Introducing Management: A Practical Guide PDF
Preview Introducing Management: A Practical Guide
Printed edition published in the UK Published in Australia in 2012 in 2012 by Icon Books Ltd, by Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, PO Box 8500, 39–41 North Road, 83 Alexander Street, London N7 9DP Crows Nest, email: [email protected] NSW 2065 www.iconbooks.co.uk Distributed in Canada This electronic edition published in by Penguin Books Canada, the UK in 2012 by Icon Books Ltd 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, ISBN: 978-184831-425-2 Toronto, (epub format) Ontario M4P 2Y3 ISBN: 978-184831-483-2 (Adobe eBook format) Published in the USA in 2012 by Icon Books Sold in the UK, Europe, Omnibus Business Centre, South Africa and Asia 39–41 North Road, by Faber & Faber Ltd, London N7 9DP, UK Bloomsbury House, 74–77 Great Russell Street, Printed edition distributed to the London WC1B 3DA or their agents trade in the USA by Consortium Book Sales Distributed in the UK, Europe, and Distribution, South Africa and Asia by TBS Ltd, The Keg House, TBS Distribution Centre, 34 Thirteenth Avenue NE, Colchester Road, Frating Green, Suite 101, Colchester CO7 7DW Minneapolis, MN 55413-1007 Text copyright © 2012 Alison and David Price The authors have asserted their moral rights. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Typeset by Marie Doherty About the authors Alison Price is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist who has worked with thousands of employees to help them realize their potential at work. Alison specializes in Leadership and Management Development, work- ing with managers of all levels, including senior man- agers of prestigious organizations. In 2009, Alison was a semi-finalist in ‘Britain’s Next Top Coach’. Alison also lectures on a master’s- level course in Business Psychology at a London uni- versity. She offers her services through her company The Success Agents. David Price is a senior manager and has led award- winning teams within prestigious financial services organizations. David has qualifications in manage- ment and coaching, and is a qualified Member of the Chartered Management Institute. Further information about the authors and resources on management can be found at the following website: www.management-handbook.com Authors’ note This book contains frequently used research and meth- ods. Where we know the source we have been sure to reference it, but our apologies here to the originators of any material if we have overlooked them. Dedication This book is dedicated to all of our family, friends and acquaintances who contributed their stories and com- pleted the management assessment. Also, we would like to say thank you to all bad managers everywhere, who provided the suffering that produced many of the stories and inspired much of this book. We hope that this book will result in us never hear- ing a bad management story again. Contents About the authors iii Authors’ note iv Dedication iv Introduction 1 A: Assessment 6 B: Basics 17 C: Communication 24 D: Distributing work 32 E: Empowerment 41 F: Feedback 49 G: Goal-setting 57 H: Hiring 64 I: Induction 74 J: Justice 81 K: Kindness 89 L: Life–work balance 96 M: Managing change 104 N: Not coping 112 O: Operational problems 119 P: Poor performance 127 Q: Quarrels 138 R: Respect 146 S: Strengths 153 T: Training 161 U: Upward progression 170 V: Values 177 W: Well done 186 X: eXtra effort 194 Y: Your personality 204 Z: Zone of successful management 211 Acknowledgements 218 Introduction A decade of experience in designing, delivering and evalu- ating management training has made us realize that what is taught in a classroom, or covered in a typical management textbook, can sound great in theory but doesn’t always translate to the real world. For example, many managers will have been taught about the importance of setting SMART objectives (ones that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) to focus employees on the things that mat- ter. However, how much use are perfectly worded objec- tives if employees don’t actually look at them until the night before their annual appraisal, at which point they have to conjure up as much evidence as possible to show that they really have been focused on them all year? This book is therefore grounded in reality, covering not only how to perform management activities appropriately but, crucially, how to make them work in the real world. It shares very practical (and easily applied) solutions to issues that managers and their employees face on a day-to-day basis. To achieve this, we’ve interviewed many people, seek- ing to answer the following questions: 1. How can managers make a really positive difference to members of their team? This book is packed with 1 examples of good practice that you can easily replicate within your own team to ensure that everyone thrives. 2. What have managers done in real life that absolutely crushed their team or individuals within it? During the research for this book we have been genuinely shocked at how easy it was to gather a wealth of horror stories, showing just how common management bad- practice is. For example, one interviewee described how her colleague received an absolutely devastating phone call to say that, very sadly, her aunt had commit- ted suicide. Shockingly, their manager’s response was: ‘Could you just focus on your work for 24 more hours and worry about your family issues later?’ This book contains numerous real-life examples, and will give you very blunt (and hopefully helpful) feedback on what not to do as a manager. 3. What do managers find really hard about their role and what would they like to be able to do better? Being a manager isn’t easy. It can be very tough to tell a member of your team that they aren’t performing up to the required standard, or to manage the expectations of someone who is desperate to be promoted when there’s simply no opportunity to do so at the time. This guide will support you to overcome these chal- lenges and many others, exposing the difficult aspects of management and, crucially, how to deal with them competently. 2 In addition to interviewing managers and employees, we’ve also surveyed them. This forms the basis of Chapter A: ‘Assessment’, and gives you the opportunity to measure and calibrate your own management capability. Since each question in the survey relates to an individual chapter in the book, you can use your survey results to prioritize which chapters to read first in order to identify areas for growth. You can then repeat the survey, say in three months’ time, and use it as a way to measure your progress. Who will benefit from this book? This Practical Guide to management is designed to benefit three key groups of people the most: 1. Newly appointed managers. People are frequently promoted to a managerial position because they are technically good at their job, yet being a manager requires an entirely different skill-set. If you want a suc- cinct and easy-to-apply guide to developing that skill- set, read on! 2. Experienced managers. In 2009 a British national news- paper ran a story saying that 50% of experienced UK drivers would fail their driving test if they took it again. This isn’t because we Brits are useless drivers! Instead it reflects the fact that we learn to drive subconsciously and therefore pay less attention to doing everything right – and so we develop bad habits. The same is true 3
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