5 Tips for Successful Management

Being a manager is not an easy job; it requires extra skills, effort and most of all a strategic vision. Unfortunately not all managers come equipped with the skills needed to ensure their success in their positions. Here is a look at the top 5 skills that Sean McPheat, a management and leadership trainer, discusses in his management course titled “Secrets to Successful Management”.

1- Being Proactive

The difference between the majority of managers and those that are very successful is that if opportunities and success do not come their way, they make things happen. Indeed, you should get away from the fact that you are a manager and start using the term leader instead. Do you think conceptually or are you too busy fighting fires and trying to put them out? If you are fighting fires and concentrating on the day to day running of the business then you should stop and start setting direction, vision and a path for the way ahead.

In order to set the vision, then you must have a plan. No matter whether you are a CEO, MD, Manager, Supervisor or Team Leader you should always have a plan of action of what you want and how you are going to get it. The most effective managers have: 

- A business plan determining where are they going and why
- An operating plan determining how they are going to get there
- A change plan determining how they will manage all of the change coming into the business

Of course there are going to be other types of plans, but as a manager should be concerned with these three plans no matter what business you are in. Furthermore, you should actually put the plan into action and measure your progress. The most successful managers take action. They don't mind if the outcome doesn't go their way, they just modify their approach until the outcome does go their way. That's the essence of great leaders - they never give in. 

2- Communication Skills

If you haven't got excellent communication skills you are probably going to struggle as a manager. So many top managers have great levels of knowledge and skills but they are unable to communicate what they know and what they want.

Communication is extremely important for you as a manager because in your role you have gone past that stage in your career where you have had to role your sleeves up and complete the "doing". Now is the time to step back and look at the direction that your company, team or department needs to be moving towards. Now is the time to formulate strategy and plans. Seeing as you will not be actually physically carrying out your plans you need to get others to carry them out for you. You need to communicate your requirements in a motivating and empowering way that gets others to complete the tasks and activities to a high standard and within budget and time constraints.

The following tips can help you communicate your vision easily:

- Use visual diagrams where possible. The old saying of "A picture is worth a thousand words" is true.

- Explain/illustrate where you are now and where you need to be so that your staff can build up a mental picture

- Sell the benefits to your staff of why you are following this route of action.

- Sell the benefits to your staff of "What's in it for them?"

- Anticipate questions up front. Sit down and put yourself in the shoes of a cynical staff member and brainstorm all of the tough questions that they could come out with.

- Put a support structure in place where people can go to get their questions/concerns answered after the communication.

3- Understanding Others

Great motivators seem to just effortlessly be able to motivate and get the best out of their teams. The secret lies in their ability to read other people and the ability to know what motivates them. Then they tailor the way he/she approaches them and communicates with each person differently.

Here are two important criteria that make up someone else's world:

1- Values: This is all about standards and evaluations. Values are our attractions or repulsion’s in life. They are all about what is important and what is good or bad for us. Because values are about things that are important to us, they have a great impact on our motivation. 

2- Beliefs:  A belief is a feeling of certainty of what something means to us. All human behavior is belief driven. Beliefs are the presuppositions that we have about the way the world is. Depending upon what they are they can either create or destroy our own personal power to do something. When communicating to someone it is important to elicit their beliefs of why they have done what they have done. 

Once you understand others, you should know how to motivate them. Your job is to ensure that your team is motivated whether you actually do the motivating yourself or not. You have got to make sure that the team get on as a whole and that they are rowing in the same direction. This means motivating them yourself and getting fellow team mates to motivate them. In addition to this, there also has to be an element of self motivation.

4- Personal Improvement

As a manager you should be focusing on your own development as much as everyone else's development. Just because you are a manager doesn't mean that you are at the end of the personal development road. Instead it means that you are actually starting out again but at a completely different level. You need it more now than you have ever done in the past.

In order to set a personal development plan, you need to understand yourself and to take current stock of where you are now. This will allow you to identify your weaknesses and then attempt to minimize them. This can be done through taking a series of tests and questionnaires that identify your personality type as well as your managerial style. Such tests include: a managerial styles questionnaire, a learning styles inventory as well as general personality tests.

Concentrate on improving your weaknesses and get you an action plan to improve those areas of your working life. These can be skills, knowledge or any area of your work or personal life (if it is affecting your time at work) where you feel inadequate or unfulfilled.

Then focus on how you will actually improve by determining a time plan as well as the resources that will be needed to carry out the plan.

5- Seeking Good Counsel

Every top manager is where he or she is today because of the decisions they have made in the past and the potential of the decisions and impact they will have in the future. However, they don’t do it all on their own. All of the most effective executives and seniors have a support structure in place to ensure their own success. This support structure may include:

- Recruiting the best staff to work for you
- Hiring a coach
- Holding think-tank sessions
- Having the very best lawyers, accountants and advisers
- Having a right hand man/woman
- Reading self help books
- Learning new skills to stay ahead

Sources:
www.management-training-development.com