There are as many management styles as there are managers. Trick: Find one that is personally comfortable and most appropriate to the situation. Discard those that do not fit. Each new position offers an opportunity to redefine a personal managing style, often with a totally new group of subordinates.
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If the operation's previous manager had a style different from yours, see what there was in that style that you might want to adapt. Questions to help identify your best management style: Are you prepared to be a manager? Do you prefer to do every task personally?
- Are you a problem seeker or a problem solver? (Some people find problems in every opportunity.)
- How much status, prestige, and power do you have? How much do you need?
- Do you like a lot of managerial distance or a little? Clue: Does it bother you to have subordinates who are close in salary? Do you apply sophisticated supervisory techniques?
- Is your reputation based on ability with people or production? Are you known as a hatchet man? A firefighter? A problem avoider?
Don't automatically assume that others see you as you see yourself. If you have been with a firm for any length of time, you already have a reputation and a style. But that doesn't mean you can't gradually change it. A style that worked for one job may not fit in a new position.
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Becoming a Better Boss
The basics of managing are very different from just knowing how to give orders. The core of being a manager is understanding the total activity you are seeking to make work. Concentrate more on the interconnections and the relationships than on the parts.
To assign time priorities to yourself and to others, form a mental picture of how each step relates to the others. Something that must be ordered well in advance must be given attention to items with shorter leads.
When a key person falls ill or a machinery breakdown occurs, knowing the interconnections enables the manager to think through the consequences quickly to decide what action is most critical.
Overall efficiency depends on parts fitting together: What A does makes B's work go well. The manager must concentrate attention on the boundaries of jobs (not so much their insides), with the goal of making the whole work smoothly. The overall results will be satisfactory only if the parts are integrated. Key: Focus on the system and keep it going.
Identify where the flow between tasks is rough or not working. Get it going again by intervention.
Expect the unexpected:
Poor managers always report that they failed because someone "unexpectedly" let them down or some unexpected problem occurred. Effective managers keep checking so that when a time or re-source problem begins to emerge, they are prepared to fix it or to work around it.
Keep alert to recurring problems. Such problems mean a change is necessary. Poor managers never have time to rethink and re-structure their organization. They are too busy putting out fires. A vicious circle: Failing to take the time and energy to manage a change in regular tasks means you will never have the free time to innovate and make a mark as an effective manager.
Delegating for performance:
The oldest catchword in management is delegation. It's also the truest. Many executives like doing things themselves rather than persuading others. training, or criticizing recalcitrant subordinates. Penalties: Little time for true managerial work and poorly trained employees
But delegating means much more. New employees require patience breaking in so that the manager won't be disappointed in their performance and take over the job. First stage: Frequent checking and feedback. Tell subordinates what they have done well (as encouragement) and what they have done badly (as discipline). Reduce the frequency of checking when you're confident of the subordinate's performance.
Coping with stress:
Successful managers must be able to withstand the psychological stresses that go with administrative work. The unsuccessful get up set when mistakes are made, promised completion dates are missed, or when employees appear to do irrational things. Taking the initiative with problem people or departments is effective only when the manager is in control of himself when he is neither enraged nor sulking.
Reminder:
There will always be more to do than time to do it. The good manager must be able to avoid becoming anxious and jumpy because each day ends with unfinished business.
Limits: It's nice to have the authority to fulfill your responsibility...but don't be surprised if you don't. You almost always will be dependent on someone or something you don't directly control. It's your job to learn how to persuade and negotiate with those outside your control. Successful managers make up for inadequate authority with personal skill, enthusiasm, energy, and employees' loyalty to them.
Final Thoughts
Rules and fault finding: Setting rules saves time and helps facilitate work because people know what is expected of them and can measure their usefulness. But rules never cover all problems. And they often must be bent. Poor managers constantly seek to find a rule to cover a problem. Good managers concentrate on solving the problem. The ineffective manager looks for someone to blame (what rule has been violated), while his more successful colleague is already coping effectively with the emergency.
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