[Return to Blog list] [Add your comment]
 
Management training
Posted by Chris on 06/12/2012
Management training
Managers have a tough time in life. They tend to get grief from all sides.
• Managers get grief from more senior managers. Grief from above,
• They get grief from their more junior staff. Grief from below.
• Managers get grief from customers.
Grief from all sides!
Consequently the first time manager can find it a tough role to fill.
Therefore the first time manager would benefit from proper management training.
They would benefit from proper training in the art of being a better manager.
A good management training course would allow them to make rapid and immediate progress in their performance as a manager without having to go through the pain of “Learning from experience”.
Learning from experience is a slow and painful way to learn, because “Learning from experience” really means: learning by making mistakes.
The problem of learning by making mistakes is that some of the mistakes may be so bad that they ruin your reputation as a safe pair of hands and as a good manager.
You need to rapidly build your reputation as “a safe pair of hands” and you need to rapidly build your reputation as a good manager. You don’t need the burden of a litany of errors and “Learning experiences” recorded on your C.V.
Why not get on the fast track and learn how to get it right, from the word “GO”?
Management training can offer you a fast track to better performance.
Management training should teach you all you need to know in practical terms.
Management training should be practical in the sense that it should be prescriptive training.
Prescriptive management training means that the training should give you specific instructions on four things:
1. Exactly what to do.
2. Exactly what to say.
3. Exactly what you should not do.
4. Exactly what you should not say.
Management training should not be too de-scriptive: Meaning the management training should not spend too much time talking about theories that describe what managers do, without giving advice on how to do it.
Example: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs tells students that people are motivated to satisfy different levels of needs starting with “physiological needs” and then moving up the ranks, through to “safety needs” then up to “love needs”, then “self-esteem needs”, and finally “self-actualization needs”.
That may be true and it may be interesting (up to a limited point) but as a manager in a business; as a normal person, and as a non-psychologist, then Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs does not tell me what I need to know. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs does not tell me:
1. Exactly what I should do.
2. Exactly what I should say.
3. Exactly what I should not do.
4. Exactly what I should not say.
Management training should be practical and pragmatic and it should relate immediately to the work context. The day after the training you should be able to relate the training to the work situation immediately.
Management training should cover the most essential skills sets that must be mastered by any person taking on the role of a manager.
To anyone who is taking on the role of a manager they need to master the following skills sets:
1 The ability to set goals.
2 The ability to communicate in clear and accurate terms.
3 The ability to build practical plans of action that will organise the work and people.
4 The ability to handle the grief that will be thrown at the manager on a daily basis! Grief from their more senior managers; grief from their more junior staff; grief from customers: on a daily basis, Grief from all sides!
5 The ability to manage ones own emotions and stay strong, motivated and happy; even though life can be hard.
There is a saying that goes “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”. In other words the manager must also have leadership qualities: the manager must be able to inspire the troops, especially when things are tough.
But who inspires the inspirer? Who motivates the motivator?
Answer: Nobody!
The leader managers must motivate themselves!
How?
Answer: not by learning Maslow’s theory of motivation but rather by:
Taking control of their thinking and conversation and directing it towards goals, plans, and a better future.
And at the same time:
• Not talking excessively about how bad it is.
• Not talking excessively about how bad it is going to be in the future.
• Not talking excessively about how bad it is has been recently.
Instead focus the mind and the conversation on:
1. What we need to do today in order to make tomorrow work well.
2. The goals for the future.
3. The plans that will achieve the goals.
4. The solutions to the problems we have right now.
6. The ability to inspire the team to share your positive attitude.
There are all kinds of personalities in your work place.
Some already have a positive attitude.
Some have variable attitudes: some days they are up. Next day they are down. Some days they are in a good mood; the next day they are in a bad mood.
• When she is up she is great!
• But when she is down, she is a nightmare!
Some people are moody!
They need careful managing so that they are more often great colleagues and less likely to be a nightmare!
Some people you work with are not variable: they are consistent. But they are consistently negative, depressed, argumentative and cynical.
Do you work with anyone who is consistently negative, depressed, argumentative and cynical?
These types are a negative influence on the productivity of the team.
They infect the members who have variable moods, towards the negative.
And they annoy the optimistic and positive members of the team.
The managers have to know how to limit the impact of the negative members of the team.
That means:
Not trying to psycho-analyse them and trying to satisfy their Maslow’s needs for more love and self-actualization needs: but rather:
Ask them to stop telling us what is wrong and start working to make things better.
Involve the negative people in as much planning and decision making as is possible so as to give them a stake in the plan; as opposed to it being merely imposed on them.
Ask them directly to think and talk less about:
1. How bad it is.
2. How bad it is going to be in the future.
3. How bad it is had been recently.
And ask them to consciously talk more about:
1. What we need to do today in order to make tomorrow work well.
2. The goals for the future.
3. The plans that will achieve the goals.
4. The solutions to the problems we have right now.
Management training should be about how:
1. To set and achieve goals.
2. To communicate clearly.
3. To manage time and prioritise work.
4. To manage conflict and handle difficult people.
5. To create and sustain a positive mental attitude, especially during tough times.
6. To inspire others and create a positive, productive atmosphere.
If you want to get on the fast track and learn how to get it right, from the word “GO”, then proper Management Training can offer you a fast track to better performance.
Proper management training will teach you all you need to know in practical terms.
If you want to attend such a course, then please follow the links to the Corporate Coach Group’s leadership and management training, two day course.
No comments yet - why not add yours?
|
Was very useful, gave an insight to innocent mistakes while training. The trainer's presentation: Simple, but very effective.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe on Google+
