How to Manage

How to Manage Employees, Projects and Business Organizations.

These days there are A to Z lists covering everything from Ice Hockey to Meteorology. So we thought that it would be of great value to cover the A to Z on How to Manage with a focus on Business. The insights shared here can be applied equally to the everyday home organization as well as the large government department. Topics include How to Manage Employees (Empowerment, Motivating and Generation X), How to Manage Projects (Agenda, Planning, Risk Taking), How to Manage an Organization's Image and even How to Manage Unwanted Habits.

Introduction - How to Manage
How to Manage an Agenda
How to Manage for Empowerment
How to Manage Image
How to Manage Motivating Others
How to Manage Planning
How to Manage Risk Taking
How to Manage Unwanted Habits
How to Manage Generation X Employees

Introduction - How to Manage

Outlined below is a list of topics that give you some tips on how to manage well in areas of employees, projects and business organizations. They are brief pointers that give you some insights into the everyday aspects of management to make it a success. These topics cover the A to Z of How to Manage with the principles being applied to either commercial, government, social or even home-based organizations.

References are provided and further readings have been identified for those wanting more in-depth resources on each of the topics outlined. These further readings take the form of eTopics written by the author and are available at www.management2go.com or are links to other knols that add to the topic's depth and breadth.

How to Manage an Agenda

A is for Agenda

Think of an agenda as a device to focus your meetings. A meeting with no agenda will have no focus and the results will be fuzzy. Too many side issues slip into consideration and, finally, like the famous Caucus Race witnessed by Alice in her Wonderland dream, all the attendees end up chasing each other around in circles.^[1]

B is for Balance

Break down your life’s activities into seven categories – the 7Fs… Fun, Family, Friends (social life), Finances (work), Fitness (health), Faith (religion), and Formal and informal education. Life balance is achieved by attending equally to each of the 7Fs. Conversely, when some are emphasized at the expense of others, imbalance occurs, requiring you to review your life practices, and return to a more balanced lifestyle. ^[2] eTopic "How to have a good work-life balance" - Menelaos Christophi adds to the debate with a knol on 21 Tips to Manage Stress.

C is for Change

People don’t like change, we’re told–but don’t believe it. People neither like nor dislike change. They are concerned, however, about the possible results of that change. They will like the change if you create basic, concrete, gut-level benefits for them in it. That means doing such things as getting out accurate information about the changes, and when they begin, making a ceremony out of each milestone, all the time making certain your staff will benefit, and understand the benefits. ^[3] - Other thoughts on this are provided by Jeff Hiatt in his knol on Change Management

D is for Decision-making

www.wordle.net How to Manage

The best way to make a decision is to do your worrying before you place your bet. In other words, do everything you can to first make sure the right decision is made. But once you’ve made that decision and execution is the order of the day, then stop worrying and fretting about the outcome.

^[4]

eTopic "How to become a better decision-maker" available at www.management2go.com

"The person who makes a wrong decision is further advanced than the one who can’t decide"

How to Manage for Empowerment

E is for Empowerment

Participative management is just that: You ask for people’s help. But empowerment is getting people to help themselves. That’s really hard for supervisors and managers, because all their lives they’ve been trained to make decisions and solve problems for people.

So we’re asking them to do something that is very different–to be a coach to people, to help them solve their own problems. ^[5]

F is for Follow-up

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and the road to managerial and organizational ruin is paved with decisions that have not been implemented or, worse still, which have been implemented halfheartedly. There are managers who are sufficiently foolish or immodest to believe that whatever they have decided will automatically be done. The wise head knows better. ^[6] eTopic "How to take those follow-up actions"

G is for Grapevine

If yours is a large organization, and if you worry about staff gossips and the vitality of your grapevine, then maybe you shouldn’t. According to researchers at Goldsmith’s College at London University, having ‘a good old gossip’ about colleagues and bosses can relieve tension or anxiety and boost morale in the workplace. Idle chatter often makes staff feel better about their job and those they work with, especially in organizations undergoing change or upheaval. What is important for leaders, however, is that they have strategies for dealing with such grapevines when they become malicious or outlandish. ^[7] eTopic "How to make the best use of the grapevine"

H is for Humor

Tutor M.E. http://www.osoq.com

Humor must come into your work, because a lot of what happens stops at your door – you deal in crisis management mode all day. And unless you can hit back with humor and a bit of lightheartedness, you’ll find the job extremely depressing.

It’s your pressure valve… Humor is the ability to celebrate, to enjoy something that’s a little out of the ordinary. And the fact that you can take delight in it, celebrate that by laughing and sharing it with others – that is humor. [8] eTopic "How to put some fun into your role as a team leader"

"Humor pours oil on troubled waters"

How to Manage Image

I is for Image

The first impression is usually lasting, largely because people's perceptions are not easily changed, but also because you are likely to keep projecting the same image.

The way you look and what that conveys are part of your performance. Recognize that the way you look affects the way you work and the way other people perceive your work. Cultivating your image means defining and focusing more sharply on who you really are. But it is of utmost importance that you be authentic and genuine and that you not seek artifically to blot out aspects of who you are and the way you act. ^[9] eTopic "How to cultivate a better professional image for yourself" available at www.management2go.com

J is for Job interview

To make a good impression, you don’t even get time to open your mouth. An interviewer’s response to you will generally be non-verbal – how you walk through the door, your posture, whether you smile, whether you have a captivating aura, whether you have a confident handshake. More than 70 percent of meaning is communicated non-verbally. ^[10] eTopic "How to face your next job interview with confidence" - Martin Stoddart gives more tips in the knol on the Successful Job Interview

K is for Keeping up to date

All professionals should be aware of the need for keeping up to date. We either progress or become obsolete. Growth is not easy; it takes work and discipline. Some people develop professionally by attending society meetings to learn the latest developments and to talk with able professionals. It is not practical, however, to attend all meetings of interest and there is not enough time to talk to all the capable top people in one’s fields of interests. Therefore, through the ages, people have relied on studying the written word as input to growing knowledge. People must read to grow.^[11]

L is for Listening

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Effective listening is a lost art in many organizations where people are so busy trying to justify themselves that they fail to hear what is being said to them. Nobody can see all sides of an issue immediately. It takes time for new facts, claims or concepts to sink in.

When someone comes to you with an idea or complains, listen – just listen. Don’t answer or explain. If necessary, take notes on exactly what is being said. Then try to imagine that the person is right, or at least justified. Put yourself in his/her place and imagine how you would feel in a similar situation. Finally, give yourself time to think it over before deciding. ‘Let me get back to you on this’ is far better than an instant, and wrong, judgement. ^[12]

eTopic "How to listen actively" - Theresa Komor details more of the do's and don'ts of listening in the knol Are you Listening?

"If they failed to listen then you failed to communicate"

How to Manage Motivating Others

M is for Motivating others

Good managers don’t motivate others. Motivation comes from within the individual. It is not something that one person does to another. What a manager must do is to find ways to enhance and reinforce the motivating forces within their staff members. Staff who hear their bosses talking about motivating them may worry about being manipulated rather than motivated. ^[13] eTopic "How to motivate your employees" - Pamela Hollister talks about motivating others in the knol on Sucessful Leadership

N is for Networking

A common mistake many managers make at networking events (seminars, meetings, conferences) is to try to talk to too many people – in an attempt to ‘really get their money’s worth’. It’s better to spend time with fewer people at such functions. One or two meaningful dialogues are infinitely more valuable than time spent flitting from one person to another. The aim is to build meaningful relationships – not just see how many people you can meet. ^[14] eTopic "How to get the most out of networking"

O is for Office filing

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Do you have a system that helps you decide whether or not to file an item? You’ll need to screen documents ruthlessly – remembering that Stanford University research found we never look a second time at eighty-seven percent of the documents we file! One strategy to help you decide whether to hoard or throw incoming paperwork, involves asking yourself:

Will it help me make a decision? (If no, dump it.)
Is saving it worth the cost and hassle of storing it? (If no, dump it.)
If I need this information, could I obtain it from someone else? (If yes, dump it.)
Have I used this information in the past? (If no, dump it.)
Am I likely to use this type of information in the future? (If no, dump it.)

Is an electronic copy readily available? (If yes, dump it.) ^[15] eTopic "How to make the most of your professional reading" - Trudy Robinson discusses the various approaches to this topic in her knol Records Information Management

"Too often I find that the volume of paper expands to fill the available briefcases” Jerry Brown

How to Manage Planning

Pis for Planning

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The well-known marathon runner of the 1980s, Toshihiko Seko, had a simple training program. It was so simple, he could define it in only twelve words: ‘I run ten kilometres in the morning and twenty in the evening.’ His plan enabled him to outrun the world’s greatest, fastest, and more gifted runners. When Seko was told that his plan seemed too simple when compared with other marathoners, he replied, ‘The plan is simple. But I do it every single day. 365 days-a-year.’ People fail to reach their goals not because their plans are too simple, but because they aren’t willing to follow their plans! Many goals do not require detailed plans. Plans do no have to be complicated, but they do have to be followed. ^[16] eTopic "How to develop a plan for action"

Q is for Questioning

The higher you climb in your organization, the more people will come to you with their questions, expecting answers. And the higher your level in the hierarchy, the fewer answers you should give, and the more questions you should ask… By bringing the views of different people to bear on a situation, you create the opportunity to reach new solutions. Only by asking questions can you bring a degree of confidence and trust sufficient to elicit these different, perhaps radical, points of view. ^[17] eTopic "How to ask questions"

"I would rather live in a world with unanswered questions than unquestioned answers"

How to Manage Risk Taking

R is for Risk-taking

Two seeds lay side-by-side in the fertile spring soil. The first seed said, ‘I want to grow! I want to send my roots deep into the soil beneath me, thrust my sprouts through the earth’s crust above me, unfurl my tender buds like banners to announce the arrival of spring… I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the blessing of the morning dew on my petals!’ And so he grew. The second seed said, I am afraid. If I send my roots into the ground below, I don’t know what I will encounter in the dark. If I push through the hard soil above I may damage my delicate sprouts… What if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat them? And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from the ground. No, it is much better for me to wait until it is safe.’ And so he waited. A yard hen scratching in the early spring ground for food found the waiting seed and promptly ate it.^[18] eTopic "How to take risks" - Christopher Patrick discusses this topic further in his knol Risk Management made Simple

S is for Small things

Beware of the ‘small thing’ syndrome. We’re advised not to fill up precious time with a collection of small things to get out of the way before taking on the major jobs. It’s the easiest way to eat up you day without accomplishing anything significant. Contrary to the advice of those experts, though, I think it’s okay to warm up with a little thing—sometimes that will sharpen your mind, get you in focus, and give you a sense of accomplishment without taking up much time—in short, an aid to psyching yourself up. Examples could include producing a short, clever ‘complaint’ letter or a goodwill note to a client.^[19] eTopic "How to tackle your priorities" available at www.management2go.com

T is for To-Do lists

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The To-Do lists that are kept by most people provide only marginal benefits. Most To-Do lists are a random collection of activities which have very little, if anything, to do with the purpose for which people work. Furthermore, most people have such a poor grasp of their objectives and priorities that a To-Do list can hardly be an improvement. Thirdly, and importantly, almost no one gives real thought to how long things take. As a consequence, most To-Do lists contain far more than could be done in any given day. An excellent To-Do list must ask the critical question: ‘How long is the task going to take me to do?’ ^[20]

"Procrastination does not avoid a problem - just adds to it"

How to Manage Unwanted Habits

U is for Unwanted habits

The key to eliminating an unwanted habit (procrastination, perfectionism, smoking) is self-instruction—deliberately repeated thoughts about yourself that you have decided to make come true. Write a short, vivid, emotional statement that describes and attacks the habit you want to destroy, and indicate what you intend to do about it; and fight any thought of surrender for at least three weeks. ^[21] eTopic "How to eliminate your bad habits"

V is for Vision

Someone once said that doers get to the top of the oak tree by climbing it. Dreamers sit on an acorn. While arriving at and articulating your vision requires more than simply dreaming, in the long run your vision will only become a reality through action—and that will require climbing, not sitting! ^[22] eTopic "How to articulate a vision for your organization"

W is for Writing

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For American humorist Will Rogers, writing came easily. ‘When I started out to write and misspelled a few words, people said I was just plain igerant. But when I got all the words wrong, they declared I was a humerist and said I was quaint,’ he wrote. Serious writers, however, are rarely allowed to be ‘quaint’ and most work hard at their craft. According to Writers Digest, Katherine Porter spent 20 years writing Ship of Fools. The prolific author Isaac Asimov would spend hundreds of hours on a science fiction novel. Sinclair Lewis labored for 17 years on Main Street, taking the manuscript through three complete rewrites. Margaret Mitchell rewrote the first chapter of Gone with the Wind seventy times. Ernest Hemingway rewrote the last page of Farewell to Arms 39 times. Plato redrafted The Republic 50 times. In the British Museum, one can see seventy-five drafts of Thomas Gray’s poem, ‘Elergy in a Country Churchyard’. Gray didn’t like his first attempt, not the second, not the third. He was not satisfied until he revized it seventy-five times.

Managers are often required to communicate with staff, colleagues, suppliers, and the public through notes, letters, memos, newsletters, press releases, or other written documents. This is normally a time-consuming task. It is, somehow, comforting to know that even the world’s greatest writers struggle over the writing task. [23] eTopic "How to become a better writer". David Tuffley writes extensively about The Writing Process in a knol with emphasis on the IT industry.

"Writing makes concepts concrete"

How to Manage Generation X Employees

X is for X Generation employees

Generation Xers, born between 1965 and 1976, take employability seriously. But for their generation there isn’t a career ladder. There’s a career lattice. They can move literally, stop and start, their career is more fluid. Members of Generation X dislike authority and rigid work requirements. An effective mentoring relationship with them must be as hands-off as possible. Providing feedback on their performance should play a big part, as should encouraging their creativity and initiative to find new ways to get tasks done. As a mentor, you’ll want Gen Xers to work with you, not for you.

Start by informing them of your expectations and how you’ll measure their progress and assure them that your committed to helping them learn new skills. (Members of Generation X are eager to learn new skills because they want to stay employable.) Gen Xers work best when they’re given the desired outcome and then turned loose to figure out how to achieve it. This means a mentor should guide them with feedback and suggestions, not step-by-step instructions. ^[24] eTopic "How to manage generations in your workplace"

Y is for Y Generation employees

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Generation Ys, born between 1977 and 1994, have some very interesting and desirable characteristics, including:

Adaptability: Gen Y is used to adapting and being comfortable in various situations
Technologically savvy: Growing up in the age of technology and taking advantage of it.
Ability to grasp new cncepts: This is a learning oriented generation.
Efficient multi-tasker: They will do it faster and better than their competition.
Tolerant: Gen Y will make a diverse workforce feel at home and comfortable.

Undesirable charactics include:

Imaptience: Raised in a world ddominated by technology and instant gratification, for this generation, it is better and more time-saving to ask questions, than to waste time trying to figure it out.
Skeptical: In recent years there has been more scamming, cheating, lying, and exploiting than ever from the major figures.

Blunt and expressive: Self-expression is favored over self control.
Image driven: Making personal statements with their image is very important. ^[25]

Z is for Zzzzzzzzzz

It is important to get enough sleep to be productive as a manager. But if you do get caught sleeping at your desk, or snoozing during a staff meeting, what are you to say? Try one of these, perhaps.

• ‘They told me at the Blood Bank that this might happen.’

• ‘This is one of the 7 habits of highly effective people!’

• ‘Darn, why did you interrupt me? I almost had the company’s biggest problem figured out.’

• ‘Someone’s put decaf in the wrong pot again.’

• ‘I wasn’t sleeping. I was meditating on our mission statement’.

• ‘Amen’ ^[26] eTopic "How to fight fatigue" The National Sleep Foundation detail a knol on the importance of sleep.

"Action for the body – sleep for the mind"

For more information on How to Manage see the 300 eTopics on the website

www.management2go.com.

References

Clyde Burleson, Effective Meetings: The complete guide, John Wiley & Sons, 1990.
Justin Belitz, Success: Full living, Knowledge Systems, 1991.
Karl Albrecht, US management consultant
Leon Utterback, quoted in Van Fleet, J., The 22 Biggest Mistakes Managers Make, Parker, 1982, p. 49.
William Byham, Zapp! The lightning of empowerment, Ballantyne Books, 1997.
K.B.Everard, Effective School Management, Paul Chapman Educational Publishing, 2004.
Neil Flanagan & Jarvis Finger, The Management Bible, Plum Press, p. 171.
Marie Jansen, ‘Seven gifts and silvery laughter: Humour in educational leadership, The Practising Administrator, 16(4) 1994, p. 17.
Daniel Goldman. 'Business Intelligence'. Business, Bloomsbury, London, 2002, page xxxi.
Ros Taylor, UK psychologist
B.E.Holm, How to Manage Your Information, Reinhold, 1968, p. 151.
‘How to listen actively’, Leadership Links, Australian Council for Educational Leaders.
Thomas Quick, The Manager’s Motivation Desk Book, John Wiley & Sons, 1985, p. 25.
Harvey Mackay, Dig your well before you’re thirsty: The only networking book you’ll ever need, Currency, 1999.
Kris Cole, Make Time, Prentice Hall, 2001.
Zig Zigler, Steps to the Top, Pelican, 1985.
Anne Evans, Managing People, Australian Business Library, 1980 p.67.
Patricia Hansen, Heart Songs, 1922.
Mitchell J. Posner, Executive Essentials, Avbon, 1987, p.32.
Merrill Douglass, The New Time Management: What will you accomplish with two extra hours every day?, Nightingale-Conant, 1983 (audio).
Tom Hopkins, The Official Guide to Success, Warner, 1982.
Neil Flanagan & Jarvis Finger, The Management Bible, Plum Press, p.30.
Jarvis Finger & Neil Flanagan, The Manager’s 100, Fernfawn #66.
Dianne Thielfoldt and Devon Scheef ‘Generation X and The Millennials’, Law Practice Today, August 2004.
NAS Recruitment Communications, ‘Generation Y: The Millennials’, Insight, 2006.
Neil Flanagan & Jarvis Finger, The Management Bible, Plum Press, p.24.