, you help ensure that everyone in your group is pulling in the same directionthe direction your company has defined as crucial for its success.
What is networking?
In its most general sense, networking is the cultivating of mutually beneficial relationships with superiors, peers within and outside your organization, and direct reports. This Stepping Up to Management module focuses on networking with colleagues. Your colleagues, or peers, may include: Other managers working in different functional areas or regions in your organization
Former peers and bosses who now work at other companies Suppliers and customers with whom you regularly interact
Influential and knowledgeable people you know from participating in professional association meetings and other outside business activities As you might guess, networks can take several forms. For example:
Organizational: Your organizational network might comprise relationships with colleagues who work within your department or in other functional areas or regions, on whom you depend to accomplish your work. For instance, if you work in human resources and are responsible for helping to develop a new recruiting web site, youll likely need to interact productively with people from
the IT department, as well as managers throughout the company who will provide information on what they need from the new web site. Informal: Your informal network may contain bonds youve formed with peers inside and outside your organization based more on positive chemistry or mutual interests rather than project-specific work. For example, perhaps youve met numerous individuals through a manager orientation program who share interests similar to yours, and you feel a kinship with them. You may want to cultivate workplace relationships with these peers for the mutual advice and support they provide.
Personal: A personal network may consist of connections with individuals outside your organizationsuch as former colleagues or bosses. These peers can often provide useful suggestions for handling management challenges and recommendations for future vendors or employees, as well as emotional support as you transition into your new role.
Tool: Cultivating Your Network Use the "Cultivating Your Network" tool to identify your existing network members and to plan how you will manage these relationships.
More easily procure the resources and support your group needs to do its
work Protect your group from overly demanding requests from other departments or teams
Clarify your peers needs so your people can support other units efforts
Learn from other managers leadership styles and problem-solving strategies Gather penalty-free feedback on your performance as a manager Share and learn from your shared managerial experiences
In addition, networking with colleagues helps you: Receive emotional support so you can more effectively cope with the challenges of management
Explore ideas for improving your groups productivity and performance or addressing thorny people management problems
Broaden your understanding of how the different parts of your organization work together
Obtain guidance on how your decisions or actions might affect various stakeholders and influence events in the long run Challenge any incorrect assumptions you might have made about the managerial role Transition smoothly back into your organization when you return home from any expatriate assignments In addition to offering these valuable benefits, peer networking has become more essential than ever in todays business world. Why? More organizations are using flatter management structures, outsourcing, and virtual teamsall of which require managers to get things done through people over whom they have no formal authority. In addition, change has grown increasingly complex, involving multiple functions within and even between companies. Clearly, peer networking has become a crucial business competency. To master this competency, you will need to learn to actively manage and cultivate your network. The next foundation discusses strategies for building your network.
Invite candid feedback from peersespecially those who may not be your biggest fans. Ask them to tell you honestly how they feel about your performance as a manager. Ask their opinions on what youve accomplished (or not accomplished) so far, how youve gone about your work, and how others in your organization feel about your leadership style. Request specific examples of your behaviors that arent working.
Work to understand your peers biggest challenges and concerns, and identify ways to help them.
Be sure to forge bonds with peers who make things happen in your organization, with individuals to whom others go for advice and support, and with colleagues who can influence others.
Win your colleagues trust and respect by showing your willingness to work hard. Follow through with promises youve made, and demonstrate honesty.
Dedicate a specific amount of time each day or week to building your peer network. For example, commit to having lunch each Thursday with a different manager inside or outside your organization whom you dont know well but who may play an important role in a project youll be leading.
Developing your peer network takes time and patienceand often the dividends dont come until much later. But, as many new managers have discovered, the effort is well worth it. In the following foundation, youll learn more about how to garner the benefits your peer network offers in exerting influence.
Consultation
Being consulted can be a valued currency. When you need one or more peers support on a project, take time to ask their opinionspositive and negativeabout the initiative youre championing. Youll make them feel engaged in your idea, and therefore more committed to supporting it. For example, suppose youre responsible for setting up a new database in your company. For the project to succeed, youll need other managers throughout the organization to take time to input their customer data into the new centralized repository. But many of them may feel theyre too busy to do so. You cant order them to provide the data, so youll have to win their commitment through other means. In this case, you could involve them in the project by asking them what kinds of reports and other information they would like to see the new system provide, as well as solicit their ideas for gathering the needed information most efficiently. By offering their ideas and knowing that youre hearing their concerns, they may feel more willing to provide the support you need.
Coalition building
When several people advocate an idea, they exert more influence than one lone proponent. For this reason, coalition building plays a vital role in influence. If you can gather together influential colleagues to form a single body of authority, you stand a better chance of winning other peers support for a proposal or initiative.
How to identify potential coalition members? Ask yourself whose blessing you need whether in the form of political support or access to important resources or individuals to put your idea into action. Also ask whose buy-in is crucial to your initiatives success. Any of these individuals would be useful members of a coalition.
to develop these skills. But Graham says hes too busy to spend several hours a week mentoring Sylvia. Tool: Leveraging Your Influence Here, you might influence Grahams decision by pointing out how much hell be helping the company overall by enabling Sylvia, a high-potential employee, to develop her skills: Whenever managers fulfill their mentoring responsibilities, we retain valued employees rather than losing them to competing companies that can offer them better developmental opportunities. While youre at it, you might also acknowledge why you want Graham, rather than someone else, to coach Sylvia: Youre very well-regarded by high-level people in this organization, especially for your decision-making abilities. These and other techniques can help you influence your peer network members so that each of you gains something of value. In addition to influence, you can also use persuasion to get the most from your peer network. The next foundation presents several potent persuasion tactics
Providing incentives
Provide incentives for your peers to support your ideas. For instance, after discussing the need for your peers financial commitment to the new system, you might mention your willingness to help the person in ways that address his or her most pressing challenges.
Drawing comparisons
Monitor industry trends and developments, and draw on them to persuade your peers. For example, Jim, Ive just seen a report that says more and more organizations are
moving to this type of system. If we want to stay on the cutting edgeand be seen by our customers as tech-savvywe need to commit to a group effort to make it happen.
Overcoming objections
Tool: Practicing Persuasion Identify the principal causes of your peers resistance to your ideas, and work to defuse them. For instance, Sophie, I realize youre concerned that moving to this new system will mean more time youll have to spend inputting your groups data. But I calculate the time required for inputting data at no more than one hour per week. More important, youll ultimately save much more than an hour per week because of new efficiencies youll gain once the system is set up and everyone is using it regularly. Using influence and persuasion can help you gain the most value from your peer network and achieve the best results when collaborating with your colleagues. The next foundation explains additional strategies for successful cross-functional collaboration.
Human Resources Designing a series of courses on effective cross-selling Information Technology Building a customer database that distinguishes market
Marketing
Product Development
Finance
When collaboration with peer managers becomes extensive, companies often form cross-functional teams comprising representatives from each participating unit. For example, a cross-functional team designed to support the companys market-share goals might be led by someone from Marketing and include managers from Product Development, Sales, and Information Technology. As needed, the team might pull in members from Finance and Human Resources. When cross-functional teams are created, they typically develop a charter that outlines the roles, responsibilities, key milestones, deliverables, and decision-making processes of the group.
Get clear approval from senior management for any major cross-functional collaboration.
To ensure accountability, document all peer-collaboration needs, expectations, and obligationsas well as any changes in the agreements youve made.
If a conflict arises once the collaboration begins, acknowledge and resolve it immediately, so the effort can continue moving forward as planned.
If many different group managers must collaborate on an initiative, consider suggesting formation of a cross-functional team dedicated to carrying out the initiative. If youre approaching a time when a peer manager will owe your group work, remind him or her about the upcoming collaboration. Give your peer the courtesy of sufficient notice.
Put reminder mechanisms in place to ensure that you follow through on your obligations to peers.
8. EVOLVING AS A MANAGER
Who Are You Becoming?
The transformation from individual contributor to manager can initially seem overwhelming, but with experience, you're likely to discover new strengths and talents. As you develop in your management career, you'll want to look for opportunities to leverage these strengths. You're also likely to find that you lack some important skills, and in that case you'll need to figure out how to enhance those abilities or adopt compensating strategies.
Taking stock
Self-reflection will help you assess your managerial abilities and interests. Consider the type of work you most enjoy and past experiences in which you held a leadership role. Ask yourself questions, such as:
Do I like collaborative work? Have I learned to work through others? Do I enjoy working on difficult problems? How do I cope with stress?
In informal groups, have others turned to me as a leader? What was the result? What does leadership mean to me? Do I have a genuine interest in the success and well-being of those around me? Am I as happy when others succeed as when I succeed? Thinking about such questions will help you better understand what motivates you, what you hope to achieve through your work, what types of challenges you might tend to avoid, and what type of management career you will want to pursue.
Record the actual results Compare the actual results with your expectations
Tool: Identifying Strengths & Weaknesses Look for patterns in the relationship between actual outcomes and your expected outcomes. Perhaps you are good at anticipating your opponents moves in negotiations. Or you find that you frequently underestimate others capabilities. Strengths are areas where you demonstrate a history of outcomes consistent with expectations. Your weaknesses may lie in areas where there is rarely a match. Use the Identifying Strengths & Weaknesses tool to record your observations.
disinterested when others want to talk about problems they are having. You consider this information and realize that this is in fact a fairly accurate interpretation of your intentionwhen someone starts relating a problem they are having, you begin feeling stressed and overburdened, and you disengage to alleviate those feelings. What needs to change? In this case, you'd want to learn how not to take ownership of others' problems and instead act as an advisor or coach.
Leaders Ask: Are we doing the right thing? And focus on:
Perceive patterns and relationships. Leadership involves seeing situations from a broader perspective in order to identify needed changes in the organization and set direction. By taking a step back from the current environment and context, one can more easily perceive patterns and detect relationships between disparate elements. Take time to periodically reflect on your environment from a broader perspective and discuss your observations with a mentor.
Tolerate ambiguity. Leaders often must establish direction based on incomplete or ambiguous information. To become more comfortable with uncertainty, look for situations where others have navigated successfully in ambiguous circumstances, and analyze their strategies. Choose tasks or projects that will enable you to practice in a low-risk environment.
Embrace change. The comfortable and familiar can easily turn into stagnation, while too much change can lead to chaos. Observe how you and those around you react to proposed changefor example, do you feel threatened or restless? Effective leaders learn to gauge an appropriate pace for introducing change.
Discover what you value. A leaders value judgments are essential to establishing clear direction. For example, one company invests in developing successive generations of an artificial heart valve, in which each generation is slightly better than the preceding one. The companys philosophy is that the most valuable contribution it can make is to continue to improve this life-saving device. Another company, adopting a different philosophy, invests in the search for an elusive breakthrough technology that will enable doctors to permanently correct some valve abnormalities. Neither of these two philosophies is necessarily right or wrong, but they represent different values. Develop awareness of your values by observing your choices and preferences over time. Understanding your values will help you to:
Choose opportunities that will increase your sense of fulfillment because they are consistent with your values.
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Reject opportunities that will lead to frustration because they dont match your values. Tool: Leadership Qualities Self-Assessment Use the Leadership Qualities Self-Assessment tool to identify leadership qualities that you may want to strengthen.
How do others feel about working with me? How do others feel about themselves when they are working with me? Does working with me leave people feeling energized? What aspects of my behavior are not effective?
The next foundation explains the application of emotional intelligence in leadership and management roles and how you can improve your emotional intelligence.
For example, individuals may take on impossible assignments because they dont realize that they lack requisite skills, or may make decisions that violate their core values because they fail to recognize what those core values are. Most people arent strong in all four components of emotional intelligence. But the most effective and successful managers have strengths across all the EI quadrants, listed below.
The Components of Emotional Intelligence Self-Awareness Emotional self-awareness. The ability to read and understand your emotions as well as to recognize their impact on job performance and relationships. Accurate self-assessment. The ability to realistically evaluate your strengths and limitations. Self-confidence. The ability to keep a realistically positive sense of self-worth. Self-Management Self-control. The ability to keep disruptive emotions and impulses under control. Transparency. The ability to be honest, authentic, and have integrity. Initiative. The ability to have a sense of efficacy and seize opportunities as they arise. Adaptability. Skill at adjusting to changing situations and overcoming obstacles. Optimism. The ability to view setbacks as opportunities instead of threats. Achievement. Skill at setting realistic goals and seeking performance improvements.
Social Awareness Empathy. Skill at sensing a wide range of emotional signals, understanding others perspectives, and taking an active interest in their concerns. Organizational awareness. The ability to read the currents of organizational life, build social networks, and navigate politics. Service. The ability to recognize and meet customers needs.
Relationship Management Influence. Skill at sending clear, convincing, and well-tuned messages. Inspiration. The ability to inspire and move people with a compelling vision. Catalyst for change. The ability to challenge the status quo and champion the new order. Conflict management. The ability to defuse disagreements and orchestrate resolutions. Development of others. The propensity to bolster the abilities of others through feedback and guidance. Teamwork. Skill at building teams and fostering collaboration.
To strengthen EI, emotional centers of the brain must be retrained to adopt new behaviors, much as one would break a bad habit by replacing it with a new, positive behavior. To develop your EI capabilities:
Create a personal vision of your ideal self. Who do you want to become? What kind of manager do you want to become? How do you want to be remembered as a manager? Gather feedback from colleagues to shed light on which of your EI skills most need improvement.
Examine your behavior to understand exactly what you need to change for example, In stressful situations I fail to listen to others suggestions and ideas. Identify how you will behave differently. For example, In stressful situations I will specifically ask others for their ideas and will concentrate on listening to their suggestions.
Enlist the support of others to help you monitor your progress. For example, if you are seeking to become more open to others ideas, you might ask a trusted colleague to observe your behavior in meetings where new ideas are discussed.
Tools: Assessing Your Emotional Intelligence and Strengthening Your Emotional Intelligence The "Assessing Your Emotional Intelligence" and Strengthening Your Emotional Intelligence tools will help you better understand and strengthen your emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence plays an important role in your successful transition from individual contributor to manager, and perhaps even more so as you develop your leadership role. The next foundation discusses how to apply EI components such as self-awareness and self-management as you chart the next steps in your career.
The answers will help you chart your learning and development agenda and provide insight into which types of assignments and positions are appropriate at each stage of your development. According to Linda Hill, there should be a good fit between your abilities, goals, and need for learning opportunities, and the position to which you aspire.
It's also a good idea to look for diverse experiences to help you develop skills in different functional areas. While it's true that you should leverage your strengths, some initial strengths can later become fatal flaws if you do not learn to adapt to new demands. Strong technical expertise, for example, may be a valuable asset early in your management career. But too great a reliance on this strength may prevent you from developing broader management abilities that could prove essential later on.
Look outward in your organization to identify emerging needs Set goals important to your organization as well as your own interests
Position yourself to acquire skills and gain relevant experiences through stretch assignments or lateral moves within your organization Periodically reevaluate goals, making changes as organizational needs change
Tool: Career Development Checklist Thinking strategically about your developmental network means that you look for a cross-section of relationships rather than focusing on just one mentor. It also means that you actively develop new relationships based on your changing needs rather than relying on existing relationships simply because they are comfortable. Use the Career Development Checklist tool to periodically assess your career development goals activities. Over time youll reap the reward for effectively managing your careerthe achievement of positional power: a combination of visibility, autonomy, and a fast track position. Positional power grows out of a good performance record, a strong network, and the ability to attract stretch assignments. Positional power grows in a self-reinforcing cycle. New successes and new assignments further strengthen your visibilityand further increasing your ability to use that power to make a positive contribution to your organization.