99% Of All Managers Know The Basics Of Management But…

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I believe 99% of Managers know the basics of Management but only a small percentage actually ‘do it’.

Why is that?

The Manager is being watched!

The basics of Management is simple.

The basics of Management is easy to learn.

The basics of Management don’t change.

Is it because they are lazy?

Is it because of procrastination?

It is because they have never been trained how to use the basic Management skills?

Yes, yes and yes and there are several other reasons as well.

So do you think you are a good Manager?

Do you want to be a better Manager?

Do you use the basic Management skills?

Do you know what the basic Management skills are?

By knowing them, learning them and using them, you’ll be so much better.

A Manager has four key activities:

1.    Planning

2.    Staffing

3.    Controlling

4.    Communicating

Planning

Before any action is taken, a plan is made. Planning for a large departmental change or a new system or to improve the service will take most of a Manager’s time.

There will be likely many meetings and conferences to attend. The Manager may sit at a desk for hours, looking through reports, recommendations, risks, issues and budgets.

At the same time, the Manager needs to maintain the existing service, your staff will need guidance, and your boss will want you to do things for them…all within a working day.

Time, staff, customers, boss, service and change – all things that must be planned for and fitted into the Manager’s day.

Some of the planning will take place while travelling to and from work, or while taking a shower.

Make sure you spend enough time planning the future of your department.

What’s your department’s plan?

What are the ‘outcomes’ you are striving for?

(Check out this article on outcomes)

What does your departments service look like, a year from now?

Staffing

As the Manager, you will determine the manpower needs for your department. You will play a major role in the hiring of qualified people to fill the job openings.

Alternatively, you will negotiate with other Managers to move staff around from one department to another.

Also under Staffing there is training. It is unreasonable to expect employees to do their jobs well if they don’t know how. Therefore, every manager throughout an organization is involved in some way with the process of training. It will be your job as the Manager to ensure your staff members are regularly trained in the relevant practises and skills required. This can be very challenging especially with company’s reducing their training budgets.

Do your staff have role profiles and development plans?

Is your department ‘manned’ at the right levels?

Controlling

As the Manager of the department, you will receive a vast amount of reports and data, on a daily basis.

Over a short period of time, you will quickly see some are important and some are not.

With the important reports and data, you will want to analyse and study to see if you and your department are ‘on the right track’ or have to take preventable actions to change things around.

You need to ensure you have the appropriate controls in place to move your department towards the direction it is heading.

What controls do you have in place?

What measures do you have in place?

Do you have department objectives and goals?

Communicating

Your boss will want to know how well you and your department are doing. They may want a daily, weekly or monthly report.

The results of your department must be reported and you will be responsible for ensuring the report is communicated, issued and discussed on the frequency required – as well as being accurate and up-to-date.

When was the last time you asked your boss whether the communication you provide meets their requirements?

Do you have a communications plan?

The four activities are the key activities for basic Management. As a Manager, it is your role to ensure you cover all four.

You know you should…but do you?

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