6 Management Tips For The Uninitiated
Being a good manager, for yourself and for others, is no easy task.
Time-management is crucial, the structuring of everyone’s workload is imperative, but more importantly than any of the admin is the sense of responsibility for other people’s career development, job satisfaction, discipline and overall work-wellbeing.
You need to be a “go-to” person, a mentor and a guide; rather than someone that people fear as either aggressive or incompetent.
Sadly, in many meritocratic organisations, the people that are promoted into managerial positions, though clearly talented at what they do, aren’t always well equipped to be managers.
Just because you are a good writer or journalist, to use a media example, doesn’t mean that you are fit to run a team and look after people.
In companies without the budget for proper training, it can be very difficult to adjust to a new, managerial position. And a LOT of people get it drastically wrong.
If you’re a new manager and you want to avoid creating a tense, bitchy environment, in favour of one that is constructive and positive, we’ve got six basic tips to help you out, along with some fantastic insight from Sarah Speake, Chief Marketing Officer at Clear Channel UK, who has buckets of management experience and is renowned for her leadership skills:
Know your team’s individual strengths and weaknesses, then fine tune them accordingly
One of the first things a good manager will do when hiring a new team member is to ascertain what their position will be within the team’s group dynamic.
Time and time again, a candidate who will clearly make a good addition to an existing team is selected over one that may have more task specific skills or experience.
Take time outside of the office to see how each team member works in team building exercises and identify their strengths.
An employee or colleague is much more likely to be engaged and produce good results if they are working on tasks that they are naturally inclined to do, so remember to allocate tasks according to ability and preference, because not everyone in a successful team should be using the same skillset.
Sarah says: “ To really get the most out of employees, it’s critical to understand each individual’s motivations / likes / dislikes / strengths and weaknesses”.
Treat your team like your students: if they don’t graduate and progress, you’re failing as a teacher
One of the biggest crimes committed by managers is to treat their team with contempt. High turnover rates and fear of progression are both bad signs that indicate poor management.
If your team members aren’t learning new skills and becoming better managers themselves, then they are stagnant. Stagnant employees either leave or produce bad work on a grudge, so make sure you remember that being a manager is a responsibility towards your team, not only towards yourself and your goals.
Sarah says: “ This concept really resonates with me as a people leader. I’m there to serve my team, not the other way round. And, irrespective of career stage, we should all continue to learn, which keeps life (and work is only one element of it) far more interesting.”
Make sure you listen and give appropriate advice
As a manager, all professional or personal issues raised must be treated with utmost diplomacy and fairness.
Never let your mood or your judgement of a situation cloud your ability to listen, and give appropriate, professional advice that actually provides solutions and constructive commentary on the situation.
Sarah says: “ Advice should also be based on actual knowledge rather than assumption, so gleaning as much from employees in regular conversations is key to enabling transparent communication flow. ”
Spend time getting to know exactly what each team member is working on, and check in at regular times
Time management is a crucial skill at any stage in your career, and when you become a manager, your team’s time keeping is also yours.
Make sure you schedule time with each member of your team, by themselves, to get an update on their projects and their progress. Make note of it, keep track of their progress and go back to point 3 - listen and give constructive feedback.
Sarah says: “ Be braver; take risks and ask me for forgiveness afterwards is my policy, in the knowledge that I take full responsibility as the Director for both phenomenally successful as much as less successful projects. ”
Reward hard work
It’s a Friday afternoon and it’s sunny outside. You want to go home and watch OITNB and frankly, you’ve all worked really hard the past fortnight on that big project deadline that went well.
So, reward your team and let them clock off and go home early. Say thank you for their hard work. Buy team birthday cards. Be considerate and reap the rewards of a happy, balanced team.
Rewarding hard work applies in almost all situations. There is a tonne of research that proves positive reinforcement works way better than chiding people for things that they have done wrong and ruling with an iron fist.
Sarah says: “I’d be keen to ban the term “work / life balance”, as it makes an assumption that work should always be top of our priority list, and the world of work has (thankfully) changed to enable a more sensible approach to delivering.
“Employees should be rewarded by things that they are likely to appreciate and have a high perceived value, so whether that’s additional time off in lieu; more flexible working or another reward should be based on knowing the individual in question well enough to know exactly what will resonate. So whilst I’m incredibly passionate about my role and working for Clear Channel, it’s only a job…. Having a sense of perspective is important.”
Apply all of the above to yourself
The first person a manager needs to be good at managing is themselves. Use Gantt charts to keep track of project deadlines and responsibilities, find the best techniques that work for you (e.g. the Pomodoro technique). Always strive to improve and leave everyone you work with hoping that they too will one day make as good a manager as you have been to them!
Sarah says: “I couldn’t claim to be an authentic leader without displaying the above behaviours myself…”
[All images REX]
About Sarah Speake: Sarah joined Out of Home media owner Clear Channel UK in March 2015 as Chief Marketing Officer, after enjoying her time as Director of Commercial Marketing & Research at ITV. Sarah’s career includes 11 years working for technology media owners before joining Google, where she enjoyed 4 years as Technology Sales Director and 3 years as Strategic Marketing Director. She also sat on the Board of Carat Business for 2 years.As a passionate Marketer, Sarah sits on the Board of the Marketing Society and is proud to be a member of WACL. She is also a qualified mentor and coach, having gained her Professional Accreditation in Coaching last year at Henley Business School. She currently mentors for The Marketing Academy and The Cherie Blair Foundation.
