Mini guides: Managing people - ebook

George Sandford

BEM guide to Managing People

1. An introduction to managing people

It’s sometimes said that management is the only job you get to do because you are good at something else; a good accountant becomes manager of the accounting team but it doesn’t follow that they possess the requisite skills. Managing people involves creating a motivating vision, providing leadership, clear objectives, inspiring, encouraging and developing people to their full potential. Managing people concerns managing individuals but developing the team to create unity, synergy and mutual support. Beyond this, the manager needs to keep track of business goals and provide performance feedback through annual review schemes and informal, ad-hoc chats. It’s a tall order so it’s no surprise that some managers fall short of the mark. Luckily, this guide is on hand to provide the basic know-how.

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requisite necessary, required
vision view of the future
encouraging willing people to do well
full potential maximum possible
unity oneness
synergy the whole is greater than the parts
mutual support two-way support
keep track of sth. monitor and follow
performance feedback information about work results
annual review scheme formal yearly performance review
ad- hoc unplanned, as the it occurs
a tall order difficult to achieve
fall short of the mark fail to meet the standard
on hand here now, available
know-how skill and knowledge
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Glossary

requisite – wymagany

vision – wizja, wyobrażenie dotyczące przyszłości

encouraging – zachęcający, pokrzepiający

full potential – wielki potencjał, maksymalne możliwości

unity – jedność

synergy – współdziałanie

mutual suport – wzajemne wsparcie

keep track of – sledzić, kontrolować coś

performance feedback – ocena wyników

annual review scheme – coroczny raport osiągnięć pracownika

ad-hoc – improwizowany, ad hoc

it’s a tall order – to ciężka sprawa

to fall short of the mark – nie osiągnąć wyznaczonego celu

on hand – dostępny, pod ręką

know-how – specjalistyczna wiedza, doświadczenie2. How good are you at managing people?

Tick which answers apply to you, then add up your score.

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| | Question | Never | Sometimes | Often | Always |
| | | | | | |
| | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 1 | I create a clear vision of the future | | | | |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 2 | I help people to participate in creating the future | | | | |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 3 | I create a cohesive team | | | | |
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| 4 | We celebrate successes | | | | |
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| 5 | We hold regular team meetings | | | | |
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| 6 | I am decisive and provide clear leadership | | | | |
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| 7 | At the same time, I am able to delegate and empower people | | | | |
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| 8 | I encourage team members to cooperate | | | | |
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| 9 | I create opportunities for people to play to their strengths | | | | |
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| 10 | I encourage people to take ownership and personal responsibility | | | | |
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| 11 | I support learning and development | | | | |
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| 12 | I personally spend time coaching staff | | | | |
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| 13 | I give timely and objective feedback | | | | |
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| 14 | The team achieves the business goals | | | | |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 15 | I act as a positive and motivating role model | | | | |
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Score

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| 31-40 | Wow! Can I come and work in your team? It looks like you have all the bases covered; you are a model manager. |
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| | |
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| 21-30 | Pretty good - You are certainly well on the way to becoming a great manager but remember, practice makes perfect. |
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| | |
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| 11-20 | Are you a reluctant manager? Were you press-ganged in the role? Time to make the best of it and sharpen up those management skills before you’re thrown to the sharks! |
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| 0-10 | Are you a manager or a mouse? Come on Captain; wake up and start reading this guide right away before your crew mutiny! |
| | |
| | |
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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participate be involved, contribute
cohesive stick together
decisive able to make decisions
delegate distribute, allocate work
empower give power to people
to play to strengths to do what you do best
ownership personal commitment
timely when needed
objective rational, factual
role model perfect example to copy
all the bases all possibilities, all aspects
model ideal, perfect
practice makes perfect persistence results in perfection
reluctant unwilling, unenthusiastic
sharpen up improve
crew ship members, team
mutiny revolt by crew members
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Glossary

participate – uczestniczyć

cohesive – zwarty, spójny

decisive – stanowczy, zdecydowany

to delegate – przekazać obowiązki, zlecać

empower – upoważniać

to play to strengths – wykazać się swoimi mocnymi stronami

ownership – osobiste zaangażowanie

timely – w porę

objective – obiektywny

role model – wzór do naśladowania

all the bases – wszystkie możliwości, aspekty

model – modelowy, wzorcowy

practice makes perfect – praktyka czyni mistrza

reluctant – niechętny, ociągający się

press-ganged – przymuszony

sharpen up – poprawić

crew – załoga

mutiny – bunt3. Leadership

When people think of leadership they tend to think of historic leaders such as Napoleon or Churchill. Usually, such figures are blessed with immense charisma which enables them to galvanise whole nations. The humble office manager may be unable to aspire to greatness but nonetheless can seek to develop some of the great leader’s qualities.

Effective leadership involves the following aspects:

- being personally credible
- creating and sharing a vision
- Inspiring
- involving and engaging
- converting dreams into tangible goals
- drawing up a roadmap
- managing and developing systems
- setting standards
- building teams and individual talent
- being decisive
- evolving

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galvanise motivate to action
credible believable
tangible real, touchable, concrete
roadmap path, route, plan
engaging creating commitment
evolving naturally developing
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Glossary

blessed with – obdarzony

immense – ogromny, wspaniały

galvanise – ożywić, poderwać do działania, zdopingować

aspire – dążyć

credible – wiarygodny

engaging – ujmujący, ciekawy

tangible – konkretny, rzeczywisty

roadmap – ścieżka, plan

evolving – rozwijający

Being personally credible

Leaders have followers and in order to have followers, they need to be credible. People need to feel certain that you know what you are talking about and that your judgement is sound. One of the factors that influences the credibility of a manager is how s/he is perceived and treated by other managers and directors. When peers and superiors show respect and admiration, this will have a positive effect on the team’s perception of their manager.

Another thing that has a strong bearing on credibility is what is called authenticity; are you the kind of person who says what you mean and mean what you say, or are you two-faced and taciturn? Staff will soon decide which you are. Furthermore, being authentic means behaving in a way which is consistent with your personality.

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sound good, solid
peers people at the same level
bearing effect, influence
authenticity genuineness
two-faced hypocritical, dishonest
taciturn changeable, unreliable
consistent with matching, fits together
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Glossary

sound – rozsądny, słuszny

peers – równorzędni partnerzy

bearing – wpływ

authenticity – autentyczność

two-faced – dwulicowy, nieuczciwy

taciturn – małomówny

consistent with – zgodny z czymś

Creating and sharing a vision

It is often asked what the difference is between leading and managing and one answer is that managers manage operations whilst leaders create a vision, sense of purpose and direction. The higher up a manager is, the more important this aspect will be and many companies now have a mission, vision and values statement. On a more modest level, the department manager can create a sense of vision regarding how the department could develop and what the future reality could look like. People are often worried by or sceptical about change so the leader needs to make the vision into something that is more attractive than the current reality.

Inspiring

When people say something is inspirational they usually means that it enriches their soul, makes them feel better about themselves and raise their expectations about what they are able to achieve. The inspirational leader brings a positive vibe with them when they enter a room and leave the staff feeling uplifted and excited about what they do and can do. Are you an inspiration leader; do you bring rain or sunshine into a room?

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operations functional activities
higher up more senior, higher position
mission the reason for existing
values beliefs and morals of the company
modest not extravagant, small scale
sceptical disbelieving, doubting
vibe atmosphere, feeling
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Glossary

operations – działania

higher up – wyższy, starszy

mission – misja, cel

values – wartości, ideały

modest – skromny, niewielki

sceptical – sceptyczny

enrich – wzbogacać

vibe – klimat, atmosfera

Involving and engaging

A vision will be ineffective if it remains the sole property of the person who created it therefore, the manager needs to find ways of sharing it so that staff feel that it is their vision too. This can be done through empowerment and giving employees plenty of say in the detail of how the vision will be realised.

Converting dreams into tangible goals

In the song from the musical, Happy Talk, the words go:

‘If you don’t have a dream, how are you going to make a dream come true?’

Dreams can be very inspirational and energising but with clear goals, they will remain forever nothing more than dreams. You will note, that at the end of the rainbow is a pot of gold! It is romantic notion concluded by a practical outcome. Therefore, leaders and teams need to think in down to earth terms and ask, if this dream were to come true, what would be in place; what would the new reality include?

Drawing up a roadmap

Having established the outcomes that will be present in the future reality, it isn’t so difficult to see the current status and to plot a route between the two. This needs to include milestones and deadlines.

Managing and developing systems

One of the things that sets higher level animals apart from less developed species is the ability to make tools. In its most primitive form this might be using a rock to crack a nut. In an organisational context, this means developing systems and processes. So, having established the target and the route, the next question is what tools do we need to get there? This might involve the re-evaluation and modification of current systems or the development of something totally new but either way, tha functionality of systems is something that leaders take great interest in.

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sole property owned exclusively by sb.
empowerment giving power and authority to employees
to realise sth. to achieve, to complete an objective
energising giving energy
romantic notion dreamy idea
outcome result
plot plan, draw, create
milestone target along the way of a main goal
deadline time by which something must be done
to set apart from to make different
re-evaluation reassess
modification make more modern, improvements
functionality properties, functions
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Glossary

sole property – wyłączna własność

empowerment – zwiększenie uprawnień pracownika

to realise – realizować, spełniać

energising – mobilizujący, wzmacniający

romantic notion – marzycielska wizja

down to earth – praktyczny, realistyczny

outcome – rezultat, wynik

to plot – planować, przygotować, sporządzić

milestone – kamień milowy

deadline – ostateczny termin

to set apart from – wyróżniać spośród

re-evaluation – ponowna ocena

modification – zmiana, modyfikacja

functionality – funkcjonalność

Setting standards

‘That’ll do won’t do!’

Well known saying

In most areas of working life these days, slipshod work and mediocrity are unacceptable. Many organisations have specified performance standards but the manager can also enhance this by setting the tone regarding what standard of work is expected. Standards are likely to involve completing work punctually and with the minimum of errors. In customer facing jobs, there are likely to be standards regarding courtesy and customer service.

Building teams and individual talent

The difference between a poor manager and a great leader is that the poor manager doesn’t value development and sees it as an inconvenience and something that should be taken care of the training department, whereas the great leader sees it as one of the most important jobs. The leader converts the rhetoric of ‘people being a company’s greatest asset’ into clear actions by spending time building the team and maximising the capabilities of every member. For such a person, this is the means by which the vision is realised and not just another time-consuming distraction. Conversely, the ineffective manager is always bemoaning the limitations of his team and complaining how busy he is.

Being decisive

If it all sounds too good to be true it probably is and there will be times when everything doesn’t go according to plan. In such situations, decisive leadership is required. The effective leader will not dither or procrastinate but be confident and decisive. This will give confidence to the team, faith in the manager and a belief that adversity will be overcome.

Evolution

Overriding all other aspects of leadership behaviour is the concept of ongoing continuous improvement. Whilst dreams, visions and roadmaps are created, once reached, they are just stepping stones towards something more. There is no chance for team members to rest on their laurels for there will always be ways to do things better, and better things to do.

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slipshod poor workmanship
mediocrity to state of being average
performance standards specified levels of work
punctuality on time
customer facing in direct contact with customers
courtesy politeness
inconvenience not at a good time
means methods
bemoaning complaining, to moan about sth.
dither be hesitant and weak
procrastinate delay, put things off
adversity extreme difficulty
stepping stone stage towards sth.
rest on your laurels to be complacent
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Glossary

slipshod – niedbały

mediocrity – mierność

performance standards – wymagane standardy pracy

enhance – rozszerzyć, zwiększyć

to set the tone – nadawać ton

customer facing – w bezpośrednim kontakcie z klientem

courtesy – uprzejmość, grzeczność

inconvenience – niedogodność, kłopot

means – sposób, środek

distraction – zakłócenie spokoju, odwrócenie uwagi

bemoaning – lamentujący, użalający się

to dither – wahać się, nie móc się zdecydować

procrastinate – zwlekać

adversity – przeciwność losu, niekorzystna sytuacja

stepping stone – kolejny szczebel

to rest on your laurels – spocząć na laurach, zadowolić się tym co się ma