New Manager? What You Need To Meet The Challenge!

If you're a new manager you've taken on a role that is both challenging and sometimes uncomfortable. In fact, some of the people who were your peers are now your direct reports and that alone makes this change difficult. How you interact with them and others and deal with the day to day dynamics of your work unit, will define you in terms of your managerial skills and abilities.

To be successful in your new role, one of the first things you have to do is see things from management's side. You need to be able to solve problems quickly, look at your world in terms of the big picture, support your organization's mission and vision, and balance your new role between being a manager and being a friend to your direct reports.

Becoming successful in this new role calls for well developed skills that help you interact effectively with your employees, other team members, supervisors and other areas in the organization. So here's some of the key, critical and core skills you'll need to develop to do your job more efficiently and effectively.

Let's start with some "Soft" skills.

Strong communication and listening skills. Using your powers of observation to help you interpret subtle cues your employees are sending about their jobs and general well being.

Ability to coach and motive others. Knowing the steps used in effective coaching meetings to change, maintain, or accelerate performance. Understanding what motivates your employees, keeping in mind it isn't always money!

Conflict resolution skills. Not being afraid of conflict but rather seeing it as a way to drive innovation and creativity. Being able to resolve conflicts quickly can help prevent lost productivity as you work to achieve organization goals.

Meeting facilitation skills. Meetings can be costly if they don't produce solid outcomes for attendees. Knowing how to run meetings and exercise strong facilitation skills will turn meetings into an asset rather than a time wasting liability.

Mentor your employees so they exhibit strong customer service skills. In a tough economy your customers, internal and external, are your life's blood. Make sure you consistently demonstrate solid customer service skills to reflect the positive aspects of your relationships with your employees, peers, and others.

Now for the "Hard" skills.

Time management. Do you really know how to manage your time effectively? If not, you'd better learn or you'll be working 24/7 without getting much done. Good time management is a balance between your work and personal life. And remember, spend some time each day doing something you really enjoy!

Project management. The ability to bring projects in on time and under budget with an effective use of resources.

Performance management. To meet your organization's goals and objectives you need to be able to manage the performance of your direct reports. This includes setting objectives, giving ongoing feedback, and delivering a fair and balanced year-end performance appraisal. Know your organization's performance management system and use the tools you have available to you to carry out an effective performance management process.

Team building. Do you know how to develop high performing teams, from Forming, through Storming, to Norming and finally, Performing. It takes real skill to manage teams through all of these stages; so, become familiar with them, make each stage work for you, and coach and motivate your people into working together as a high performing team.

Stepping into a new manager role is challenging and uncomfortable but it is also exciting. Performance Connect is in the business of expanding people's capabilities and bridging the gap between performance goals and business results. We specialize in leadership, management, employee performance, team building, communication and interpersonal skills training. Go to www.performance-connect.com to see our performance acceleration training and development offerings, DiSC Assessments and Products.

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Tough Times Need Skilled Managers

We are currently faced with the toughest economic times imaginable. Downsizing, layoffs and firings abound and everyone is struggling to keep their heads above water. This is change at it's most dramatic. That's why the skills your managers have to handle change are crucial to your organization's and your employee's survival.

Let's take a look at what it takes for managers to be successful in steering your organization through these tough times.

First, let's be honest, change is not easy, in fact it's downright painful. But skilled managers realize this and know that the way you can take the blow from dramatic change and keep standing is not to fight the change but to be flexible and roll with the punches. This may be a new behaviors for some people, but skilled managers know the only behavior that will work in the long run is being adaptable, accepting the change and making it work for their people, the organization and themselves.

Now, more than ever, you need to stay positive. This is really tough because everything you know is changing around you. You're aggravated, confused, stressed and you feel like you're at your wits end. Rather than give in to these feelings, recognize that change gives us great opportunities to grow if we can recognize the opportunity, seize it and act upon it.

Focus your employees on the road ahead. Run a tight ship so people know where they are going, what is expected of them, and what the outcome will look like when they get there. This can be tricky because the outcomes from change are not always clear. But, if you can instill clear thinking and strategic direction toward short-range objectives, each small achievement will add up to long term success and the ability to survive change.

Know your priorities and eliminate non-value added activities. Keep your priorities clear and manage you people's objectives through ongoing feedback so they are not wasting time on activities that have little payoff. Do what must be done and keep the want to do's for less conflicted times.

Get people's feelings about change out in the open. Be a good listener and don't be afraid to share your thought around change. Just remember, you support higher management. You must remain an advocate for change, while dealing with your own feelings about it. Ultimately, your goal is to encourage your people to accept and embrace change as you all learn from the experience.

Change is also a time when morale can drop like a lead balloon. Make your people feel valued and build team spirit. People need to know that they're not alone and that by working together they're helping everyone make it through to the end of the journey.

Good communication is crucial. Make sure your continually communicate key information your people need to stay on top of change. Don't let rumors or misinformation take hold. If this happens, clarify rumors quickly so you don't end up with additional problems to deal with.

During times of change, people look to their own needs and taking care of those needs comes first. Remember, until they feel comfortable and can begin accepting the change, you're wasting your time trying to get them to pay attention to their work and maintain productivity. One excellent way you can help is to respond to their issues immediately. This way, everyone can start concentrating on what needs to be done to ensure the company and their jobs survive.

In tough times, great managers can become great leaders! Don't let catastrophic changes in your company or industry undermine your ability to manage change and manage it successfully. Your people are looking to you to get them through this. Giving them direction, communicating and listening to their issues and sharing and implementing a strategy going forward will make you the kind of leader they need and YOU need to be!

For more information on our strategic leadership and management training programs go to www.performance-connect.com.

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Hiring Top Talent

In a article entitled Talent Matters, Edward E. Lawler III, the director of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California (USC), reports that "in a recent survey of senior executives worldwide, 55% said they expect to spend more time on people management than on technology in the next three years. Over 85% said that people are vital to all aspects of their company's performance, particularly their top strategic challenges: increased competition, innovation, and technology." In another survey of 1000 global CEO's, "72% are more concerned about the availability of individuals with key skills than they are about energy and commodity prices and intellectual property rights."

People are important! They are number one when it comes to giving an organization a strategic advantage. So how can leaders and managers go about ensuring that the people they hire and bring into the organization are going to give them a competitive advantage? Let's start by looking at their recruiting process.

First and foremost, when making the decision to begin hiring, companies need to plan their recruitment strategy -- identify the desired outcomes they want to achieve and the benefits they expect to get from the strategy. Next they need to consider any potential barriers that may come into play when implementing the strategy and finally determine who they need to help them execute the strategy. This could be senior management's commitment and participation, a group of well-trained recruiters, their recruiting sources, and a well designed selection system to ensure equity among candidates.

When looking for a pool of candidates, the recruiting sources you choose need to be specific to your particular situation. Some traditional sources include employment agencies, executive recruiters, state employment services, advertising, referrals, internal recruiting options, and campus recruiting. If your company hires the disabled, you don't need to advertise specifically for applicants with disabilities, but you should put in your ads that such applicants will be considered. Government agencies and an increasing number of private employment agencies can assist you in finding this non-traditional source of applicants. More innovative types of recruiting sources include the internet and other new age marketing options. You can also consider legal immigrants and residents of community and transitional shelters who are looking to return to the workforce.

When putting together a recruitment strategy, decide how you're going to measure progress against the outcomes you want to achieve. Some of these measures can include the number of acceptable versus unacceptable resumes you receive; the cost of your recruiting activities; the effectiveness of the various recruiting resources you're using, etc. Recruiting resources are costly so you want to continuously monitor them for their overall effectiveness and ensure you're getting a solid return on your investment.

To optimize your ability to attract top talent, create a well designed recruiting brochure or, at a minimum, a well designed advertisement. Include your companies mission and vision, company facts, information on what you offer employees in the way of advancement, training and education. You should also include salary guidelines and benefits, and your company's level of community involvement. Make your brochure or advertisement interesting with pictures and graphics. Remember, people want practical information about your company so they get a sense of your culture and work environment and whether or not they would like to work for you.

Following these tips for implementing a solid recruiting strategy is crucial for companies who want to "compete on the performance of their people." Developing your strategy takes time, requires hard work and planning and excellent record keeping. But, in the end, it will give you the competitive advantage you need to keep your organization effective and viable in today's tough economic times.

Next time, I'll be writing about developing a selection system that will help you achieve the outcomes you want from your implementation strategy.

Performance Connect can work with you to develop a strategy that will fit your needs so you can hire the right people with the right talent in the right place at the right time. We believe in the importance of collaboration in performance acceleration which includes supporting and partnering with you to carry out your strategic recruiting and hiring initiatives. Call us at 908-782-0663 or contact us at info@performance-connect.com.

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