"Give People enough guidance to make the decisions you want them to make. Don't tell them what to do, but encourage them to do what is best". In times of economic decline when nothing seems to work, businesses begin to feel the pressure from all corners. The immediate pressure suddenly falls on the head count carried in the organisation. Suddenly, everyone is exposed to the question "what is this person doing?"
This question creates the snowball effect and leads towards downsizing. The impact is so sudden that all those who are sitting "unprepared" are the first to go. Those who survive are the ones who have proved they have something different about themselves that makes them continue do what they do.
The question here is what makes the difference between the "Prepared" and "Unprepared" and what makes the Prepared Survive even during the most difficult times. In this article and series of other articles, we will try to identify how Pakistani business managers can improve upon their managerial skills and what tools and techniques they can use in their routine work to create the "Value" that makes them an asset for the organisation and hence they are part of the "Prepared" ones.
In short, one can say that this position resides at the backbone of any company or organisation. A successful Manager can uplift the status of the company, thus make it progressive. Monster or magician: This is a question that all business managers must ask themselves. This is a self-assessment of the term manager, as how one looks at.
Managers mostly viewed as monsters are the ones who, for the time being, may be effective due one reason or the other, it could be they are heading an important project or that they may be well connected in the organisation or maybe they are just lucky to be there. But this is a short-term status that once achieved or branded ultimately takes the person down south. However, managers viewed as magicians are the most respected, sorted after and enjoy success in the long run.
These managers are more like the pipe pier, who have great following and enjoy the "In-demand" status. A quote from Robert Townsend "If people are coming to work excited... if they are making mistakes freely and fearlessly... if they are having fun... if they are concentrating on doing things rather than preparing reports and going to meetings; then you somewhere you have a leader..."
Also as William Feather goes "He isn't a real boss until he has trained subordinates to shoulder most of his responsibilities." The article will try to analyse what makes a given business manager to convert himself into a magician and develop abilities that will assist a manager to outperform. A practical manager: The potential skills of a practical manager that are suggested here, to be adopted.
They are: (1) The ability to solve problems, (2) the ability to make decisions, (3) the ability to manage time, (4) the ability to manage stress, (5) the ability to manage leadership, (6) the ability to manage team, (7) the ability to communicate and (8) The ability to manage failure.
Before analysing these abilities that make a practical manager, let us analyse what are the common traits of successful people. These are some traits can be observed generally in people around us who are successful in one way or the other. The reason to mention these traits are for you to keep them somewhere at the back of your mind and bring them out from time to time.
--- Humble yet disciplined
--- Excellent relationship builders
--- Great communicators
--- Have a positive attitude
--- Open to Improve upon their shortcomings
--- Open to listen to suggestions and value recommendations
--- Ability to solve problems
--- To start this investigation, let's first define what a problem is and what general options we have to use in our business environment to resolve them. A problem can be described as:
--- A dilemma, an undesirable situation, a question you cannot answer
--- A situation that exists when the current state is different from the preferred one
Another way of looking at a problem is an opportunity; yes problems bring opportunities, ie opportunity to learn, explore, change, and improve upon, innovate, construct and most importantly gain knowledge of areas that were never thought of.
Solving a Problem could be described as transforming one set of circumstances into another by using certain tools and techniques. Most business problems that surface are symptoms of underlying issues and business managers at times tend to fix the symptom rather than the real issue. A small real-time example could be when a team that has been assigned a certain task fails to deliver, it could be because of a number of reasons such as one could be the team formation is not working as desired.
But another reason could be lack of commitment and willingness of the senior management towards the team's given task; hence the desired commitment from the team is missing. This can only be seen once analysis is performed of the situation using various problem solving tools and techniques.
There are three generally possible ways of addressing or handling a problem, which are as follows
--- You can remove the problem
--- Overcome the problem
--- Navigate through the problem
There are four basic steps in problem solving that are suggested:
Step 1: Defining the problem.
Step 2: Generating alternatives.
Step3: Evaluating and selecting alternatives.
Step 4: Implementing solutions.
The following tools and techniques can be used for problem solving:
1. The 5 why technique - helps you get quickly to the root of the problem
2. Cause and effect diagram - identifies likely causes of the problem
3. SWOT - analysis of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat
4. Brainstorming technique - a group consensus method used very effectively
5. Brain writing technique - group consensus method involving writing down the comments
Ability to make decisions: Decision-making is the execution of risk management, where risk management is planning on reducing the possibilities of loss, decision-making is execution of these plans. Every day we make decisions that impact our personal and business results. However, the chance of making a wrong decision still exists. What can be done is reduce the chances of making wrong decisions; a few tips are suggested here:
--- Be sure to choose based on what is right , not who is right
--- Discontinue prolonged deliberations about your decision. Make it and carry it through.
DECISION-MAKING TOOLS
1. Pareto analysis - helps you choose on 80/20 rule and identifies what to change
2. Grid analysis - when multiple factors are to be considered in a decision
3. Decision tree - uses chooses by valuing different options
4. Cost/benefit analysis - seeking financial impact and sense of making a decision
5. The Delphi technique - this uses consensus among experts
6. Impact analysis - helps to identify unexpected consequences of a decision
Ability to manage time: Since our first day in school, we have all gone through different orientations on time management. From reaching school on time, doing homework and submitting assignments to finishing our exam within the limit time. What is important is that this then carries with us in our professional life. In order to summarise this topic I shall share a very common time management matrix but at the same a very practical and can effectively be implemented.
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Urgent Not So Urgent
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Important First Quadrant Second Quadrant
1 Crisis situation 1 Planning
2 Persistent Problems 2 Preparation
3 Flying Deadlines 3 Prevention
4 Mostly Firefighting 4. Good Management
This is when there is No Plan This is when there is A Plan
and everything is "As Soon as and everything is "As Per
Possible" and the managers are Plan" and the managers are
saying "I want this as of Yesterday"... following a Plan. Concentrate
Concentrate on Reducing this in on Increasing this in the
the Organisation at each Dept and Organisation at each Dept
each individual level by increasing and each individual.
the Second Quadrant This will reduce Fire Fighting
and give room for constructive
thinking
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Not Important Third Quadrant Fourth Quadrant
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1 Interruptions 1. Junk Mails
2.Phone 2. Phone Calls
3.Emails 3. Email Chains
4. Laziness
These are speed breakers, Try avoiding this but then it is
mostly happen when you are also helps you relax at times.
busy and unimportant interruption But if made a norm, will
breaks in. You need identify certainly impact your
what is important and what can performance
be deferred to be attended
at later stage
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A precaution with regard to time management is procrastination. This is where matters are put for "tomorrow". A famous quote is given here to give a glimpse of what procrastination is "Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday." -Napoleon Hill
TIME MANAGEMENT
1. Beating procrastination - more of a habit than Tool
2. Activity logs - know where your time is spent; be honest in recording and don't share it...
3. To do list - listing down activities to be performed within schedule (date + time)
4. Urgent/important matrix (given above)
ABILITY TO MANAGE STRESS
The ability to manage this helps you to focus even in the most intense situations. Stress is defined as researchers define stress as a physical, mental, or emotional response to Events that causes bodily or mental tension. Simply put, stress is any outside force or event that has an effect on our body or mind. A brief description of three general types of stress is as follows
Physical - This occurs when the body as a whole starts to suffer as a result of a stressful situation. Symptoms can manifest in a variety of ways and vary in their seriousness.
Emotional - These responses are due to stress affecting the mind and include anxiety, anger, depression, irritability, frustration, over-reaction to everyday problems, memory loss and a lack of concentration for any task
Mental - Long-term stress can cause mental problems in some individuals. Symptoms include withdrawal from society, phobias, compulsive behaviours, eating disorders and night terrors.
--- Detailed discussion on stress will be conducted in the stress management article, however, a few tips are shared here for readers' reference
--- Get organised - Plan, schedule, take notes, and keep good records.
--- Rehearse (visualise) - Talk to yourself, make sure no one is watching while you are talking to yourself...
Do it now - Do your most unpleasant or most difficult task at the beginning of the day when you are fresh, thereby avoiding the stress of last minute preparation.
PROCRASTINATION FEEDS STRESS! Know your limits - Be realistic about what you can accomplish in a day. It's better to emphasise quality in your work, rather than sheer quantity.
--- To overcome stress management there are the following tips:
1. Stress diary - identify the short-term stress(es) in life
2. Anger management - channeling anger productively
3. Burnout self-test - testing yourself for burnout
4. Building self-confidence - developing the self-confidence you deserve and must carry
5. Physical relaxation techniques - taking deep breaths and taking short breaks, walkout of office
ABILITY TO LEAD The ability to Lead and become a Leader is difficult topic to discuss. The old fashioned view of leadership is that leaders are marked out for leadership from early on in their lives and that if you're not a born leader, there's little that you can do to become one. However, that has changed; the modern view is that through patience, persistence and hard work, you can be an effective leader, just as long as you make the right amount of effort needed. Peter Drucker has defined it as "the only definition of a leader is someone who has followers. To gain followers requires influence, but doesn't exclude the lack of integrity in achieving this. Indeed, it can be argued that several of the world's greatest leaders have lacked integrity and have adopted values that would not be shared by many people today".
Leadership is defined as a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realise your own leadership potential.
To develop leadership skills, one must have the following qualities:
1. A personal mission and vision Statement
2. Leading from the front - walk the talk, actually do what you say by setting examples
3. Ability to be a team member; ability to be criticised, you still are a human being and can make mistakes
4. Ability to allocate tasks - pick the right one for the right situation
5. Ability to resolve conflicts - using strong rationales and implementing effectively
Various leadership styles have been discussed, generally a few a marked below, you have to manage within these styles to become an effective leader, however, managing a balance depends on the situation at hand
1. Autocratic leadership style - the classical approach where a manager retains as much power and decision making authority as possible. Does not consult staff, nor allowed to give any input. Has a structured set of rewards and punishments
2. Bureaucratic leadership style - Manages "by the book, everything done according to procedure or policy. If not covered by the book, referred to the next level above
3. Democratic leadership style - also known as participative style, encourages staff to be a part of the decision-making, keeps staff informed about everything that affects their work and shares decision-making and problem solving responsibilities
4. Laissez faire leadership style - Also known as the "hands-off¨ style. The manager provides little or no direction and gives staff as much freedom as possible. All authority or power given to the staff and they determine goals, make decisions, and resolve problems on their own
5. Paternalistic leadership style - leader acts as a 'father figure'. Paternalistic leader makes decision but may consult. Believes in the need to support staff
ABILITY TO MANAGE TEAM Together Everyone Achieves More. The ability to get everyone the same page is the ability to set the desired direction. You cannot satisfy everyone; however, you could have a buy-in. The team formation can be viewed as follows:
All teams go through the form stage where team formation and selection of team members is performed. Provide clear direction to establish the team's purpose, setting goals, etc. usually at this stage the excitement and motivation levels - very high.
However, storm starts when things start to slow down, different interest groups start to surface, and focus on the core begins to diminish. At this time a Strong Leadership is required to steer out of the situation. Prolonged Storm stage can lead to complete halt and failure.
At the norm stage, codes of behaviour is established and an identifiable group culture emerges. People begin to enjoy each other's company and appreciate each other's contributions. At the Perform Stage, Teams that reach this stage achieve results easily and enjoyably. People work together well and can improve systems, solve problems and provide excellent customer service.
ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE Regardless of the size of the business you are in, whether a large corporation, a small company or even an entrepreneur, effective communication skills are essential for success. Communication cannot be left out. From our first day on earth and through all stages of life, communication has played a great role. Even the most notable organisations (commercial and social) are the ones, which have great communication with the outside world in various forms and means. This also requires internal communication within the organisation and most importantly at Individual Level. Imagine an organisation of 100 people, which don't talk to each other, it would sound more like the last resting place and the fate of the organisation will soon be the same.
1. Public speaking - ensure your words are always understood
2. Ice breakers - set the scene for productive meetings
3. The Johari Window - helps people understand other people
4. Active listening - give space to others to speak and do not interrupt while others speak
5. Writing and presentation skills - must have the clarity of mind before you start
ABILITY TO MANAGE FAILURE Failure is the Secret Recipe of Success. Accepting failure is the first step towards success... knowing the fact that "Everyone makes mistakes, it's just that how much have you learnt from it". The fear of the unknown is the fear of failure; you must push this fear one step at a time, Push your limit, get comfortable there and then Push the Fear to the Next Level. Failure is the by-product of racing, you always have the chance of failure. Edison said: "I never failed, it just did not work 10,000 times"... it is knowing 10,000 ways of how not to make a light bulb.
CONCLUSION As the saying goes, "Practice makes a man perfect," you are not expected to change overnight after reading this article, but at least make a note of small things where start from. Remember, there always is a direct result of your efforts.you need to take chances and for that you must be willing to take chances. Obviously, how calculated and well though-out these chances are lead to better chances of success. To start with, the advice is to start with a personal mission and vision statement that will set your course of action straight.