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Slide 2: BETTER MANAGER HOW TO BE AN EVEN
Slide 4: BETTER MANAGER A Complete A–Z of Proven Techniques & Essential Skills Sixth Edition HOW TO BE AN EVEN MICHAEL ARMSTRONG London and Sterling, VA
Slide 5: Masculine pronouns have been used in this book. This stems from a desire to avoid ugly and cumbersome language, and no discrimination, prejudice or bias is intended. Publisher’s note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and author cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author. First published in Great Britain in 1983, entitled How to be a Better Manager Second edition, 1988, entitled How to be an Even Better Manager Third edition 1990 Fourth edition 1994 Fifth edition 1999 Sixth edition 2004 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: 120 Pentonville Road London N1 9JN United Kingdom www.kogan-page.co.uk 22883 Quicksilver Drive Sterling VA 20166-2012 USA © Michael Armstrong, 1983, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2004 The right of Michael Armstrong to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 0 7494 4262 X British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Armstrong, Michael, 1928How to be an even better manager / Michael Armstrong. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-7494-4262-X 1. Management. I. Title. HD31.A73 2004 658.4--dc22 2004009939 Typeset by Jean Cussons Typesetting, Diss, Norfolk Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk
Slide 6: Contents Foreword to the sixth edition Preface 1. How to be a better manager What management is about 2; The aims of management 3; Purpose of management and leadership 3; The processes of management 5; Managerial roles 6; The distinction between management and leadership 7; The fragmentary nature of managerial work 7; What managers actually do 8; What managers can do about it 9; Managerial qualities 10; Managerial effectiveness 11; Developing managerial effectiveness 12 2. How to achieve results What makes achievers tick? 15; What do achievers do? 16; How to analyse your own behaviour 17; Learning 18; Conclusion 18 3. How to appraise people What is performance appraisal? 19; The aim of performance appraisal 19; How performance appraisal can help managers 20; The process of performance xiii xv 1 14 19 v
Slide 7: Contents appraisal 20; The performance appraisal cycle 20; Stage 1: How to plan for appraisal 21; Stage 2: Preparing for the appraisal discussion 23; Stage 3: The appraisal discussion 24; Appraisal discussion guidelines 24 4. How to assess your own performance The self-assessment process 26 5. How to be assertive Assertion and aggression 29; Assertive behaviour 30; Handing aggression 30; Influencing styles 31 6. How to be authoritative 7. How to communicate Barriers to communication 34; Overcoming barriers to communication 36; Listening skills 38 8. How to coach Aims 41; The coaching sequence 41; Coaching skills 42; Effecting coaching 42; Planned coaching 42; The manager as coach 43 9. How to co-ordinate Approaches to co-ordination 44; A case study 46 10. How to control Essentials of control 48; Controlling inputs and outputs 50; Control systems 51; Management by exception 52 11. How to be creative Creativity 54; Innovation 60 12. How to be decisive Characteristics of the decision-making process 63; Ten approaches to being decisive 63 26 29 32 34 40 44 48 54 63 13. How to delegate 66 Advantages of delegation 67; The process of delegation 67; When to delegate 68; How to delegate 68; The thoughts of some successful delegators 71; A case study 73 vi
Slide 8: Contents 14. How to develop your emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence defined 74; The significance of emotional intelligence 74; The components of emotional intelligence 74; Developing emotional intelligence 75; Neuro-linguistic programming 76; Developing your own emotional intelligence 78 15. How to develop people Investing in people 80; The manager’s contribution to effective development 80; Management development 81; Coaching 83 16. How to get on Knowing yourself 85; Knowing what you want 88; Personal qualities and behaviour 90; Self-development 91; Identifying development needs 92; Defining the means of satisfying needs 92; Personal development plans 93; Ten self-development steps 93 17. How to handle difficult people Why people are difficult 95; Ten approaches to handling difficult people 96 18. How to handle negative behaviour Causes of negative behaviour 99; Dealing with the problem 99; Ten approaches to managing negative behaviour 102 19. How to influence people Persuading people 104; Ten rules for effective persuasion 104; Case presentation 105 20. How to interview The overall purpose of a selection interview 109; The nature of a selection interview 109; Preparing for the interview 110; The content of an interview 111; Planning the interview 113; Interviewing techniques 114; Assessing the data 117 21. How to be interviewed Preparing for the interview 120; Creating the right impression 122; Responding to questions 122; Ending on a high note 123 74 80 84 95 98 104 109 120 vii
Slide 9: Contents 22. How to get job engagement Developing job engagement 124; Empowerment 125 23. How to be a better leader The roles of the leader 127; Leadership styles 128; The impact of the situation 128; Leadership qualities 129; What organizations require of leaders 130; Behaviours people value in leaders 130; Leadership checklist 131; Case studies 132 24. How to manage your boss Getting agreement 136; Dealing with problems 138; Impressing your boss 138 25. How to manage change Types of change 141; How people change 141; The process of change 142; The approach to change management 143; Guidelines for change management 144; Gaining commitment to change 146 26. How to manage conflict Handling inter-group conflict 149; Handling conflict between individuals 150; Conclusions 152 124 127 135 140 148 27. How to manage a crisis 153 What is crisis management? 153; Causes of crises 154; Management crises 155; Crisis management behaviour 155; Negotiating situations 157; When to fight 157; Crisis management techniques 159; Qualities of a crisis manager 160; Crisis management techniques – organizational 161 28. How to manage performance How performance management works 163; How to measure performance 165; Types of measures – organizational 167 29. How to manage projects Project planning 170; Setting up the project 172; Controlling the project 172; Ten steps to effective project management 173 163 170 viii
Slide 10: Contents 30. How to manage strategically Strategic planning 174; Formulating strategic plans 175; Strategic capability 176 174 31. How to manage stress 178 Symptoms of stress 179; Managing stress in others – what the organization can do 179; Managing stress in others – what you can do 180; Managing your own stress 180 32. How to manage time Analysis 183; Organizing yourself 184; Organizing other people 187; Time consumer’s checklist 188 33. How to manage under-performers Why poor performance occurs 192; The steps required to manage under-performance 193; Handling disciplinary interviews 195; Dismissing people 195; Ten steps to manage under-performers 196 34. How to run and participate in effective meetings Down with meetings 197; What’s wrong with meetings? 198; What’s right with meetings? 198; Do’s and don’ts of meetings 199; Chairing meetings 200; Members 201 35. How to motivate people The process of motivation 204; Types of motivation 204; Basic concepts of motivation 205; Implications of motivation theory 206; Approaches to motivation 207; Financial rewards 208; Non-financial rewards 209; Ten steps to achieving high levels of motivation 211 36. How to negotiate Business negotiations 212; Trade union negotiations 213; The process of negotiation 214; Negotiating tactics 217 37. How to network 38. How to set objectives What are objectives? 227; How are individual work objectives expressed? 228; What is a good work objective? 229; Defining work objectives 230 182 192 197 203 212 225 227 ix
Slide 11: Contents 39. How to organize Organization design 234; The approach to organization design 235; Organization guidelines 236; The basic approach to organization design 238; Defining structures 239; Defining roles 240; Implementing structures 240 40. How to plan Planning 242; Planning activities 243; Planning techniques 243 41. How to be political Politics – good or bad? 247; Political approaches 248; Political sensitivity 249; Dangers 250; Dealing with organizational politicians 250; Use of politics 251 42. How to be powerful Power – good or bad? 253; Sources of power 255; Using power 255 43. How to make effective presentations Overcoming nervousness 257; Preparation 258; Delivery 262; Using PowerPoint 263; Conclusion 265 44. How to prioritize 45. How to solve problems Problems and opportunities 268; Improving your skills 268; Problem-solving techniques 270 46. How to provide feedback Aim of feedback 271; Giving feedback 272 234 242 247 253 257 266 268 271 47. How to be an effective team leader 274 The significance of teams 275; Self-managing teams 276; Team effectiveness 277; Ten things to do to achieve good teamwork 278; Team performance reviews 279; Checklist for analysing team performance 280; Team working at Dutton Engineering 280 x
Slide 12: Contents 48. How to think clearly Developing a proposition 283; Testing propositions 283; Fallacious and misleading arguments 284 49. How things go wrong and how to put them right Studies of incompetence 292; Why things go wrong – a summary 296; What can you do about it? 296; Troubleshooting 298; Planning the campaign 299; Diagnosis 300; Trouble-shooting checklist 300; Cure 301; Using management consultants to trouble shoot 302 50. How to write reports What makes a good report? 304; Structure 305; Plain words 306; Presentation 307 Appendix: Positive or negative indicators of performance General bibliography Further reading from Kogan Page Index 282 291 304 309 317 321 325 xi
Slide 14: Foreword to the sixth edition This sixth edition of How to be a Better Manager covers 50 key aspects of management and has been extensively revised in the light of new thinking on management since the fifth edition was published in 1999. Eleven new chapters have been included, dealing with how to appraise people, how to assess your own performance, how to be authoritative, how to be decisive, how to develop your emotional intelligence, how to handle difficult people, how to be interviewed, how to get job engagement, how to manage stress, how to network and how to prioritize. The book therefore covers a wide range of the skills and approaches used by effective managers – what they need to understand and be able to do to be fully competent in their roles. It will be an invaluable handbook for existing and aspiring managers, and will be particularly useful for those seeking to obtain qualifications such as NVQs in management or those studying for the core management qualification of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. xiii
Slide 16: Preface HOW TO USE THIS BOOK This book is for those who want to develop their managerial skills and competences. It covers all the key skills that managers use, and refers to the main aspects of managing people, activities and themselves with which they need to be familiar. You can dip into this book at any point – each chapter is selfcontained. But it would be useful to read Chapter 1 first. This defines the overall concept of management and the areas in which managers need to be competent, thus providing a framework for the succeeding chapters. These cover the following areas: ■ ■ Managing people: appraising, coaching, communicating, conflict management, delegating, developing people, handling difficult people and negative behaviour, getting job engagement, leadership, managing under-performers, managing your boss, motivating people, objective setting, performance management, power and politics, providing feedback, selection interviewing and team management. Managing activities and processes: change management, controlling, co-ordinating, crisis management, how things go wrong xv
Slide 17: Preface ■ and how to put them right, meetings, organizing, planning, prioritizing, project management and strategic management. Managing and developing yourself (enhancing personal skills): achieving results, assertiveness, clear thinking, communicating, being creative, being decisive, developing emotional intelligence, effective speaking, getting on, how to be interviewed, influencing, managing stress, negotiating, problem-solving and decision-making, report writing, self-development, and time management. In 19 of the chapters, actions are summarized in a useful ‘Ten things to do’ format. These are listed in the index under the entry ‘ten ways of’. xvi
Slide 18: 1 How to be a better manager Better managers recognize that the art of management is something they need to learn. No one becomes a fully competent manager overnight. There are, of course, many ways of learning how to be a competent manager. There is no doubt that experience is the best teacher – the time you have spent as a manager or team leader and your analysis of how good managers you come across operate effectively. You can learn from your own boss and from other bosses. This means accepting what you recognize as effective behaviour and rejecting inappropriate behaviour – that is, behaviour that fails to provide the leadership and motivation required from good managers and which does not deliver results. There is an old saying – ‘People learn to manage by managing under the guidance of a good manager’. This is just as true today, but to make the best use of experience it is helpful to place it in a framework which defines your understanding of what management is about, and helps you to reflect on and analyse your own experience and the behaviour of others. There is also a wealth of knowledge about the skills that managers need to use and the aspects of managing people, activities and themselves that they 1
Slide 19: How to be an Even Better Manager need to understand. None of these skills provide a quick fix which is universally applicable. It is useful to know about them but it is also necessary to develop an understanding of how they are best applied and modified to meet the particular demands of the situation in which you find yourself. This is not a prescriptive book – ‘Do this and all will be well’ – rather, its aim is to present approaches which have been proved to be generally effective. But they have to be adapted to suit your own style of managing and the circumstances where their application is required. To become a better manager it is necessary to develop each of the 50 areas of skills and knowledge covered by this handbook. But you will be better prepared to do this if you have a general understanding of the process of management. This will provide a framework into which you can fit the various approaches and techniques described in each chapter. The aim of this introduction is to provide such a framework under the following headings: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ What management is about. The aims of management. The processes of management. Managerial roles. The fragmentary nature of managerial work. What managers actually do. What managers can do about it. Managerial qualities. Managerial effectiveness. Developing managerial effectiveness. WHAT MANAGEMENT IS ABOUT Essentially, management is about deciding what to do and then getting it done through people. This definition emphasizes that people are the most important resource available to managers. It is through this resource that all other resources – knowledge, finance, materials, plant, equipment, etc – will be managed. However, managers are there to achieve results. To do this they have to deal with events and eventualities. They may do this primarily through people, but an over-emphasis on the people content of management diverts attention from the fact that in managing events managers have to be personally involved. They manage themselves as well as other people. They cannot delegate 2
Slide 20: How to be a Better Manager everything. They frequently have to rely on their own resources to get things done. These resources consist of experience, know-how, skill, competences and time, all of which have to be deployed, not only in directing and motivating people, but also in understanding situations and issues, problem analysis and definition, decisionmaking and taking direct action themselves as well as through other people. They will get support, advice and assistance from their staff, but in the last analysis they are on their own. They have to make the decisions and they have to initiate and sometimes take the action. A chairman fighting a take-over bid will get lots of advice, but he or she will personally manage the crisis, talking directly to the financial institutions, merchant banks, financial analysts, City editors and the mass of shareholders. The basic definition of management should therefore be extended to read ‘deciding what to do and then getting it done through the effective use of resources’. The most important part of management will indeed be getting things done through people, but managers will be concerned directly or indirectly with all other resources, including their own. THE AIMS OF MANAGEMENT Management is a process which exists to get results by making the best use of the human, financial and material resources available to the organization and to individual managers. It is very much concerned with adding value to these resources, and this added value depends on the expertise and commitment of the people who are responsible for managing the business. PURPOSE OF MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP The Management Standards Centre states that the key purpose of management and leadership is to ‘provide direction, facilitate change and achieve results through the efficient, creative and responsible use of resources’. These purposes are analysed as follows: 3
Slide 21: How to be an Even Better Manager Providing direction ■ ■ ■ Develop a vision for the future. Gain commitment and provide leadership. Provide governance – comply with values, ethical and legal frameworks and manage risks in line with shared goals. Facilitating change ■ ■ Lead innovations. Manage change. Achieving results ■ ■ ■ Lead the business to achieve goals and objectives. Lead operations to achieve specific results. Lead projects to achieve specified results. Meeting customer needs ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Promote products and/or services to customers. Obtain contracts to supply products and/or services. Deliver products and/or services to customers. Solve problems for customers. Assure the quality of products and/or services. Working with people ■ ■ ■ Build relationships. Develop networks and partnerships. Manage people. Using resources ■ ■ ■ ■ Manage financial resources. Procure products and/or services. Manage physical resources and technology. Manage information and knowledge. 4
Slide 22: How to be a Better Manager Managing self and personal skills ■ ■ Manage own contribution. Develop own knowledge, skills and competence. THE PROCESSES OF MANAGEMENT The overall process of management is subdivided into a number of individual processes which are methods of operation specially designed to assist in the achievement of objectives. Their purpose is to bring as much system, order, predictability, logic and consistency to the task of management as possible in the ever-changing, varied and turbulent environment in which managers work. The main processes of management were defined by the classical theorists of management as: 1. Planning – deciding on a course of action to achieve a desired result. 2. Organizing – setting up and staffing the most appropriate organization to achieve the aim. 3. Motivating – exercising leadership to motivate people to work together smoothly and to the best of their ability as part of a team. 4. Controlling – measuring and monitoring the progress of work in relation to the plan and taking corrective action when required. But this classical view has been challenged by the empiricists, such as Rosemary Stewart (1967) and Henry Mintzberg (1973), who studied how managers actually spend their time. They observed that the work of managers is fragmented, varied and subjected to continual adjustment. It is governed to a large degree by events over which managers have little control and by a dynamic network of interrelationships with other people. Managers attempt to control their environment but sometimes it controls them. They may consciously or unconsciously seek to plan, organize, direct and control, but their days almost inevitably become a jumbled sequence of events. To the empiricists, management is a process involving a mix of rational, logical, problem-solving, decision-making activities, and intuitive, judgemental activities. It is therefore both science and art. 5
Slide 23: How to be an Even Better Manager Managers carry out their work on a day-to-day basis in conditions of variety, turbulence and unpredictability. A single word to describe all these features would be chaos. Tom Peters (1988), however, has suggested that it is possible for managers to thrive on chaos. Managers also have to be specialists in ambiguity, with the ability to cope with conflicting and unclear requirements, as Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1984) has demonstrated. MANAGERIAL ROLES During the course of a typical day a chief executive may well meet the marketing director to discuss the programme for launching a new product, the HR director to decide how best to reorganize the distribution department, the production director to ask him why costs per unit of output are going up and what he is going to do about it, and the finance director to review the latest set of management accounts before the next board meeting. He may have had to meet a journalist to be interviewed about how the company is going to deliver better results next year. Lunch may have been taken with a major customer, and the evening spent at a business dinner. Some of these activities could be categorized under the headings of planning, organizing, directing and controlling, but the chief executive would not have attached these labels when deciding how to spend his time (in so far as there was any choice). The fact that these processes took place was imposed by the situation and the need to take on one or more of the roles inherent in the manager’s job. These roles are fundamentally concerned with: ■ ■ ■ ■ getting things done – planning ahead, maintaining momentum and making things happen; finding out what is going on; reacting to new situations and problems; responding to demands and requests. They involve a great deal of interpersonal relations, communicating, information processing and decision-making. 6
Slide 24: How to be a Better Manager THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP Managers have to be leaders and leaders are often, but not always, managers. But a distinction can be made between the processes of management and leadership. Management is concerned with achieving results by effectively obtaining, deploying, utilizing and controlling all the resources required, namely people, money, information, facilities, plant and equipment. Leadership focuses on the most important resource, people. It is the process of developing and communicating a vision for the future, motivating people and gaining their commitment and engagement. The distinction is important. Management is mainly about the provision, deployment, utilization and control of resources. But where people are involved – and they almost always are - it is impossible to deliver results without providing effective leadership. It is not enough to be a good manager of resources, you also have to be a good leader of people. THE FRAGMENTARY NATURE OF MANAGERIAL WORK Because of the open-ended nature of their work, managers feel compelled to perform a great variety of tasks at an unrelenting pace. Research into how managers spend their time confirms that their activities are characterized by fragmentation, brevity and variety. This arises for the following six reasons: 1. Managers are largely concerned with dealing with people – their staff and their internal and external customers. But people’s behaviour is often unpredictable; their demands and responses are conditioned by the constantly changing circumstances in which they exist, the pressures to which they have to respond and their individual wants and needs. Conflicts arise and have to be dealt with on the spot. 2. Managers are not always in a position to control the events that affect their work. Sudden demands are imposed upon them 7
Slide 25: How to be an Even Better Manager 3. 4. 5. 6. from other people within the organization or from outside. Crises can occur which they are unable to predict. Managers are expected to be decisive and deal with situations as they arise. Their best-laid plans are therefore often disrupted; their established priorities have to be abandoned. Managers are subject to the beck and call of their superiors, who also have to respond instantly to new demands and crises. Managers often work in conditions of turbulence and ambiguity. They are not clear about what is expected of them when new situations arise. They therefore tend to be reactive rather than proactive, dealing with immediate problems rather than trying to anticipate them. For all the reasons given above, managers are subject to constant interruptions. They have little chance to settle down and think about their plans and priorities or to spend enough time in studying control information to assist in maintaining a ‘steady state’ as far as their own activities go. WHAT MANAGERS ACTUALLY DO What managers do will be dependent on their function, level, organization (type, structure, culture, size) and their working environment generally (the extent to which it is turbulent, predictable, settled, pressurized, steady). Individual managers will adapt to these circumstances in different ways and will operate more or less successfully in accordance with their own perceptions of the behaviour expected of them, their experience of what has or has not worked in the past, and their own personal characteristics. There are, however, the following typical characteristics of managerial work: Reaction and non-reflection Much of what managers do is, of necessity, an unreflecting response to circumstances. Managers are usually not so much slow and methodical decision-makers as doers who have to react rapidly to problems as they arise and think on their feet. Much time is spent in day-to-day trouble-shooting. 8
Slide 26: How to be a Better Manager Choice Managers can often exercise choice about their work. They informally negotiate widely different interpretations of the boundaries and dimensions of ostensibly identical jobs, with particular emphasis upon the development of ‘personal domain’ (ie establishing their own territory and the rules that apply within it). Communication Much managerial activity consists of asking or persuading others to do things, which involves managers in face-to-face verbal communication of limited duration. Communication is not simply what managers spend a great deal of time doing but the medium through which managerial work is constituted. Identification of tasks The typical work of a junior manager is the ‘organizational work’ of drawing upon an evolving stock of knowledge about ‘normal’ procedures and routines in order to identify and negotiate the accomplishment of problems and tasks. Character of the work The character of work varies by duration, time span, recurrence, unexpectedness and source. Little time is spent on any one activity and in particular on the conscious, systematic formulation of plans. Planning and decision-making tend to take place in the course of other activities. Managerial activities are riven by contradictions, cross-pressures, and the need to cope with and reconcile conflict. A lot of time is spent by managers accounting for and explaining what they do, in informal relationships and in ‘participating’. WHAT MANAGERS CAN DO ABOUT IT To a degree, managers have simply to put up with the circumstances in which they work as described above – they have to manage in conditions of turbulence, uncertainty and ambiguity. That is why one of the characteristics of effective managers is their resilience – they have to be able to cope with these inevitable 9
Slide 27: How to be an Even Better Manager pressures. But there are competencies as described below and skills as discussed in the rest of this book which can help them to manage in these circumstances. To a considerable extent it is up to managers to be aware of these requirements, the behaviours expected of them and the skills they can use to help in carrying out their often demanding responsibilities. They must treat these as guidelines for personal development plans. Managers can learn from the example of their bosses, by guidance from those bosses and from mentors, and through formal training courses, but self-managed learning is all-important. The starting point is an understanding of the key managerial qualities and the criteria for measuring managerial effectiveness as described in the next two sections. MANAGERIAL QUALITIES Pedler et al (1986) suggest, on the basis of their extensive research, that there are 11 qualities or attributes that are possessed by successful managers: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Command of basic facts. Relevant professional knowledge. Continuing sensitivity to events. Analytical, problem-solving and decision/judgement-making skills. Social skills and abilities. Emotional resilience. Proactivity. Creativity. Mental agility. Balanced learning habits and skills. Self-knowledge. Studies carried out on the qualities displayed by successful top managers as quoted by Rosemary Stewart (1967) show a number of common characteristics, such as: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Willingness to work hard. Perseverance and determination. Willingness to take risks. Ability to inspire enthusiasm. Toughness. 10
Slide 28: How to be a Better Manager MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS As a manager and a leader you will be judged on not only the results you have achieved but the level of competence you have attained and applied in getting those results. Competence is about knowledge and skills – what people need to know and be able to do to carry out their work well. You will also be judged on how you do your work – how you behave in using your knowledge and skills. These are often defined as ‘behavioural competencies’ and can be defined as those aspects of management behaviour that lead to effective performance. They refer to the personal characteristics that people bring to their work roles in such areas as leadership, team working, flexibility and communication. Many organizations have developed competency frameworks which define what they believe to be the key competencies required for success. Such frameworks are used to inform decisions on selection, management development and promotion. Importantly, they can provide the headings under which the performance of managers and other staff is assessed. Managers who want to get on need to know what the framework is, and the types of behaviour expected of them in each of the areas it covers. The following is an example of a competency framework. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Achievement/results orientation. The desire to get things done well and the ability to set and meet challenging goals, create own measures of excellence and constantly seek ways of improving performance. Business awareness. The capacity continually to identify and explore business opportunities, understand the business opportunities and priorities of the organization and constantly seek methods of ensuring that the organization becomes more business-like. Communication. The ability to communicate clearly and persuasively, orally or in writing. Customer focus. The exercise of unceasing care in looking after the interests of external and internal customers to ensure that their wants, needs and expectations are met or exceeded. Developing others. The desire and capacity to foster the development of members of his or her team, providing feedback, support, encouragement and coaching. 11
Slide 29: How to be an Even Better Manager ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Flexibility. The ability to adapt to and work effectively in different situations and to carry out a variety of tasks. Leadership. The capacity to inspire individuals to give of their best to achieve a desired result and to maintain effective relationships with individuals and the team as a whole. Planning. The ability to decide on courses of action, ensuring that the resources required to implement the action will be available and scheduling the programme of work required to achieve a defined end result. Problem solving. The capacity to analyse situations, diagnose problems, identify the key issues, establish and evaluate alternative courses of action and produce a logical, practical and acceptable solution. Teamwork. The ability to work co-operatively and flexibly with other members of the team, with a full understanding of the role to be played as a team member. Some organizations illustrate their competency frameworks with examples of positive or negative indicators of behaviour under each heading. These provide a useful checklist for managers willing to measure their own performance in order to develop their careers. An example is given in Appendix A. DEVELOPING MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS The development of managerial effectiveness should be focused on the qualities and competencies listed above. The fundamental question which is addressed by this book is: ‘How can I learn to be a manager?’ A familiar answer to this question is to say that ‘managers learn from experience’. But can experience alone be the best teacher? Several writers have expressed their doubts on this score. Tennyson called it a ‘dirty nurse’. Oscar Wilde noted that ‘experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes’. And the historian Froude wrote that ‘experience teaches slowly and at the cost of mistakes’. Experience is an essential way of learning to improve but it is an imperfect instrument. We also need guidance from a good manager and from other sources such as this book which will help us to interpret our experience, learn from our mistakes and make better use of our experience in the future. 12
Slide 30: How to be a Better Manager What you can do Perhaps Francis Bacon provided the best answer to this question when he wrote: ‘Studies perfect nature and are perfected by experience.’ The art of management, and it is an art, is important enough to be studied. The aim of such studies should be to help us to make better use of our natural attributes – our personality and intelligence – and to ensure that past experience is better interpreted and more fully used, and that future experience is more quickly and purposefully absorbed. And the rest of this book provides practical guidance on what you need to know and be able to do to become a better manager. 13
Slide 31: 2 How to achieve results Achieving results, getting things done, making things happen. This is what management is all about. It can be said that there are three sorts of managers: those who make things happen, those who watch things happening, and those who don’t know what is happening. Before finding out how to get into the first category, there are three questions to answer: ■ ■ ■ Is getting things done simply a matter of personality – characteristics like drive, decisiveness, leadership, ambition – which some people have and others haven’t? And if you haven’t got the drive, decisiveness and so forth which it takes, is there anything you can do about it? To what extent is an ability to make things happen a matter of using techniques which can be learnt and developed? Personality is important. Unless you have willpower and drive nothing will get done. But remember that your personality is a function of both nature and nurture. You are born with certain characteristics. Upbringing, education, training and, above all, experience, develop you into the person you are. We may not be able to change our personality which, according to Freud, is formed in the first few years of life. But we can develop 14
Slide 32: How to Achieve Results and adapt it by consciously learning from our own experience and by observing and analysing other people’s behaviour. Techniques for achieving results, such as planning, organizing, delegating, communicating, motivating and controlling, can be learnt. These are dealt with later in this book. But these techniques are only as effective as the person who uses them. They must be applied in the right way and in the right circumstances. And you still have to use your experience to select the right technique and your personality to make it work. To become a person who makes things happen you therefore have to develop skills and capacities by a process of understanding, observation, analysis and learning. The four actions you should take are: 1. Understand what makes achievers tick – the personality characteristics they display in getting things done. 2. Observe what achievers do – how they operate, what techniques they use. 3. Analyse your own behaviour (behaviour, not personality), compare it with that of high achievers, and think how to improve your effectiveness. 4. Learn as much as you can about the management techniques available. WHAT MAKES ACHIEVERS TICK? David McClelland (1975) of Harvard University carried out extensive research into what motivates managers. He interviewed, observed and analysed numbers of managers at their place of work and recorded findings before producing his theory. And before you dismiss anything which comes under the heading of theory, remember what Douglas McGregor (1960) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said: ‘There is nothing as practical as a good theory.’ McClelland (1975) identified three needs which he believes are key factors in motivating managers. These are: ■ ■ ■ The need for achievement. The need for power (having control and influence over people). The need for affiliation (to be accepted by others). 15
Slide 33: How to be an Even Better Manager All effective managers have these needs to a certain degree, but by far the most important one is achievement. Achievement is what counts and achievers, according to McClelland, have these characteristics: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ They set themselves realistic but achievable goals with some ‘stretch’ built in. They prefer situations which they themselves can influence rather than those on which chance has a large influence. They are more concerned with knowing they have done well than with the rewards that success brings. They get their rewards from their accomplishment rather than from money or praise. This does not mean that high achievers reject money, which does in fact motivate them as long as it is seen as a realistic measure of performance. High achievers are most effective in situations where they are allowed to get ahead by their own efforts. WHAT DO ACHIEVERS DO? High achievers do some, if not all, of the following: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ They define to themselves precisely what they want to do. They set demanding but not unattainable time-scales in which to do it. They convey clearly what they want done and by when. They are prepared to discuss how things should be done and will listen to and take advice. But once the course of action has been agreed they stick to it unless events dictate a change of direction. They are single-minded about getting where they want to go, showing perseverance and determination in the face of adversity. They demand high performance from themselves and are somewhat callous in expecting equally high performance from everyone else. They work hard and work well under pressure; in fact, it brings out the best in them. They tend to be dissatisfied with the status quo. They are never completely satisfied with their own performance and continually question themselves. 16
Slide 34: How to Achieve Results ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ They will take calculated risks. They snap out of setbacks without being personally shattered and quickly regroup their forces and their ideas. They are enthusiastic about the task and convey their enthusiasm to others. They are decisive in the sense that they are able quickly to sum up situations, define alternative courses of action, determine the preferred course, and convey to their subordinates what needs to be done. They continually monitor their own and their subordinates’ performance so that any deviation can be corrected in good time. HOW TO ANALYSE YOUR OWN BEHAVIOUR It is no good trying to analyse your own behaviour unless you have criteria against which you can measure your performance. You have to set standards for yourself, and if you don’t meet them, ask yourself why. The answer should tell you what to do next time. The basic questions you should ask yourself are: ■ ■ ■ ■ What did I set out to do? Did I get it done? If I did, why and how did I succeed? If not, why not? The aim is to make effective use of your experience. Use the list of what high achievers do to check your own behaviour and actions. If your performance has not been up to scratch under any of these headings, ask yourself specifically what went wrong and decide how you are going to overcome this difficulty next time. This is not always easy. It is hard to admit to yourself, for example, that you have not been sufficiently enthusiastic. It may be even harder to decide what to do about it. You don’t want to enthuse all over the place, indiscriminately. But you can consider whether there are better ways of displaying and conveying your enthusiasm to others in order to carry them with you. 17
Slide 35: How to be an Even Better Manager LEARNING There are a number of management skills and techniques that you need to know about. These techniques are discussed in subsequent chapters in this book. The ones you should be particularly interested in are: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ communicating; controlling; co-ordinating; decision-making; delegating; leadership; motivating; objective setting; planning; prioritizing; project management. CONCLUSION This process of observation, analysis and learning will help you to become an achiever. But remember, achieving results is ultimately about making promises – to others and to yourself – and keeping them. Robert Townsend (1970), in his book Up the Organization, has some excellent advice: ‘Promises: keep. If asked when you can deliver something ask for time to think. Build in a margin of safety. Name a date. Then deliver it earlier than you promised.’ 18
Slide 36: 3 How to appraise people WHAT IS PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL? Performance appraisal is the process of assessing someone’s performance in order to identify development needs and potential, and establish where and how performance needs to be improved. Appraisals can also inform decisions on performance or contribution-related pay increases, usually through a rating system. THE AIM OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL People work best when they know what they have to do, how well they are expected to do it, and how well they have done. The aim of performance appraisal is to ensure that this information is shared between managers and individual members of their teams. 19
Slide 37: How to be an Even Better Manager HOW PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL CAN HELP MANAGERS As Charles Handy (1994) has put it, performance appraisal can help managers to: ■ ■ ■ ■ be teachers, counsellors and friends, as much as or more than they are commanders and judges; trust people to use their own methods to achieve the manager’s own ends; delegate on the basis of a positive will to trust and to enable, and a willingness to be trusted and enabled; become ‘post-heroic’ leaders who know that every problem can be solved in such a way as to develop people’s capacity to handle it. THE PROCESS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Performance appraisal is a process for establishing shared understanding of what is to be achieved, and an approach to managing and developing people in a way which ensures that it will be achieved. Appraisal concentrates on two aspects of performance. The first is what results are achieved in the shape of outputs (measurable or observable results) and outcomes – the overall contribution made by the job holder to achieving team, departmental and organizational objectives. The second is what the individual brings to the job in terms of knowledge and skills (competence) and behaviour. THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL CYCLE The performance appraisal cycle as illustrated in Figure 3.1 consists of three stages: 1. Planning – agreeing what is to be done and how it is to be done. 2. Preparation – deciding how to conduct the appraisal discussion. 20
Slide 38: How to Appraise People planning appraisal discussion preparation Figure 3.1 The performance appraisal cycle 3. The formal appraisal discussion – a review of what has been achieved and how it has been achieved over the last review period, which leads to the preparation of an agreed plan for the next review period. These stages are described below. STAGE 1: HOW TO PLAN FOR APPRAISAL Planning for appraisal means that you have to agree four things with individuals: ■ ■ ■ ■ What they are expected to do – job content. What they are expected to achieve – objectives and standards. What they need to know and be able to do – competences. How they are expected to behave – competencies. Essentially, this is a matter of defining and agreeing expectations, and the whole process of performance appraisals can be described as that of managing expectations. Defining job content To define job content you need to agree with individuals the main tasks they have to carry out. These are sometimes called key result areas. Your aim should be to boil the various activities down to no 21
Slide 39: How to be an Even Better Manager more than 8 to 10 main tasks. Do not attempt to describe in detail how a task is carried out. A task description simply identifies the key areas in which objectives will be agreed and performance reviewed. A task description should be a single sentence starting with an active verb which defines what has to be done and why it has to be done, for example: ■ ■ ■ Prepare variance statements to keep managers informed of their expenditures in relation to budget. Reply to customer account enquiries in order to ensure that customer care standards are maintained. Maintain stock records for bought-in parts so that information is available on line about accountability. Defining objectives and standards Objectives or targets (what is to be accomplished) and standards (the level of performance to be achieved) should be defined for each of the main tasks or key result areas. The way in which achievement will be assessed (performance measures) also needs to be agreed. For example, an output target could be expressed as ‘achieve sales of £1.6 million by 30 June’ or a performance improvement target could be stated as ‘increase sales turnover by 8 per cent over the next 12 months’. Output targets should indicate the performance measures used, as in the above example. Performance standards should have been broadly defined in the ‘why’ part of the task definition (’prepare variance statements to keep managers informed of their expenditures in relation to budgets’.) The end results required for this purpose could be defined in quantitative terms as follows: Prepare and distribute variance statements to managers within three working days of the end of the accounting period. Approaches to agreeing objectives and performance standards and measures are discussed in more detail in Chapter 28. Defining knowledge and skill requirements Knowledge and skill requirements (expectations) can be agreed 22
Slide 40: How to Appraise People simply by discussing with individuals what they need to know and be able to do with regard to each of the main task areas in their job. Defining competency expectations If your organization has a competency framework as described in Chapter 1 (page 11) and/or a schedule of positive and negative examples of behaviour as set out in Appendix A, reference can be made to them when defining the levels of competency (the types of behaviour) you expect. If they do not exist you can do it yourself with the individuals concerned. It is simply a matter of agreeing the answers to two questions. First, what aspects of behaviour do you think are important if you are to do your job well? The individual can be prompted by lists such as those set out on page 11–12. Second, for each aspect of behaviour, how will you and I know that it has been done well? For example, the answer for team working might be phrased as: ‘When I co-operate fully with my colleagues in achieving jointly agreed results.’ STAGE 2: PREPARING FOR THE APPRAISAL DISCUSSION The appraisal discussion is the most important part of the appraisal process. You should prepare for it carefully in advance by referring to the agreement reached in the planning stage on the key tasks, objectives and competence and competency requirements. You will need to obtain examples or evidence of good or less good results, and effective or less effective behaviour, to use in your discussion with the individual. During the review period it is helpful to make notes on what has gone particularly well or particularly badly. It is advisable to discuss these points with the individual as they arise and not leave them to come as a surprise during the appraisal discussion. Agreement should be reached on the spot as to what has happened and why, and what can be done to build on success or to overcome performance problems. This will mean that the appraisal discussion becomes more of a stocktaking exercise, and the proper emphasis is placed on forward planning. It also takes the heat out 23
Slide 41: How to be an Even Better Manager of discussions on performance problems if agreement has already been reached on what they are. STAGE 3: THE APPRAISAL DISCUSSION The aim of the appraisal discussion is to identify and agree plans – to build on good performance and to overcome performance problems. It is essentially forward-looking although the plan must be based on an analysis of past achievements. Appraisal discussions are not just about making judgements – whether these are concerned with attaching blame or giving praise (although it is important to spell out with evidence where things have gone right or wrong). The discussion should instead focus on why things have gone right or wrong and what can be done about it. You should try to get the individuals to do most of the talking and this is easier if they are encouraged to appraise themselves. The advantages of self-appraisal are that it: ■ ■ ■ ■ significantly reduces the judgemental nature of the manager’s contribution to the discussion; encourages individuals to think actively about their performance; reduces defensive behaviour; provides a good foundation for a dialogue which concentrates positively on what needs to be done in the future rather than addressing negatively issues that have arisen in the past. APPRAISAL DISCUSSION GUIDELINES Ten guidelines for conducting appraisal discussions are given below. 1. Let the individual do most of the talking. 2. Keep the whole period under review – do not focus only on recent events. 3. Recognize achievements and reinforce strengths. 4. Give praise where praise is due but only when it is due. Do not be over-lavish with insincere comments. 24
Slide 42: How to Appraise People 5. Be prepared to criticize, but do so constructively and on the basis of evidence not opinion. 6. Do not tackle more than two weaknesses in one meeting – there is a limit to how much criticism individuals can accept. 7. Adopt a joint problem-solving approach – you are there as a helper not a judge. 8. Ask questions rather than provide answers, as in, ‘What are the steps you think you will have to take?’ 9. Adopt a ‘What if...?’ approach as a means of generating ideas and dealing with the problem jointly, for instance, ‘What if we called a meeting of your most important clients to get their ideas on what sort of service they want from you? How would you approach such a meeting?’ 10. Always provide constructive rather than destructive feedback – identify the problems but focus on what can be done about them. (How to provide feedback is covered in Chapter 46.) 25
Slide 43: 4 How to assess your own performance It is probable that your line manager will be required to appraise your performance, but he or she would be well advised to encourage you to assess your own performance (self-appraisal) for the reasons given in Chapter 3. Even if you are not encouraged to do this formally as part of the appraisal process, there is everything to be said for doing it yourself. If you carry out a systematic and honest self-appraisal as described below you will be in a much better position to impress your superiors and develop your career. THE SELF-ASSESSMENT PROCESS To assess your own performance you need to carry out the following actions. 1. Ensure that you are clear about what your job entails in terms of the main tasks or key result areas. If in doubt, ask your manager for clarification. 26
Slide 44: How to Assess Your Own Performance 2. Find out what you are expected to achieve for each of the key result areas. Expectations should be definable as objectives in the form of quantified targets or standards of performance (qualitative statements of what constitutes effective performance). Ideally they should have been discussed and agreed as part of the performance appraisal/management process but if this has not happened, ask your manager to spell out what he or she expects you to achieve. 3. Refer to the organization’s competency framework and any statements of positive or negative behaviour (as in the example at Appendix A) that may exist. Discuss with your manager how he or she interprets these as far as you are concerned. If there is no framework, take the headings listed in Chapter 1 (page 11) and review these with your manager. This is more difficult. Some managers will not be prepared to discuss what they might regard as abstractions, and others might find it difficult to articulate what they believe to be the requirements. But the attempt is worth making. At least it shows that you are trying, and a manager would have to be quite insensitive to fail to appreciate this request on your part (but some managers are insensitive and you might have to put up with them until you can move elsewhere). 4. At fairly regular intervals, say once a month, review your progress by reference to the objectives, standards and competency headings. Take note of your achievements and, if they exist, your failures. Ask yourself why you were successful or unsuccessful, and what you can do to build on success or overcome failure. You may identify actions you can take or specific changes in behaviour you can try to achieve. Or you may identify a need for further coaching, training or experience. 5. At the end of the review period and prior to the appraisal discussion with your manager, look back at each of your interim reviews and the actions you decided to take. Consider what more needs to be done in any specific area or generally. You will then be in a position to answer the following questions that might be posed by your manager before or during the appraisal discussion: – How do you feel you have done? – What are you best at doing? – Are there any parts of your job which you find difficult? 27
Slide 45: How to be an Even Better Manager – Are there any aspects of your work in which you would benefit from better guidance or further training? Importantly, if you have kept a record of your progress, you will be able to produce evidence to support your answers to these questions. 28
Slide 46: 5 How to be assertive ASSERTION AND AGGRESSION Assertiveness, as defined by Ken and Kate Back (1982) in Assertiveness at Work, is: ■ ■ Standing up for your own rights in such a way that you do not violate another person’s rights. Expressing your needs, wants, opinions, feelings and beliefs in direct, honest and appropriate ways. When you are being assertive you are not, therefore, being aggressive, which means violating or ignoring other people’s rights in order to get your own way or dominate a situation. Aggressive behaviour causes two counter-productive reactions: fight or flight. In other words, aggression either breeds aggression, which gets you nowhere, or it forces people to retreat in a demoralized or dissatisfied way. Including this sort of behaviour will not help to achieve your aim of getting them to go along with you. 29
Slide 47: How to be an Even Better Manager ASSERTIVE BEHAVIOUR Behaving assertively puts you into the position of being able to influence people properly and react to them positively. Assertive statements: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ are brief and to the point; indicate clearly that you are not hiding behind something or someone and are speaking for yourself by using words such as: ‘I think that…’, ‘I believe that…’, ‘I feel that…’, – your beliefs and views are important; are not overweighted with advice; use questions to find out the views of others and to test their reactions to your behaviour; distinguish between fact and opinion; are expressed positively but not dogmatically; indicate that you are aware that the other people have different points of view; express, when necessary, negative feelings about the effects of other people’s behaviour on you – pointing out in dispassionate and factual terms the feelings aroused in you by that behaviour, and suggesting the behaviour you would prefer; point out to people politely but firmly the consequences of their behaviour. HANDLING AGGRESSION If you are faced by aggression, take a breath, count up to 10 and then: ■ ■ ■ ■ Ask calmly for information about what is bugging the aggressors. State clearly, and again calmly, the position as you see it. Empathize with the aggressors by making it plain that you can see it from their point of view, but at the same time explaining in a matter-of-fact way how you see the discrepancy between what they believe and what you feel is actually happening. Indicate, if the aggressive behaviour persists, your different beliefs or feelings, but do not cut aggressors short – people often talk, or even shout, themselves out of being aggressive 30
Slide 48: How to be Assertive ■ when they realize that you are not reacting aggressively and that their behaviour is not getting them anywhere. Suggest, if all else fails, that you leave it for the time being and talk about it again after a cooling-off period. INFLUENCING STYLES Assertiveness is about fighting your own corner. You have to believe in yourself and what you are doing and express these beliefs confidently and without hesitation. It is about using influencing skills. There are four influencing styles you can use: 1. Asserting – making your views clear. 2. Persuading – using facts, logic and reason to present your own case, emphasizing its strong points (benefits to the organization or the individual(s) you are dealing with), anticipating objections to any apparent weaknesses and appealing to reason. 3. Bridging – drawing out other people’s points of view, demonstrating that you understand what they are getting at, giving credit and praise in response to their good ideas and suggestions, joining your views with theirs. 4. Attracting – conveying your enthusiasm for your ideas, making people feel that they are all part of an exciting project. There is more about influencing people in Chapter 19. 31
Slide 49: 6 How to be authoritative Authoritative people are listened to. They get things done, and others take note of what they say and act on it. Good managers demonstrate that they are authoritative by the way they behave. They rely on the authority of expertise and wisdom rather than the authority of power. Managers may be ‘drest in a little brief authority’ but they have to earn respect for that authority and keep on earning it. To be authoritative you have to: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Be good at what you are doing as a leader, a manager, an expert or all three. Be able to define clearly what you expect people to do clearly, concisely and persuasively. Demonstrate that you know where you are going, what you are doing and why you are doing it. As necessary, explain the course of action you are taking. Lead by example. Accept that your authority is not absolute – it only exists if others recognize it. Be decisive, but avoid rushing into decisions without careful thought. 32
Slide 50: How to be Authoritative ■ ■ ■ Get people to accept that there will be occasions in which what you say goes – you are accountable and the final decision is always yours. Be self-confident and convey that to everyone concerned (preferably without being cocky). Be a good communicator, ensuring that people know exactly what is expected of them. 33
Slide 51: 7 How to communicate People recognize the need to communicate but find it difficult. Like Schopenhauer’s hedgehogs, they want to get together, it’s only their prickles that keep them apart. Words may sound or look precise, but they are not. All sorts of barriers exist between the communicator and the receiver. Unless these barriers are overcome the message will be distorted or will not get through. BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION Hearing what we want to hear What we hear or understand when someone speaks to us is largely based on our own experience and background. Instead of hearing what people have told us, we hear what our minds tell us they have said. We have preconceptions about what people are going to say, and if what they say does not fit into our framework of reference we adjust it until it does. (Advice on how to listen is given later in this chapter.) 34
Slide 52: How to Communicate Ignoring conflicting information We tend to ignore or reject communications that conflict with our own beliefs. If they are not rejected, some way is found of twisting and shaping their meaning to fit our preconceptions. When a message is inconsistent with existing beliefs, the receiver rejects its validity, avoids further exposure to it, easily forgets it and, in his or her memory, distorts what has been heard. Perceptions about the communicator It is difficult to separate what we hear from our feelings about the person who says it. Non-existent motives may be ascribed to the communicator. If we like people we are more likely to accept what they say – whether it is right or wrong – than if we dislike them. Influence of the group The group with which we identify influences our attitudes and feelings. What a group hears depends on its interests. Workers are more likely to listen to their colleagues, who share their experiences, than to outsiders such as managers or union officials. Words mean different things to different people Essentially, language is a method of using symbols to represent facts and feelings. Strictly speaking, we can’t convey meaning, all we can do is to convey words. Do not assume that because something has a certain meaning to you, it will convey the same meaning to someone else. Non-verbal communication When we try to understand the meaning of what people say we listen to the words but we use other clues which convey meaning. We attend not only to what people say but to how they say it. We form impressions from what is called body language – eyes, shape of the mouth, the muscles of the face, even posture. We may feel that these tell us more about what someone is really saying than the words he or she uses. But there is enormous scope for misinterpretation. 35
Slide 53: How to be an Even Better Manager Emotions Our emotions colour our ability to convey or to receive the true message. When we are insecure or worried, what we hear seems more threatening than when we are secure and at peace with the world. When we are angry or depressed, we tend to reject what might otherwise seem like reasonable requests or good ideas. During heated argument, many things that are said may not be understood or may be badly distorted. Noise Any interference to communication is ‘noise’. It can be literal noise which prevents the message being heard, or figurative in the shape of distracting or confused information which distorts or obscures the meaning. Size The larger and more complex the organization, the greater the problem of communication. The more levels of management and supervision through which a message has to pass, the greater the opportunity for distortion or misunderstanding. OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION Adjust to the world of the receiver Try to predict the impact of what you are going to write or say on the receiver’s feelings and attitudes. Tailor the message to fit the receiver’s vocabulary, interests and values. Be aware of how the information might be misinterpreted because of prejudices, the influence of others and the tendency of people to reject what they do not want to hear. Use feedback Ensure that you get a message back from the receiver which tells you how much has been understood. 36
Slide 54: How to Communicate Use face-to-face communication Whenever possible talk to people rather than write to them. That is how you get feedback. You can adjust or change your message according to reactions. You can also deliver it in a more human and understanding way – this can help to overcome prejudices. Verbal criticism can often be given in a more constructive manner than written reproof which always seems to be harsher. Use reinforcement You may have to present your message in a number of different ways to get it across. Re-emphasize the important points and follow up. Use direct, simple language This seems obvious. But many people clutter up what they say with jargon, long words and elaborate sentences. Suit the actions to the word Communications have to be credible to be effective. There is nothing worse than promising the earth and then failing to deliver. When you say you are going to do something, do it. Next time you are more likely to be believed. Use different channels Some communications have to be in writing to put the message across promptly and without any variations in the way they are delivered. But, wherever possible, supplement written communications with the spoken word. Conversely, an oral briefing should be reinforced in writing. Reduce problems of size If you can, reduce the number of levels of management. Encourage a reasonable degree of informality in communications. Ensure that activities are grouped together to ease communication on matters of mutual concern. 37
Slide 55: How to be an Even Better Manager LISTENING SKILLS There are many good writers and speakers but few good listeners. Most of us filter the spoken words addressed to us so that we absorb only some of them – frequently those we want to hear. Listening is an art which not many people cultivate. But it is a very necessary one, because a good listener will gather more information and achieve better rapport with the other person. And both these effects of good listening are essential to good communication. People don’t listen effectively because they are: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ unable to concentrate, for whatever reason; too preoccupied with themselves; over-concerned with what they are going to say next; uncertain about what they are listening to or why they are listening to it; unable to follow the points or arguments made by the speaker; simply not interested in what is being said. Effective listeners: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ concentrate on the speaker, following not only words but also body language which, through the use of eyes or gestures, often underlines meaning and gives life to the message; respond quickly to points made by the speaker, if only in the shape of encouraging grunts; ask questions frequently to elucidate meaning and to give the speaker an opportunity to rephrase or underline a point; comment on the points made by the speaker, without interrupting the flow, in order to test understanding and demonstrate that the speaker and listener are still on the same wavelength. These comments may reflect back or summarize something the speaker has said, thus giving an opportunity for him to reconsider or elucidate the point made; make notes on the key points – even if the notes are not referred to later they will help to concentrate the mind; are continuously evaluating the messages being delivered to check that they are understood and relevant to the purpose of the meeting; are alert at all times to the nuances of what the speaker is saying; 38
Slide 56: How to Communicate ■ ■ do not slump in their chairs – they lean forward, show interest and maintain contact through their oral responses and by means of body language; are prepared to let the speaker go on with the minimum of interruption. 39
Slide 57: 8 How to coach Coaching is a personal (usually one-to-one), on-the-job approach used by managers and trainers to help people develop their skills and levels of competence. As a manager, you are there to get results through people; this means that you have a personal responsibility for ensuring that they acquire and develop the skills they need. Other people in the shape of training and management development specialists may help, but because by far the best way of learning is on the job, the onus is mainly on you. The need for coaching may arise from formal or informal performance reviews but opportunities for coaching will emerge during normal day-to-day activities. Every time you delegate a new task to someone, a coaching opportunity is created to help the individual learn any new skills or techniques which are needed to do the job. Every time you provide feedback to an individual after a task has been completed, there is an opportunity to help that individual do better next time. Methods of giving feedback are described in Chapter 46. 40
Slide 58: How to Coach AIMS The aims of coaching are to: ■ ■ ■ ■ help people to become aware of how well they are doing, where they need to improve and what they need to learn; put controlled delegation into practice; in other words, managers can delegate new tasks or enlarged areas of work, provide guidance as necessary on how the tasks or work should be carried out and monitor performance in doing the work; get managers and individuals to use whatever situations arise as learning opportunities; enable guidance to be provided on how to carry out specific tasks as necessary, but always on the basis of helping people to learn rather than spoon-feeding them with instructions on what to do and how to do it. THE COACHING SEQUENCE Coaching can be carried out in the following stages: 1. Identify the areas of knowledge, skills or capabilities where learning needs to take place to qualify people to carry out the task, provide for continuous development, enhance transferable skills or improve performance. 2. Ensure that the person understands and accepts the need to learn. 3. Discuss with the person what needs to be learnt and the best way to undertake the learning. 4. Get the person to work out how they can manage their own learning while identifying where they will need help from you or someone else. 5. Provide encouragement and advice to the person in pursuing the self-learning programme. 6. Provide specific guidance as required where the person needs your help. 7. Agree how progress should be monitored and reviewed. 41
Slide 59: How to be an Even Better Manager COACHING SKILLS As Katherine Adams (Employee Development Bulletin, No. 72, December, 1995) writes: Coaching can only work with the willing participation of both learners and managers. It also requires an open and trusting relationship between the coach and the learner, and senior management support. Coaches may need special training in the skills required, they should be given specific responsibility for coaching, and their role needs to be suitably rewarded. Learning should be an explicit target of coaching along with others more directly related to the tasks being carried out. Finally, any system of coaching should be regularly monitored and evaluated. EFFECTIVE COACHING Coaching will be most effective when: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ The coach understands that his or her role is to help people to learn. Individuals are motivated to learn – they should be aware that their present level of knowledge or skill, or their behaviour needs to be improved if they are going to perform their work to their own and to others’ satisfaction. Individuals are given guidance on what they should be learning and feedback on how they are doing. Learning is an active, not a passive, process – individuals need to be actively involved with their coach. The coach listens to individuals to understand what they want and need. The coach adopts a constructive approach, building on strengths and experience. PLANNED COACHING Coaching may be informal but it has to be planned. It is not simply checking from time to time on what people are doing and then advising them on how to do it better. Nor is it occasionally telling people where they have gone wrong and throwing in a lecture for 42
Slide 60: How to Coach good measure. As far as possible, coaching should take place within the framework of a general plan of the areas and direction in which individuals will benefit from further development. Coaching plans can and should be incorporated into the general development plans set out in a performance review as described in Chapter 28. THE MANAGER AS COACH Coaching enables you to provide motivation, structure and effective feedback as long as you have the required skills and commitment. As coaches, good managers believe that people can succeed and that they can contribute to their success. They can identify what people need to be able to do to improve their performance. They have to see this as an important part of the role – an enabling, empowering process which focuses on learning requirements. 43
Slide 61: 9 How to co-ordinate Co-ordinating – ‘achieving unity of effort’– is not a separate function of a manager. The concept of co-ordination does not describe a particular set of operations but all operations which lead to a certain result. Co-ordination is required because individual actions need to be synchronized. Some activities must follow one another in sequence. Others must go on at the same time and in the same direction in order to finish together. APPROACHES TO CO-ORDINATION Obviously, you can achieve good co-ordination if you get people to work well together. This means integrating their activities, communicating well, exercising leadership, and team building (all subjects covered in individual chapters). But you should also pay attention to the specific techniques discussed below. Planning Co-ordinating should take place before the event rather than after 44
Slide 62: How to Co-ordinate it. Planning is the first step. This means deciding what should be done and when. It is a process of dividing the total task into a number of sequenced or related sub-tasks. Then you work out priorities and time-scales. Organizing You know what should be done. You then decide who does it. When you divide work between people you should avoid breaking apart those tasks which are linked together and which you cannot separate cleanly from each other. Your biggest problem will be deciding where the boundaries between distinct but related activities should be. If the boundary is either too rigid or insufficiently well defined, you may have coordination problems. Don’t rely too much upon the formal organization as defined in job descriptions, charts and manuals. If you do, you will induce inflexibility and set up communication barriers, and these are fatal to co-ordination. The informal organization which exists in all companies can help co-ordination. When people work together they develop a system of social relationships which cut across formal organizational boundaries. They create a network of informal groups which tend to discipline themselves. This frees management from detailed supervision and control and leaves it more time for planning, problem-solving and the overall monitoring of performance. Delegating The informal organization can help, but you still need to delegate work to individuals in a way that ensures they know what is expected of them and are aware of the need to liaise with others to achieve a co-ordinated result. The art is to make everyone concerned understand the points on which they must link up with other people and the time in which such actions have to be completed. You should not have to tell people to co-ordinate; they should co-ordinate almost automatically. This they will do if you delegate not only specific tasks but also the job of working with others. Communicating You should not only communicate clearly what you want done, 45
Slide 63: How to be an Even Better Manager you should also encourage people to communicate with one another. Avoid situations in which people can say: ‘Why didn’t someone tell me about this? If they had, I could have told them how to get out of the difficulty.’ Nobody should be allowed to resort to James Forsyte’s excuse that ‘no one tells me anything’. It is up to people to find out what they need to know and not wait to be told. Controlling If you use the processes described above, and they work, theoretically you will not have to worry any more about co-ordination. But of course, life is not like that. You must monitor actions and results, spot problems and take swift corrective action when necessary. Coordination doesn’t just happen. It has to be worked at: but avoid getting too involved. Allow people as much freedom as possible to develop horizontal relationships. These can facilitate co-ordination far more effectively than rigid and authoritarian control from above. A CASE STUDY There is no one right way of co-ordinating a number of activities. It all depends on the nature of those activities and the circumstances in which they are carried out; for example, the present organization structure, the existence of co-ordinating committees and the facility with which communication can take place between those involved. Ultimately, good co-ordination depends upon the will of everyone concerned – to co-ordinate or be co-ordinated. Mechanical devices such as committees will not necessarily do the trick. An example of good co-ordination took place in a company which was developing a new product in a new market. Neither the product nor the market fitted conveniently into the existing divisional structure and it was therefore decided to appoint one man as project manager to get the product launched. He would have a staff of two – a brand manager and a secretary. The work of development, production, marketing, selling and customer servicing would be carried out by the relevant departments in various divisions of the company. 46
Slide 64: How to Co-ordinate The project manager had the status and authority to get things done by each department. The board was right behind the project and had allocated the priorities and resources required. But the different activities had to be co-ordinated and only the project manager could do it. The easy way out would have been to set up a massive co-ordinating committee and leave it at that. This would have failed. Projects of this complexity cannot be co-ordinated just by creating a committee. The project manager developed a different approach which proved to be highly successful. His first objective was to make everyone concerned enthusiastic about the project. He wanted them to believe in its importance so that they would be committed to working closely with the other departments involved. His next step was to hold separate discussions with departmental heads so that they completely understood the programme of work required in each area. With the help of a project planner he then drew up a chart showing the key events and activities, and the relationships between them and the sequence in which they needed to take place in order to complete the project. This chart was distributed to all the departmental heads supplemented by an explanatory brief on the work required at each stage of the programme. Only then did he call a meeting to iron out difficulties and to ensure that everyone knew what had to be done and when. He set up a system of progress reports and held progress meetings with departmental heads. But these were only held as necessary and he did not rely upon them to achieve co-ordination. He depended much more on personal contacts with individual managers, reviewing problems, noting where adjustments to the programme were needed, and stimulating the managers to even greater efforts when required. It was time consuming, but it kept him closely in touch so that he could anticipate any likely delays, setbacks or failures in communication, and be in a position to take action. He used the chart as his main instrument for checking that the critical events took place as planned. The successful co-ordination and completion of the project were not achieved by one method but by the judicious use of a combination of techniques relevant to the situation: motivating, team building, planning, integrating, monitoring and controlling. 47
Slide 65: 10 How to control Basically, you are seeking to control two areas – input and output – and the relationship between them, which is productivity or performance. All managers will know Murphy’s two laws: if anything can go wrong, it will; and of the things that can’t go wrong, some will. The aim of good control is to protect your plans from the operation of these laws as far as possible; to detect trouble spots before they erupt; to prevent those accidents which are just waiting to happen. Prevention is better than cure. ESSENTIALS OF CONTROL Control is relative. It does not deal with absolutes, only with the difference between good and not-so-good performance. The basis of control is measurement. It depends on accurate information about what is being achieved. This is then compared with what should have been achieved and with what has been achieved in the past. But that is only a starting point. Good control also identifies responsibility and points the way to action. 48
Slide 66: How to Control Effective control If you want to exercise good control you need to: 1. 2. 3. 4. plan what you aim to achieve; measure regularly what has been achieved; compare actual achievements with the plan; take action to exploit opportunities revealed by this information or to correct deviations from the plan. Note that control is not only a matter of putting things right. It also has a positive side – getting more or better things done on the basis of information received. Problems of control A good control system is not easy to set up. There are two essentials: ■ ■ To set appropriate and fair targets, standards and budgets. (This may be difficult where the scope for quantification is limited or if circumstances make forecasts unreliable.) To decide what information is crucial for control purposes and design reports which clearly convey that information to the people who need it and can use it to point the way to action. This also produces problems. Too many control systems generate a surfeit of indigestible data which go to the wrong people and are not acted upon. You can have too little information, but there is also such a thing as information overkill. There is, moreover, a tendency for some people to report good results and cover up poor results. In any case, the figures may not tell the whole story. Overcoming the problem There are five steps to take if you want to achieve good control: 1. Decide what you want to control. 2. Decide how you are going to measure and review performance. 3. Use ratio analysis to make comparisons and to identify variations and problems. 49
Slide 67: How to be an Even Better Manager 4. Set up a control system. 5. Manage by exception. CONTROLLING INPUTS AND OUTPUTS In controlling input and output, and hence productivity, an overview is essential. It is no good concentrating on inputs, mainly expressed as costs, unless you look at the benefits arising from these expenditures and the effectiveness with which the costs have been incurred. Cost benefit and cost-effectiveness studies are an essential part of the control process. Input control When you control inputs you should aim to measure and assess the performance of: ■ Money – its productivity, flow, liquidity and conservation. You need to know what return you are getting on investments compared with the return you want. You should ensure that you have the cash and working capital to run the business. Cash-flow analysis is vital. One of the golden rules of management, as stated by Robert Heller, is ‘cash in must exceed cash out’. You must conserve and provide the money needed to finance future trading and development projects and for capital investment. Management has to know how effectively its financial resources are being used to produce goods, services and profits and this requires continuous and close attention to the control of direct and indirect costs and overheads generally. People – the effectiveness of the people you employ in terms of their quality and performance. Materials – their availability, condition, convertibility and waste. Equipment – machine utilization and capability. ■ ■ ■ 50
Slide 68: How to Control Output control ■ ■ Quantitative control measures – the units produced or sold, the amount of services provided, the sales turnover obtained and the profits achieved. Key performance measures will vary between organizations. You need to determine through analysis which are the crucial indicators of success or failure. Qualitative control measures – the level of service provided by an organization (eg a public corporation) or by a non-productive department within an organization (eg personnel). It is more difficult to select valid performance measures in these areas, but the attempt should be made. CONTROL SYSTEMS What you need from a control system Your basic requirement is reports that clearly identify areas of good and bad performance so that appropriate action can be taken. At higher levels ‘exception reporting’ should be adopted so that significant deviations, on which action should be taken, can be highlighted. Overall summaries of performance against plan and of trends will also be necessary at this level, but these may disguise significant underlying deviations which would be pointed out in an exception report. The reports themselves should: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Contain measurements which are accurate, valid and reliable. Permit a direct and easy comparison between planned and actual performance. Analyse trends, comparing one period’s performance with that of the previous period or of the same period the previous year and, where appropriate, summarizing the year to date position. Be given to the person who is responsible for the activity concerned. Arrive promptly, in time to allow the necessary action to be taken. Provide succinct explanations of any deviations from plan. Measurements Measurement is a good thing, but all figures need to be treated with 51
Slide 69: How to be an Even Better Manager caution. They may conceal more than they reveal. The weaknesses to look for are: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Non-representative reporting – data selected which do not cover the key issues, disguise unfavourable results or over-emphasize favourable performance. Not comparing like with like – the ‘apples and pears syndrome’. For example, a trend or projection which does not take account of changing or new factors which have altered or will alter the situation since the base data were collected. Not starting from a common base. This is a variant on the ‘like with like’ problem. Trend comparisons should be related to a common base in terms both of the period and the elements covered by the information. Misleading averages. Averages do not always tell you the whole story. They may conceal significant extremes in performance. Unintentional errors – simple mistakes in calculation, presentation or observation. Measurements out of context. Almost any single measure is influenced by, or inseparable from, other measures. Figures in isolation may not mean very much. You have to know about relationships and underlying influences. MANAGEMENT BY EXCEPTION Management by exception is a system which rings alarm bells only when the manager’s attention is needed. The principle was invented by the father of scientific management, Frederick Taylor. In 1911 he wrote in Principles of Scientific Management: Under the exception principle the manager should receive only condensed, summarized and invariably comparative reports covering, however, all of the elements entering into the management and even these summaries should all be carefully gone over by an assistant before they reach the manager, and have all the exceptions to the past averages or standards pointed out, both the especially good and the especially bad exceptions, thus giving him in a few minutes a full view of progress which is being made, or the reverse, and leaving him free to consider the broader lines of policy and to study the character and fitness of the important men under him. 52
Slide 70: How to Control Management by exception frees the boss to concentrate on the issues that matter. It gives the subordinate more scope to get on with his or her work while knowing that events out of the ordinary will be reported upwards. Deciding what constitutes an exception is a useful exercise in itself. It means selecting the key events and measures which will show up good, bad or indifferent results and indicate whether or not performance is going according to plan. The chosen indicators or ratios can be studied so that the significance of changes or trends is readily understood. More important, the possible causes of deviations can be analysed and kept in mind. Investigations will then be quickly launched in the right direction and swift remedial action can be taken. Most of us have come across the boss or manager who seems to have the almost magic facility for studying a mass of figures and immediately spotting the one really important deviation or the item that does not ring true. It sometimes seems to be pure instinct, but of course it is not. Such managers are practising the art of management by exception, even if they never call it by that name. Their experience and analytical powers have told them what constitutes normal performance. But they can spot something out of the ordinary at a thousand paces. They know what the key indicators are and they look for them, hard. This is a skill that anyone can develop. And the effort of acquiring it is well worthwhile. 53
Slide 71: 11 How to be creative Walter Bagehot wrote: ‘It is often said that men are ruled by their imagination; but it would be truer to say that they are governed by the weakness of their imagination.’ Unimaginative management is a sure way to failure. Creative thinking that leads to innovation aims to overcome the danger of being governed by this weakness. CREATIVITY Creative and logical thinking Creative thinking is imaginative thinking. It produces new ideas, new ways of looking at things. It relates things or ideas which were previously unrelated. It is discontinuous and divergent. Edward de Bono (1971) invented the phrase ‘lateral thinking’ for it and this term has stuck; it implies sideways leaps in the imagination rather than a continuous progression down a logical chain of reasoning. Logical or analytical thinking is a step-by-step process. It is continuous, one step leading to the next until, ideally, you converge on the only possible solution. It is sometimes called ‘convergent’ 54
Slide 72: How to be Creative thinking; de Bono refers to it as ‘vertical thinking’ because you go straight down the line from one state of information to another. De Bono summed up the differences between vertical and lateral thinking as follows: Vertical thinking Chooses Looks for what is right One thing must follow directly from another Concentrates on relevance Moves in the most likely directions Lateral thinking Changes Looks for what is different Makes deliberate jumps Welcomes chance intrusions Explores the least likely Creative thinking is not superior to logical thinking. It’s just different. The best managers are both creative and logical. Eventually, however creative they have been, they have to make a decision. And logical thinking is necessary to ensure that it is the right decision. The process of creativity In The Act of Creation, Arthur Koestler (1984) described the process of creativity as one of ‘bisociation’; putting together two unconnected facts or ideas to form a single idea. The establishment of the relationship or bisociation is usually accompanied by a release of tension. There is a flash of illumination leading to a shout of ‘Eureka!’ or at least ‘Aha!’ As Koestler remarks, it is like the release of tension after the unexpected punchline of a joke – the ‘haha’ reaction. Or even the less dramatic release of tension when confronting a work of art. If we assume that it is desirable to increase our capacity for creative thinking, there are three steps to take: 1. Understand the barriers to creative thinking. 2. Develop individual capacity for creative thinking. 3. Use the collective capacities of groups of people to develop new ideas by brainstorming. 55
Slide 73: How to be an Even Better Manager Barriers to creative thinking The main barriers to creative thinking are: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Allowing your mind to be conditioned into following a dominant pattern – the mind is a patterning system and this means you can be trapped into a fixed way of looking at things, what de Bono calls a ‘concept prison’, or a ‘tethering factor’. Restricting the free growth of your ideas within rigidly drawn boundaries which are treated as limiting conditions. Failure to identify and examine the assumptions you are making to ensure that they are not restricting the development of new ideas. Polarizing alternatives – reducing every decision to an ‘either/or’ when there may be other ways of looking at things. Being conditioned to think sequentially rather than laterally and looking for the ‘best’ idea, not different ideas. As de Bono says: ‘It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong than always to be right by having no ideas at all.’ Lack of effort in challenging the obvious – it is tempting to slip into the easy solution. Evaluating too quickly – jumping to conclusions and not giving yourself enough time to allow your imagination to range freely over other possible ways of looking at things. A tendency to conform – to give the answer expected. Fear of looking foolish or being put down. How to develop your ability to think creatively If you want to think more creatively, the first thing to do is to analyse yourself. Go through the list of barriers to creativity and ask yourself the question, ‘Is this me?’ If it is, think about ways in which you can overcome the difficulty, concentrating on: ■ ■ ■ Breaking away from any restrictions. Opening up your mind to generate new ideas. Delaying judgement until you have thoroughly explored the alternative ideas. Breaking away To break away from the constraints on your ability to generate new ideas you should: 56
Slide 74: How to be Creative ■ ■ Identify the dominant ideas influencing your thinking. Define the boundaries (ie past experience, precedents, policies, procedures, rules) within which you are working and try to get outside them by asking questions such as: – – – – Are the constraints reasonable? Is past experience reliable? What’s new about the present situation? Is there another way? ■ ■ ■ Bring your assumptions out into the open and challenge any which restrict your freedom to develop new ideas. Reject ‘either/or’ propositions – ask, ‘Is there really a simple choice between alternatives?’ Keep on asking ‘Why?’ (But bear in mind that if you do this too bluntly to other people you can antagonize them.) Generating new ideas To generate new ideas you have to open up your mind. If you have removed some of the constraints as suggested above you will be in a better position to: ■ ■ ■ Look at the situation differently, exploring all possible angles. List as many alternative approaches as possible without seeking the ‘one best way’ (there is no such thing) and without indulging in premature evaluation (which can only lead to partial satisfaction). In de Bono’s words, ‘arrange discontinuity’, deliberately set out to break the mould. The techniques for triggering off new ideas include: – free thinking, allowing your mind to wander over alternative and in many cases apparently irrelevant ways of looking at the situation; – deliberately exposing yourself to new influences in the form of people, articles, books, indeed anything which might give you a different insight, even though it might not be immediately relevant; – switching yourself or other people from problem to problem; – arranging for the cross-fertilization of ideas with other people; 57
Slide 75: How to be an Even Better Manager – using analogies to spark off ideas. The analogy should be suggested by the problem but should then be allowed to exist in its own right to indicate a different way of looking at the problem; – ‘re-framing’, placing the problem in a different context to generate new insights. Delaying judgement Your aim in creative thinking should be to separate the evaluation of ideas from their generation. The worst mistake you can make is to kill off new ideas too quickly. It is always easy to find 10 ways of saying ‘no’ to anything. For example: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ It won’t work. We’re already doing it. It’s been tried before without success. It’s not practical. It won’t solve the problem. It’s too risky. It’s based on pure theory. It will cost too much. It will antagonize the customers/the boss/the union/the workers/the shareholders, etc. It will create more problems than it solves. Some of these objections may be valid. But they should be held back until you have generated as many ideas as possible. Allow ideas to grow a little. Don’t strangle them at birth. It is too easy to say ‘no’, too easy to ridicule anything new or different. In creative thinking it is the end result that counts, and if you want it to be original you must not worry too much about the route you follow to get there. It doesn’t matter if you stumble sometimes or take the wrong turning, as long as delays are not protracted and you arrive in the right place at the end. As de Bono (1971) says: In vertical thinking one has to be right at every step. So, no matter how many steps are taken, the end point (idea, solution, conclusion) is automatically right if all the intervening steps have been right… In lateral thinking one does not have to be right at each step, but one must be right at the end. 58
Slide 76: How to be Creative Delaying judgement is difficult. It goes against the grain. You have to make a conscious effort to hold back until the right moment arrives, which is when you feel that you have collected as many new ideas as you can in the time available. Our training, our inhibitions, our reluctance to look foolish or to go out on a limb all work against us. We should certainly try to do it ourselves and persuade other people to go along with us. But we can help the processes of opening up, introducing discontinuity and releasing new ideas by the technique of brainstorming. Brainstorming Brainstorming has been defined as a means of getting a large number of ideas from a group of people in a short time. It is essentially a group activity which uses a formal setting to generate as many ideas as possible without pausing to evaluate them. The main features of a brainstorming session are as follows: 1. A group of between six and twelve people is assembled. Some will be directly involved with the problem, some should be drawn from other areas from which they can bring different ideas and experience to bear on the problem. There is a chairman and a note-taker. 2. The chairman defines the rules, emphasizing that: – The aim is to get as many ideas as possible. – No attempt will be made to evaluate any ideas. – No one should feel inhibited about coming up with suggestions. 3. If necessary there is a warm-up session to familiarize the group with the procedure. For example, they could be asked to suggest how many uses they can think of for a paper clip. 4. The chairman states the problem, avoiding the trap of defining it too narrowly. 5. The chairman opens the session by a phrase such as ‘In how many ways can we…?’ 6. The chairman encourages people to contribute and prevents any attempt to evaluate ideas. From time to time he or she may restate the problem. 59
Slide 77: How to be an Even Better Manager 7. The note-taker condenses the ideas suggested and lists them on flip charts, not attempting to act as an editor or worrying about duplications at this stage. The session should not be tape recorded as this may inhibit ideas. 8. The chairman keeps on encouraging the group to contribute, trying to get people to freewheel and produce as many ideas as possible – good, bad, indifferent, sensible or silly. He or she keeps the pace going and never comments or allows anyone else to comment on a contribution. Every idea is treated as relevant. 9. The chairman closes the meeting after 30 minutes or so – 45 minutes at most. The session must not be allowed to drag on. 10. Evaluation takes place later, possibly with a different group. At this session the aim is to: – Select ideas for immediate use. – Identify ideas for further exploration. – Review any different approaches which have been revealed by the session. Brainstorming is a useful technique for releasing ideas, overcoming inhibitions, cross-fertilizing ideas and getting away from patterned thinking. It needs to be planned and executed carefully and proper evaluation is essential. Use it selectively, where there seems to be ample scope for different ideas. It will not solve all your problems but can help you to crash through the barriers erected by the traditional approaches to decision-making. Remember that however creative you are, what you finally decide on has to work. Brainstorming and other techniques for increasing creativity will help you to break new ground, but eventually you will have to think clearly and analytically about the pros and cons of the preferred solution before making your final decision. INNOVATION Innovation is the life-blood of an organization. There is nothing so stultifying to a company – or the people in it – as a belief that the 60
Slide 78: How to be Creative old ways must be the best ways. An organization which tries to stand still will not survive. Innovation requires a blend of creativity, clear thinking and the ability to get things done. It requires thinkers and doers to work closely together. Top management must create a climate in which managers have the scope to develop new ideas and the resources to implement them. The success of innovative projects, therefore, can be seen to depend on two issues: the characteristics of the organization and those of the individual manager. Organizational characteristics The organizational characteristics which encourage innovation are: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ A free flow of information which allows executives to find ideas in unexpected places and pushes them to combine fragments of information. Close and frequent contact between departments, and an emphasis on lateral as well as vertical relationships providing resources, information and support. A tradition of working in teams and sharing credit. Senior executives who believe in innovation and will make the necessary resources available. Managers with the ability and desire to seize opportunities and to make time available for innovation. Individual characteristics To be an effective innovator you need: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ To have a clear initial view of the results you want to achieve – you should not worry too much to begin with about the ways of achieving them. To define clearly the aims and benefits of the project. To argue the case for the project persuasively. To elicit support not only from your boss but also from your colleagues and subordinates – you need to build a coalition in which everyone shares equally in the belief that the project is worthwhile. Courage – to take calculated risks and to weather the storm when the inevitable setbacks occur. 61
Slide 79: How to be an Even Better Manager ■ ■ ■ ■ To be good at getting people to act – mobilizing people to contribute fully to the project means using a participative management style. Power to mobilize support and resources and to achieve results. The ability to handle interference or opposition to the project – resistance can be open, but it often takes a passive or covert form: criticism of the plan’s details, foot-dragging, late responses to requests, or arguments over allocation of time and resources among projects. Covert resistance can be the most dangerous. The force of character to maintain momentum, especially after the initial enthusiasm for the project has waned and the team is involved in more tedious work. 62
Slide 80: 12 How to be decisive Good managers are decisive. They can quickly size up a situation and reach the right conclusion on what should be done about it. To say of someone ‘He or she is decisive’ is praise indeed as long as it is understood that the decisions are effective. To be decisive it is first necessary to know something about the decision-making process as summarized below. You should also be familiar with the techniques of problem-solving as explained in Chapter 45. Armed with this knowledge you can adopt the approaches described at the end of this chapter. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS Decision-making is about analysing the situation or problem, identifying possible courses of action, weighing them up and defining a course of action. Peter Drucker (1967) says: A decision is a judgement. It is a choice between alternatives. It is rarely a choice between right and wrong. It is at best a choice between almost 63
Slide 81: How to be an Even Better Manager right and probably wrong – but much more often a choice between two courses of action neither of which is probably more nearly right than the other. You should not expect or even welcome a bland consensus view. The best decisions emerge from conflicting viewpoints. This is Drucker’s first law of decision-making: ‘One does not make a decision without disagreements.’ You can benefit from a clash of opinion to prevent people falling into the trap of starting with the conclusion and then looking for the facts that support it. Alfred P Sloan of General Motors knew this. At a meeting of one of his top committees he said, ‘Gentlemen, I take it we are all in agreement on the decision here.’ Everyone around the table nodded assent. ‘Then,’ continued Mr Sloan, ‘I propose we postpone further discussion of the matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.’ TEN APPROACHES TO BEING DECISIVE 1. Make decisions faster – Jack Welch when heading General Electric used to say, ‘In today’s lightning paced environment, you don’t have time to think about things. Don’t sit on decisions. Empty that in-basket so that you are free to search out new opportunities… Don’t sit still. Anybody sitting still, you are going to guarantee they’re going to get their legs knocked from under them.’ 2. Avoid procrastination – it is easy to put an e-mail demanding a decision into the ‘too difficult’ section of your actual or mental in-tray. Avoid the temptation to fill your time with trivial tasks so that the evil moment when you have to address the issue is postponed. Make a start. Once you have got going you can deal with the unpleasant task of making a decision in stages. A challenge often becomes easier once we have started dealing with it. Having spent five minutes on it we don’t want to feel it was wasted, so we carry on and complete the job. 3. Expect the unexpected – you are then in the frame of mind needed to respond decisively to a new situation. 4. Think before you act – this could be a recipe for delay but decisive people use their analytical ability to come to swift 64
Slide 82: How to be Decisive 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. conclusions about the nature of the situation and what should be done about it. Be careful about assumptions – we have a tendency to leap to conclusions and seize on assumptions that support our case and ignore the facts that might contradict it. Learn from the past – build on your experience in decisionmaking; what approaches work best. But don’t rely too much on precedents. Situations change. The right decision last time could well be the wrong one now. Be systematic – adopt a rigorous problem-solving approach as described in Chapter 45. This means specifying objectives – what you want to achieve – defining the criteria for judging whether it has been achieved, getting and analysing the facts, looking for causes rather than focusing on symptoms, developing and testing hypotheses and alternative solutions, and evaluating possible causes of action against the objectives and criteria. Talk it through – before you make a significant decision talk it through with someone who is likely to disagree so that any challenge they make can be taken into account (but you have to canvass opinion swiftly). Leave time to think it over – swift decision-making is highly desirable but you must avoid knee-jerk reactions. Pause, if only for a few minutes, to allow yourself time to think through the decision you propose to make. And confirm that it is logical and fully justified. Consider the potential consequences – McKinsey calls this ‘consequence management’. Every decision has a consequence, and you should consider very carefully what that might be and how you will manage it. When making a decision it is a good idea to start from where you mean to end – define the end result and then work out the steps needed to achieve it. 65
Slide 83: 13 How to delegate You can’t do everything yourself, so you have to delegate. At first sight delegation looks simple. Just tell people what you want them to do and then let them do it. But there is more to it than that. It may be that you would wish to delegate everything except what your subordinate cannot do. But you cannot then withdraw. You have arranged for someone else to do the job, but you have not passed on the responsibility for it. You are always accountable to your superior for what your subordinate does. Hence, as is often said, you can’t delegate responsibility. Delegation is difficult. It is perhaps the hardest task that managers have to do. The problem is achieving the right balance between delegating too much or too little and between over- or under-supervision. When you give people a job to do you have to make sure that it is done. And you have to do that without breathing down their neck, wasting your time and theirs, and getting in the way. There has to be trust as well as guidance and supervision. 66
Slide 84: How to Delegate ADVANTAGES OF DELEGATION ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ It relieves you of routine and less critical tasks. It frees you for more important work – planning, organizing, motivating and controlling. It extends your capacity to manage. It reduces delay in decision-making – as long as authority is delegated close to the point of action. It allows decisions to be taken at the level where the details are known. It develops the capacity of staff to make decisions, achieve objectives and take responsibility. THE PROCESS OF DELEGATION Delegation is a process which can follow a sequence from total control (no freedom of action for the individual to whom work has been allocated) to full devolution (the individual is completely empowered to carry out the work), as illustrated in Figure 13.1. Degree of control exercised by manager Degree of freedom devolved to individual Manager allocates task but exercises total control Manager gives specific instructions and checks constantly Manager briefs individual and checks regularly Manager gives general directions to individual and asks for feedback at the latter’s discretion Manager empowers individual to control own performance of task Figure 13.1 The delegation sequence 67
Slide 85: How to be an Even Better Manager WHEN TO DELEGATE You should delegate when: ■ ■ ■ ■ You have more work than you can effectively carry out yourself. You cannot allocate sufficient time to your priority tasks. You want to develop your subordinate. The job can be done adequately by your subordinate. HOW TO DELEGATE When you delegate you have to decide: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ What to delegate. To whom you delegate – choosing who does the work. How to inform or brief your subordinate – giving out the work. How you will guide and develop your subordinate. How you will monitor his or her performance. What to delegate You delegate tasks that you don’t need to do yourself. You are not just ridding yourself of the difficult, tedious or unrewarding tasks. Neither are you trying to win for yourself an easier life. Delegation will, in fact, make your life more difficult, but also more rewarding. Clearly, you delegate routine and repetitive tasks which you cannot reasonably be expected to do yourself – as long as you use the time you have won productively. You also delegate specialist tasks to those who have the skills and know-how to do them. You cannot do it all yourself. Nor can you be expected to know it all yourself. You have to know how to select and use expertise. There will be no problem as long as you make it clear what you want from the experts and ask – if necessary force – them to present it to you in a usable way. As a manager you must know what specialists can do for you and you should be knowledgeable enough about the subject to understand whether or not what they produce is worth having. 68
Slide 86: How to Delegate Choosing who does the work Ideally, the person you choose to do the work should have the knowledge, skills, motivation and time needed to get it done to your complete satisfaction. Frequently, however, you will have to use someone who has less than ideal experience, knowledge or skills. In these cases you should try to select an individual who has intelligence, natural aptitude and, above all, willingness to learn how to do the job with help and guidance. This is how people develop, and the development of your staff should be your conscious aim whenever you delegate. You are looking for someone you can trust. You don’t want to over-supervise, so you have to believe that the person you select will get on with it and have the sense to come to you when stuck or before making a bad mistake. How do you know whom you can trust? The best way is to try people out first on smaller and less important tasks, increasingly giving them more scope so that they learn how far they can go and you can observe how they do it. If they get on well, their sense of responsibility and powers of judgement will increase and improve and you will be able to trust them with more demanding and responsible tasks. Giving out the work When you delegate you should ensure that your subordinates understand: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Why the work needs to be done. What they are expected to do. The date by which they are expected to do it. The authority they have to make decisions. The problems they must refer back. The progress or completion reports they should submit. How you propose to guide and monitor them. The resources and help they will have to complete the work. Subordinates may need guidance on how the work should be done. The extent to which you spell it out will clearly depend on how much they already know about how to do the work. You don’t want to give directions in such laborious detail that you run the risk of stifling initiative. As long as you are sure they will do the job 69
Slide 87: How to be an Even Better Manager without breaking the law, exceeding the budget, embarrassing you or seriously upsetting people, let them get on with it. Follow Robert Heller’s golden rule: ‘If you can’t do something yourself, find someone who can – and then let him do it in his own sweet way.’ You can make a distinction between hard and soft delegation. Hard delegation takes place when you tell someone exactly what to do, how to do it and when you want the results. You spell it out, confirm it in writing and make a note in your diary of the date when you expect the job to be completed. And then you follow up regularly. Soft delegation takes place when you agree generally what has to be achieved and leave your subordinate to get on with it. You should still agree limits of authority, define the decisions to be referred to you, say what exception reports you want (see Chapter 10), and indicate when and how you will review progress. Then you sit back until the results are due and observe from afar, only coming closer for periodical progress meetings, or when the exception reports suggests that something needs looking into, or when a problem or decision is referred to you. You should always delegate by the results you expect. Even if you do not need to specify exactly how the results should be achieved, it is a good idea when delegating a problem to ask your subordinates how they propose to solve it. You then have the opportunity to provide guidance at the outset; guidance at a later stage may be seen as interference. Guidance and development Delegation not only helps you to get your work done; it can be used to improve your subordinates’ performance and therefore your trust in their ability to carry out more responsible work. Instruction, training and development are part of the process of delegation. Monitoring performance At first you may have to monitor your subordinates’ performance carefully. But the sooner you can relax and watch progress informally the better. You will have set target dates, and you should keep a reminder of these in your diary so that you can ensure they are achieved. Don’t allow your subordinates to become careless about meeting deadlines. 70
Slide 88: How to Delegate Without being oppressive, you should ensure that progress reports are made when required and that you discuss deviations from the original plan in good time. You will have clearly indicated to your subordinates the extent of their authority to act without further reference to you. They must therefore expect to be reprimanded if on any occasion they exceed their brief or fail to keep you informed. You don’t want any surprises and your subordinates must understand that you will not tolerate being kept in the dark. Try to restrain yourself from undue interference in the way the work is being done. It is, after all, the results that count. Of course, you must step in if there is any danger of things going off the rails. The Nelson touch is all right if your subordinate is a Nelson, but how many Nelsons have you got? Rash decisions, overexpenditure and ignoring defined and reasonable constraints and rules must be prevented. There is a delicate balance to be achieved between hedging people around with restrictions which may appear petty and allowing them licence to do what they like. You must use your knowledge of your subordinates and the circumstances to decide where the balance should be struck. The best delegators are those who have a comprehensive understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their staff and the situation in which they are working. Above all, avoid ‘river banking’. This happens when a boss gives a subordinate a task which is more or less impossible to do. As the subordinate is ‘going down’ for the third time the boss is observed in a remote and safe position on the river bank saying: ‘It’s easy really, all you need to do is to try a bit harder.’ THE THOUGHTS OF SOME SUCCESSFUL DELEGATORS John H Johnson, editor and publisher of Johnson Publishing Company, chief executive officer of Supreme Life Insurance Company and on the board of many large US corporations, said of his delegation techniques: ‘I want to be big and I want to be bigger and I can’t do it all by myself. So I try to do only those things that I can’t get anyone else to do.’ Franklin D Roosevelt used a particularly ruthless technique based on competition, when he requested his aides to find some informa71
Slide 89: How to be an Even Better Manager tion. One of his aides told the story as follows: ‘He would call you in, and he’d ask you to get the story on some complicated business and you’d come back after a couple of days of hard labour and present the juicy morsel you’d uncovered under a stone somewhere and then you’d find out he knew all about it, along with something else you didn’t know. Where he got this information from he wouldn’t mention, usually, but after he had done this to you once or twice you got damn careful about your information.’ Robert Townsend’s approach to delegation when he was chairman of Avis was to emphasize the need to delegate ‘as many important matters as you can because that creates a climate in which people grow’. When he started, the head of a supermarket chain, told his division managers: ‘I don’t know anything about the grocery business but you fellows do. From now on, you’re running your division as if it were your own business. You don’t take orders from anyone but me and I’m not going to give you orders. I’m going to hold you responsible.’ Franklin Moore related the following example of strong delegation: Ralf Cordiner, the head of General Electric in the US for 10 years, had a vice president who wanted to see him urgently about a problem. The vice president explained his problem, and the choices he thought he had. ‘Now, Mr Cordiner,’ he said, ‘What should I do?’ ‘Do?’ Cordiner answered, ‘You’d damn well better get on an airplane and get back to your office and decide. And if you can’t decide we’d better get someone who can.’ Peter Drucker (1967), writing about responsibility, referred to a newspaper interview with a young American infantry captain in the Vietnam jungle. The reporter asked: ‘How in this confused situation can you retain command?’ The captain replied: ‘Around here, I am the only guy who is responsible. If these men don’t know what to do when they run into an enemy in the jungle, I’m too far away to tell them. My job is to make sure they know. What they do depends on the situation which only they can judge. The responsibility is always mine, but the decision lies with whoever is on the spot.’ 72
Slide 90: How to Delegate A CASE STUDY A group of researchers studying how managers delegate found that the following was happening in one of the companies they were studying: In the situations in which the men we were interviewing found themselves, the boss was usually a hurried, and sometimes a harried, man. He gave out broad, briefly stated assignments, expecting his subordinates to make sense out of them. He also expected them to decide what information they needed, to obtain that information and then to go ahead and carry out their assignments. In the case of repetitive tasks, the typical boss assumed that after a few trials his subordinates would know for themselves when a job needed doing. Frequently the boss wasn’t sure himself about which issues needed attention in his department. And although he knew what eventually had to be accomplished, often he had less idea than his subordinates about the approaches to take. It wasn’t unusual, therefore, for the boss to be vague or even impatient when approached with questions about the job while it was going on. Usually he was much more assertive in describing what he wanted after a job was done than while it was in progress. The production director came out of the board of directors’ meeting where he had been roundly criticized for not getting the most out of his organization. He immediately called a meeting of his subordinates and told them: ‘I don’t intend to subject myself to such humiliation again. You men are paid to do your jobs; it’s not up to me to do them for you. I don’t know how you spend your time and I don’t intend to try to find out. You know your responsibilities, and these figures bear out that you haven’t discharged them properly. If the next report doesn’t show a marked improvement, there will be some new faces around here.’ 73
Slide 91: 14 How to develop your emotional intelligence EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE DEFINED Emotional intelligence has been defined by Daniel Goleman (1995) as ‘the capacity for recognising our own feelings and that of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves as well as others’. He went on to say that you act with emotional intelligence when you are aware of and regulate your own emotions, and when you are sensitive to what others are feeling and handle relationships accordingly. An emotionally intelligent person understands his or her strengths and weaknesses, and knows that it is more productive to manage emotions rather than be led by them. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE To succeed it is not enough to have technical ability and a high IQ (intelligence quotient); emotional intelligence is also required. It is a 74
Slide 92: How to Develop Your Emotional Intelligence familiar situation. Someone with lots of technical, professional or specialist expertise is promoted to a managerial job and fails. This may be partly attributed to an inability to manage in the sense of planning, organizing and controlling the use of resources. But the main reason is probably a failure to manage personal relationships as a leader or a colleague, and this may be attributed to a lack of understanding of the individual’s own emotions and an inability to appreciate the emotions of people with whom he or she is involved. In other words, the person has an inadequate level of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence, according to Daniel Goleman, is a critical ingredient in leadership. His extensive research showed that effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: they have a high degree of emotional intelligence, which plays an increasingly important part at higher levels in organizations where differences in technical skills are of negligible importance. Research conducted by David McClelland, a leading American expert in human and organizational behaviour, found that emotional intelligence not only distinguishes outstanding leaders but can also be linked to strong performance. He established that when senior managers had a critical mass of emotional intelligence capabilities, their divisions outperformed yearly earnings goals by 20 per cent. Meanwhile, division leaders without that critical mass under-performed by almost the same amount. THE COMPONENTS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE The four components of emotional intelligence identified by Daniel Goleman are: ■ ■ Self-management – the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods and regulate your own behaviour, coupled with a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence. The six competencies associated with this component are self-control, trustworthiness and integrity, initiative, adaptability – comfort with ambiguity, openness to change and strong desire to achieve. Self-awareness – the ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions and drives as well as their effect on others. 75
Slide 93: How to be an Even Better Manager ■ ■ This is linked to three competencies: self-confidence, realistic self-assessment and emotional self-awareness. Social awareness – the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people and skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions. This is linked to six competencies: empathy, expertise in building and retaining talent, organizational awareness, cross-cultural sensitivity, valuing diversity, and service to clients and customers. Social skills – proficiency in managing relationships and building networks to get the desired result from others and reach personal goals, and the ability to find common ground and build rapport. The five competencies associated with this component are leadership, effectiveness in leading change, conflict management, influence/communication, and expertise in building and leading teams. DEVELOPING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE There are two parts of the brain which determine intelligence – IQ and emotional. The neocortex grasps concepts and logic and therefore governs analytical and technical ability. The limbic system governs feelings, impulses and drives. It is no good trying to develop emotional intelligence by focusing on the neocortex part of the brain. Apart from the fact that IQ is largely genetic – it changes little from childhood – conventional training programmes which in effect concentrate on the neocortex may enhance technical skills but will make little or no impact on emotional intelligence. To enhance emotional intelligence it is necessary to include the limbic system. The aim is to break old behavioural habits and establish new ones. Emotional intelligence usually increases with maturity and it can be learnt, but it takes time and individual effort. When organizations try to help people develop their emotional intelligence they will take the following steps: ■ ■ ■ Assess the requirements of jobs in terms of emotional skills. Assess individuals to identify their level of emotional intelligence – 360-degree feedback (getting feedback from colleagues, clients or customers and subordinates as well as one’s boss) can be a powerful source of data. Gauge readiness – ensure that people are prepared to improve their level of emotional intelligence. 76
Slide 94: How to Develop Your Emotional Intelligence ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Motivate people to believe that the learning experience will benefit them. Make change self-directed – encourage people to prepare a learning plan which fits their interests, resources and goals. Focus on clear manageable goals – the focus must be on immediate, manageable steps bearing in mind that cultivating a new skill is gradual. With stops and starts; the old ways will reassert themselves from time to time. Prevent relapse – show people how they can learn lessons from the inevitable relapses. Give performance feedback. Encourage practice, remembering that emotional competence cannot be improved overnight. Provide models of desired behaviours. Encourage and reinforce – create a climate that rewards selfimprovement. Evaluate – establish sound outcome measures and then assess performance against them. NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING Some organizations go in for what is called rather pretentiously ‘neuro-linguistic programming’ (NLP) to develop emotional intelligence. The basis of NLP is that each person’s concept of reality is actually his or her subjective interpretation, because the mind is a filtering mechanism. People learn to programme their reactions to others, and develop unconscious strategies for interacting with them. NLP helps people to identify these strategies so that they can choose and control what would otherwise be automatic responses and behaviour. It involves thinking of the outcome required in a situation and identifying the personal resources needed to bring about that outcome. These resources are then rehearsed so that positive outcomes can be achieved in new situations. As described in the Successful Manager’s Handbook (2002), NLP is a ‘tool kit’ of skills used by managers to develop emotional intelligence skills and improve performance. NLP skills focus on the way you think about what you are doing that already works, what you are doing that does not work, and what you need to do differently. It is suggested that if you change what you think, feel and believe, you will dramatically alter the results you get. With repeat practice, 77
Slide 95: How to be an Even Better Manager these skills become automatic and lead to a continuous improvement in performance. DEVELOPING YOUR OWN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Your company can do much to help, including, perhaps, training you in NLP skills. But there is much you can do for yourself, taking into account the nature of emotional intelligence and the NLP approach. The following are 10 steps you can take. 1. Recognize that only you can improve the results you achieve. 2. Get to know yourself better by carrying out a formal selfappraisal as described in Chapter 4. Obtain answers to questions such as: ‘What aspects of my performance are going well?’, ‘What aspects of my performance do I need to improve?’ and ‘What do I need to do to improve my emotional intelligence skills (interacting with other people)?’ 3. On the basis of this assessment take the four components of emotional intelligence and the associated competencies listed earlier in this chapter, and analyse your own behaviour and the impact it has made on other people. Obtain answers to the following questions: ‘How good am I at self-management?’, ‘How self-aware am I?’, ‘How socially aware am I?’ and ‘How effective are my social skills?’ 4. Seek feedback from your boss, your colleagues, your subordinates and your clients. Try to find out what impression you make on them and where they think you could do better. 5. Focus on those aspects of your behaviour where, first, there is the most room for improvement, and second, the likelihood of being able to change is reasonably high. Don’t expect quick results. Changing behaviour can be a long haul. 6. Refer to specific aspects of behaviour rather than generalizations. 7. If possible, get help from a mentor, a counsellor or an executive coach. The latter can be particularly useful if they know their job. 8. Make the most of any training or development courses your organization provides on such matters as leadership, teamwork, interpersonal skills and NLP. 78
Slide 96: How to Develop Your Emotional Intelligence 9. Use your imagination and be patient. You will not necessarily get easy answers to your quest for improvements. You will not change ingrained behavioural habits without being quite radical in your approach. And you have to recognize that it will take time. 10. Monitor progress by analysing your own behaviour and the impact it makes, and obtaining further feedback from others. Adjust your development programme as necessary in the light of this feedback. 79
Slide 97: 15 How to develop people INVESTING IN PEOPLE The chairman of an advertising firm once said that his ‘inventory goes up and down in the lift’. His prime resource – his working capital – was people. The same applies in any other sort of organization. Money matters, but the human beings who work there matter even more. If you want to take a pragmatic view of people, regard them as an investment. They cost money to acquire and maintain and they should provide a return on that outlay; their value increases as they become more effective in their jobs and capable of taking on greater responsibility. In accounting terms, people may be treated like any other asset on the balance sheet, taking into account acquisition costs and their increasing value as they gain experience. THE MANAGER’S CONTRIBUTION TO EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT The following are 10 ways in which you can contribute to the effective development of your staff: 80
Slide 98: How to Develop People 1. Determine the standards of performance required for each of the jobs you control. 2. Analyse the competences (knowledge and skills) relevant to the achievement of these standards. If necessary, seek help from specialized trainers to carry out this analysis. 3. Agree with the individuals concerned what these standards and competences are. 4. Review with these individuals their performance so that agreement can be reached on any gaps to be filled between what they can do and what they should be able to do. 5. Every time you give someone an instruction, treat it as a training opportunity. Encourage individuals to tell you how they would do the job. If they get it wrong, help them to work out the best way for themselves, progressively giving them less guidance so that they learn to stand on their own feet. 6. Allow for the learning curve. Don’t expect too much, but do require trainees to improve at a pace which matches their natural aptitudes. Only bear down hard on people if they are clearly not trying – without any excuse. 7. Train and develop by example. Give people the opportunity to learn from the way you do things. Remember the truth of the saying that managers learn best how to manage by managing under a good manager. This principle applies equally well to other categories of job holders. 8. Remember that the prime responsibility for training and developing your staff rests with you. Your results depend on their competence. You neglect your training responsibilities at your peril. And you must not rely on the training department to do it for you. They can provide advice and help but cannot replace your capacity to train on the job. 9. Plan the training for your staff in accordance with a regular review of their training needs. 10. Remember to use a variety of training techniques such as job instruction, assignments, coaching, guided reading and computer-based training. MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT Management development is about improving the performance of existing managers, giving them opportunities for growth and 81
Slide 99: How to be an Even Better Manager development, and ensuring, as far as possible, that management succession is provided for. Managers need to be given the opportunity to develop themselves. As Peter Drucker (1955) wrote in The Practice of Management: Development is always self-development. Nothing could be more absurd than for the enterprise to assume responsibility for the development of a man. The responsibility rests with the individual, his abilities, his efforts… Every manager in a business has the opportunity to encourage self-development or to stifle it, to direct it or to misdirect it. He should be specifically assigned the responsibility for helping all men working with him to focus, direct and apply their self-development efforts productively. And every company can provide systematic development changes to its managers. In Douglas McGregor’s phrase, managers are grown – they are neither born nor made. And your role is to provide conditions favourable to foster growth. As McGregor (1960) wrote in The Human Side of Enterprise: The job environment of the individual is the most important variable affecting his development. Unless that environment is conducive to his growth, none of the other things we do to him or for him will be effective. That is why the ‘agricultural’ approach to management development is preferable to the ‘manufacturing’ approach. The latter leads, among other things, to the unrealistic expectations that we can create and develop managers in the classroom. There are two main activities in management development – performance management, discussed in Chapter 28, and planned experience, discussed below. Planned experience People learn mainly through experience. Surely, therefore, it is worth spending a little of your time planning the experience of anyone with potential for development. Planning people’s experience means giving them extra tasks to do which provide a challenge or extend them into a new area. It could be a project which they have to complete themselves or they could be included in a project team looking at a new development or problem which cuts across organizational boundaries. Projects which enlarge experience in unfamiliar areas, for example, a 82
Slide 100: How to Develop People marketing executive in finance or vice versa, are particularly useful. Planned experience will work better if it is accompanied by coaching so that those undergoing it can receive the maximum benefit from expert advice. COACHING As mentioned in Chapter 1, the best way to learn how to manage is to manage, under the guidance of a good manager. Coaching is an informal but deliberate way of providing this guidance. It should be linked to performance appraisal and the counselling that takes place as part of that process. Coaching skills are described in Chapter 8. 83
Slide 101: 16 How to get on Getting on is first about knowing what you can do – your strengths and weaknesses. Then you can decide what you want to do and set out to do it. You can start in the right direction, therefore, by trying to analyse yourself and the situation which you are in. Beyond that there are certain actions you can take which will help you to get on. Some are obvious, others less so. How you apply them must depend on your assessment of where you are and what you can do. With due acknowledgement to the two men who have written the most sense on this subject – Peter Drucker and Robert Townsend – the list of steps to take is set out below under four main headings: ■ ■ ■ ■ Knowing yourself. Knowing what you want. Displaying the personal qualities and behaving in the ways that will contribute to your success. Taking steps to develop yourself. 84
Slide 102: How to Get On KNOWING YOURSELF Carlyle once described the saying ‘know thyself’ as an impossible precept. He felt that to ‘know what thou canst work at’ would be better advice. Therefore, the starting point in career management is what you can do – your strengths and your weaknesses. This means developing self-awareness by analysing your achievements, skills and knowledge and by assessing your own performance. Achievement, skills and knowledge The questions to ask yourself are: 1. What have I achieved so far? Answer this question by looking back on your life and list the key events, happenings, incidents and turning points that have taken place. Whenever you have succeeded in doing something new or better than ever before, analyse the factors which contributed to that success. Was it initiative, hard work, determination, the correct application of skills and knowledge based on a searching analysis of the situation, the ability to work in a team, the exercise of leadership, the capacity to seize an opportunity (another and better word for luck) and exploit it, the ability to articulate a need and get into action to satisfy it, the ability to make things happen – or any other factor you can think of? 2. When have I failed to achieve what I wanted? You do not want to dwell too much on failure but it can be treated positively, as long as you analyse dispassionately where you went wrong and assess what you might have been able to do to put it right. 3. What am I good or bad at doing? What are your distinctive competences? Consider these in terms of professional, technical or managerial know-how as well as the exercise of such skills as communicating, decision-making, problem-solving, teamworking, exercising leadership, delegating, co-ordinating, meeting deadlines, managing time, planning, organizing and controlling work, dealing with crises. 4. How well do I know my chosen area of expertise? Have you got the right qualifications? Have you acquired the right know-how through study, training and relevant experience? 5. What sort of person am I? (This is the most difficult question of all to answer truthfully.) The following is a checklist of the 85
Slide 103: How to be an Even Better Manager points you should consider, based on Cattell’s classification of primary personality factors. In each case, assess the extent to which either of the paired descriptions applies to you: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Outgoing – warm-hearted, easy-going, participating, extroverted; or Reserved – detached, critical, cool, introverted. Intellectual – good at abstract thinking; or Non-intellectual – better at concrete thinking. Emotionally stable – calm, able to face reality; or Affected by feelings – emotionally unstable, easily upset. Assertive – independent, aggressive, stubborn; or Submissive – mild, obedient, conforming. Enthusiastic – lively, happy-go-lucky, heedless, talkative; or Sober – prudent, serious, taciturn. Conscientious – persevering, staid, rule-bound; or Expedient – ‘a law unto yourself’, bypasses obligations. Venturesome – bold, uninhibited, spontaneous; or Shy – restrained, diffident, timid. Tender-minded – dependent, over-protected, sensitive; or Tough-minded – self-reliant, realistic, a no-nonsense approach. Suspicious – self-opinionated, distrustful, hard to fool; or Trusting – free of suspicion or jealousy, adaptable, easy to get on with. Imaginative – speculative, careless of practical matters, wrapped up in inner urgencies; or Practical – inclined to action rather than speculation, regulated by external realities, careful, conventional. Shrewd – calculating, penetrating, worldly; or Artless – guileless, ingenuous, natural. Apprehensive – a worrier, depressive, troubled; or Confident – self-assured, serene, placid. Experimenting – critical, liberal, analytical, free-thinking; or Conservative – respecter of established ideas, tolerant of traditional practices. 86
Slide 104: How to Get On ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Self-sufficient – resilient, resourceful, prefers own decisions; or Group-dependent – a ‘joiner’, happiest in a group, reliant on the support of others. Controlled – socially precise, self-disciplined, compulsive; or Casual – careless of protocol, untidy, follows own inclinations. Tense – driven, overwrought, fretful; or Relaxed – tranquil, unfrustrated, calm. Assess your managerial competences While self-awareness is the basis for a more specific assessment of your strengths and weaknesses as a manager, you need also to consider your basic managerial qualities and the competences required to operate effectively. In analysing your effectiveness as a manager it is useful to look at the criteria used by major organizations in measuring the competence of their managers at their assessment or development centres (two- to three-day affairs where managers are subjected to a number of tests and undertake various exercises to demonstrate their skills). The following are the typical criteria expressed as competence requirements used by organizations when they assess the capabilities of their managers: ■ ■ ■ ■ Achievement/results orientation. The desire to get things done well and the ability to set and meet challenging goals, create own measures of excellence and constantly seek ways of improving performance. Business awareness. The capacity continually to identify and explore business opportunities, understand the business opportunities and priorities of the organization and constantly to seek methods of ensuring that the organization becomes more business-like. Communication. The ability to communicate clearly and persuasively, orally or in writing. Customer focus. The exercise of unceasing care in looking after the interests of external and internal customers to ensure that their wants, needs and expectations are met or exceeded. 87
Slide 105: How to be an Even Better Manager ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Developing others. The desire and capacity to foster the development of members of his or her team, providing feedback, support, encouragement and coaching. Flexibility. The ability to adapt to and work effectively in different situations and to carry out a variety of tasks. Leadership. The capacity to inspire individuals to give of their best to achieve a desired result and to maintain effective relationships with individuals and the team as a whole. Planning. The ability to decide on courses of action, ensuring that the resources required to implement the action will be available and scheduling the programme of work required to achieve a defined end-result. Problem-solving. The capacity to analyse situations, diagnose problems, identify the key issues, establish and evaluate alternative courses of action and produce a logical, practical and acceptable solution. Teamwork. The ability to work co-operatively and flexibly with other members of the team with a full understanding of the role to be played as a team member. You can assess your competence as a manager against these criteria giving yourself marks between 1 and 10 for each item relating to a classification along these lines: A B C D E = = = = = outstanding very effective satisfactory barely satisfactory unsatisfactory (9–10 points) (7–8 points) (5–6 points) (3–4 points) (0–2 points) On completing this assessment, note the particularly high and low scores in each list and draw up a schedule of your strengths and weaknesses as a manager. You can complete this ‘SWOT’ analysis (Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) by considering your opportunities for advancement in your present organization (or elsewhere) and assessing any threats that might prevent you from realizing your ambitions. KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT 1. Find out what you are good at doing and then do it. 88
Slide 106: How to Get On 2. Analyse not only your strengths but also your weaknesses: ‘There is nothing that helps a man in his conduct through life more than a knowledge of his own characteristic weaknesses’ (William Hazlitt). 3. Decide what you want to do and then go for it. Believe that if you really want something you can get it, and act accordingly. 4. Set demanding targets and deadlines for yourself. ‘People grow according to the demands they make on themselves’ (Drucker). But don’t over-commit yourself. Be realistic about what you can achieve. 5. Pursue excellence. ‘If you can’t do it excellently don’t do it at all’ (Townsend). 6. Focus on what you can contribute. ‘To ask “what can I contribute?” is to look for the unused potential in a job’ (Drucker). 7. Get your priorities right. Adapt Drucker’s rules for identifying them: – pick the future as against the past; – focus on opportunities rather than on problems; – choose your own direction – rather than climb on the bandwagon; – aim high, aim for something that will make a difference rather than something that is ‘safe’ and easy to do. 8. Be specific about what you want to do yourself and what you want others to do for you. 9 Keep it simple. Concentrate. Consider all your tasks and eliminate the irrelevant ones. Slough off old activities before you start new ones. ‘Concentration is the key to economic results… no other principle of effectiveness is violated as constantly today as the basic principle of concentration… Our motto seems to be: “let’s do a little bit of everything” ’ (Drucker). 10. Take the broad view but don’t ignore the significant detail: ‘Ill can he rule the great, that cannot reach the small’ (Spenser). It is sometimes necessary to penetrate beneath the surface to find out what is really happening – on the shop floor or in the field. But do this selectively. 11. Adapt to changing demands. ‘The executive who keeps on doing what he has done successfully before is almost bound to fail’ (Drucker). 89
Slide 107: How to be an Even Better Manager PERSONAL QUALITIES AND BEHAVIOUR ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Be enthusiastic and show it. Innovate and create – come up with new ideas and react positively to other people’s ideas. Don’t sulk if your ideas are not accepted. Try again another way. Show willing – there is nothing worse than the person who always moans when he is given something to do. Don’t say: ‘How can I possibly do that?’ Instead, respond immediately with something like this: ‘Right, this is what I propose to do – is that what you want?’ Be positive – in the words of the old Bing Crosby song: ‘accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative’. Work hard – people who get on are hard workers. But they don’t work for work’s sake. Effectiveness is never a function of how late you stay in the office. It’s what you do while you are there that counts. Present yourself well – life is not all about making a good impression but you might as well make sure that your achievements are known and appreciated. And if people are impressed by executives who are decisive, punctual and answer promptly, why not impress them that way? More good than harm will come of it. Be ambitious – ‘A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?’ (Robert Browning). But don’t overdo it. Don’t appear to be more concerned about your future status than with present effectiveness. Be courageous – take calculated risks, believe in what you are doing and stick to your guns. Be assertive but not aggressive. Put your points across firmly and succinctly. Don’t talk too much. Never over-commit yourself. Save up what you want to say until the right moment. Keep your powder dry. Don’t shoot your mouth off. ‘Whereof one cannot speak, thereon one must remain silent’ (Wittgenstein). Learn to cope with stress. You won’t avoid it and you have to live with it. If problems are coming at you thick and fast, try to slow down. Relax. Take a little time off. Give yourself a chance to put the situation into perspective. If things go wrong, bounce back. Accept reverses calmly. Think about what you need to do and then get into action – fast. There is nothing like purposeful activity in these circumstances. 90
Slide 108: How to Get On ■ ■ ■ Get people to trust you – you will do this if you never lie or even shade the truth, if you avoid playing politics and if you always deliver what you promise. Accept constructive criticism. ‘Admit your own mistakes openly, even joyfully’ (Townsend, 1970). Never make an excuse. Accept the responsibility and the blame if you make a mistake. SELF-DEVELOPMENT The best way to get on is to rely on yourself, while seeking and benefiting from any support you can get from your manager or the organization. Self-development takes place through self-managed or self-directed learning. This means that you take responsibility for satisfying your own learning needs to improve performance, to support the achievement of career aspirations, or to enhance your experience, within and beyond your present organization. It can be based on processes that enable you to identify what you need to learn, by reflecting on your experience and analysing what you need to know and be able to do, so that you can perform better and progress your career. The case for self-managed learning is that people learn and retain more if they find things out for themselves. But they may still need to be helped to identify what they should look for. Self-managed learning is about self-development, and this will be furthered by self-assessment (see Chapter 4) which leads to better self-understanding. Pedler et al (1986) recommend the following four-stage approach: ■ ■ ■ ■ Self-assessment based on analysis by individuals of their work and life situation. Diagnosis derived from the analysis of learning needs and priorities. Action planning to identify objectives, helps and hindrances, resources required (including people) and time-scales. Monitoring and review to assess progress in achieving action plans. 91
Slide 109: How to be an Even Better Manager IDENTIFYING DEVELOPMENT NEEDS You can use performance management processes as described in Chapter 28 to identify self-development needs on your own or in discussion with your boss. This will include reviewing performance against agreed plans, and assessing competence requirements and the capacity of people to achieve them. The analysis is therefore based on an understanding of what you are expected to do, the knowledge and skills you need to carry out your job effectively, what you have achieved, and what knowledge and skills you have. If there are any gaps between the knowledge and skills you need and those you have, then this defines a development need. The analysis is always related to work and the capacity to carry it out effectively. By making your own assessment of your personal development needs as a basis for identifying the means of satisfying them and acting accordingly, you can get more satisfaction from your work, advance your career and increase your employability. DEFINING THE MEANS OF SATISFYING NEEDS When deciding how to satisfy the needs you should remember that it is not just about selecting suitable training courses. These may form part of your development plan, but only a minor part; other learning activities are much more important. Examples of development activities include: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ seeing what others do (good practice); project work; adopting a role model (mentor); involvement in other work areas; planned use of internal training media including e-learning (use of electronic learning materials) and learning libraries; input to policy formulation; increased professionalism on the job; involvement in the community; coaching others; training courses; guided reading; special assignments; 92
Slide 110: How to Get On ■ distance learning – learning in your own time from material prepared elsewhere, such as correspondence courses. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS A personal development plan sets out the actions you propose to take to learn and to develop yourself. You take responsibility for formulating and implementing the plan, but you may receive support from the organization and your manager in doing so. Personal development planning aims to promote learning and to provide you with knowledge and a portfolio of transferable skills which will help to progress your career. A personal development action plan sets out what needs to be done and how it will be done under headings such as: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ development needs; outcomes expected (learning objectives); development activities to meet the needs; responsibility for development – what individuals will do and what support they will require from their manager, the HR department or other people; timing – when the learning activity is expected to start and be completed; outcome – what development activities have taken place and how effective they were. TEN SELF-DEVELOPMENT STEPS The following are 10 steps you can take to develop yourself. 1. Create a development log – record your plans and action. 2. State your objectives – the career path you want to follow and the skills you will need to proceed along that path. 3. Develop a personal profile – what sort of person you are, your likes and dislikes about work, your aspirations. 4. List your strengths and weaknesses – what you have done well so far and why you believe these were worthwhile achievements. 5. List your achievements – what you have done well so far and why you believe these were worthwhile achievements. 93
Slide 111: How to be an Even Better Manager 6. List significant learning experiences – recall events when you have learnt something worthwhile (this can help you to understand your learning style). 7. Ask other people about your strengths and weaknesses and what you should do to develop yourself. 8. Focus on the present – what is happening to you now: your job, your current skills, your short-term development needs. 9. Focus on the future – where you want to be in the longer term and how you are going to get there (including a list of the skills and abilities you need to develop). 10. Plan your self-development strategy – how you are going to achieve your ambitions. 94
Slide 112: 17 How to handle difficult people We all come across difficult people from time to time. If we don’t handle them well the result is frustration, anger and other counterproductive activities. It is necessary to understand why people can be difficult, and be able to anticipate problems so that they can be dealt with before they arise. This chapter deals with approaches to handling difficult colleagues. Methods for dealing with negative behaviour from subordinates are considered in the next chapter. WHY PEOPLE ARE DIFFICULT When considering why people can be difficult it is worth remembering that they may be equally convinced that it is you who is being difficult, not them. People respond in kind. So when assessing the situation you have to ask yourself whether the problem is caused by your behaviour rather than theirs. There are many reasons that people can be difficult (whether it is you or them). Here are some instances: 95
Slide 113: How to be an Even Better Manager ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ a fundamental disagreement about policy; rivalry; different values about how things should be done; a real or imagined slight; arrogant behaviour – or behaviour perceived as arrogant; a feeling that they are not valued for their contribution or themselves; frustrated ambition – where the cause of frustration is attributed to you; not being given the attention they believe they deserve; not being able to get their own way; lack of trust; insecurity; concern about the impact of change; too much pressure – real or perceived. In addition, there is the Dr Fell reason for being difficult: I do not love thee, Dr Fell, The reason why I cannot tell; But this I know, I know full well, I do not love thee, Dr Fell. The last reason is, of course, the hardest to deal with. An attempt can be made to handle the other instances, although success will depend on how much effort you put into it, and will be limited or delayed if the causes of disagreement are deeply seated or based more on prejudice than reason (which is often the case). TEN APPROACHES TO HANDLING DIFFICULT PEOPLE 1. Anticipate problems as far as possible. Look for the signs and take swift action in one or more of the ways described below. 2. If a difficulty arises or is anticipated, subject your own behaviour to close scrutiny. Is this because of something you have done, or how you have been behaving? If so, what are you going to do about it? If you can anticipate a difficulty you may be able to nip it in the bud by having an informal discussion with the individual. You are asking the essential questions: ‘Is there a problem?’, ‘Why is there a problem?’ and ‘What can we 96
Slide 114: How to Handle Difficult People 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. do about it?’ (emphasize the we – joint problem-solving approaches always produce the best results). A successful outcome of this approach in the shape of a resolution of the difficulties depends on creating rapport and a climate of trust. This will not be easy if things have gone too far, which is why it is advisable to anticipate problems as much as you can. It may be difficult to anticipate difficult behaviour. It may simply happen. In this case you should try to analyse the cause or causes. Start by asking yourself whether or not you have created or contributed to the problem, and if so how. Go on to assess other possible causes by reference to the list given above. Be as specific as possible by identifying events that may have triggered off the behaviour. The more instances you can produce, the more likely you are to reach a solution. Where there are specific issues, discuss them with the individual. A joint problem-solving approach is best, when both parties spend some time in analysing the cause of the difficulty so that agreement can be reached on what they can both do about it. The aim should be to be constructive. It is not a matter of apportioning blame. It is much more about providing an answer to the question, ‘What are we going to do about it?’ When dealing with aggressive people, stand your ground by being assertive (see Chapter 5). State your case, and ask questions to encourage the person to explain the cause of the problem and to discuss how it can be resolved. Always be calm. Losing your temper with someone who loses their temper gets you nowhere. Try to reason with the difficult person. But if he or she is too angry or upset to listen, it may be best to walk away, with words to the effect that time is needed to reflect on this situation, so ‘Let’s get together later to discuss what needs to be done’. It’s best to end an acrimonious telephone conversation similarly. You could say something like, ‘Perhaps it’s best if we resume this conversation later when we can discuss the issues more calmly’. Never hang up. Use avoidance tactics only as a short-term solution. They will not address the real issues. Think carefully about the words you use. Try to limit your contribution and let the other person have his or her say. Always try to reach agreement that a problem exists. Use questioning to identify ways of dealing with it and agree an action plan. 97
Slide 115: 18 How to handle negative behaviour Managers and team leaders sometimes come across negative behaviour from one of the members of their team. This may take the form of lack of interest in the work, unwillingness to co-operate with you or other members of the team, complaining about the work or working conditions, grumbling at being asked to carry out a perfectly reasonable task, objecting strongly to being asked to do something extra (or even refusing to do it) – ‘it’s not in my job description’, or, in extreme cases, insolence. People exhibiting negative behaviour may be quietly resentful rather than openly disruptive. They are negative, mutter away in the background at meetings and lack enthusiasm. As a manager you can tolerate a certain amount of negative behaviour as long as the individual works reasonably well and does not upset other team members. You have simply to say to yourself, ‘It takes all sorts…’ and put up with it, although you might quietly say during a review meeting, ‘You’re doing a good job but…’. If, however, you do take this line, you have to be specific. You must cite actual instances. It is no good making generalized accusations which will either be openly denied or 98
Slide 116: How to Handle Negative Behaviour internalized by the receiver, making him or her even more resentful. If the negative behaviour means that the individual’s contribution is not acceptable or is disruptive then you must take action. Negative people are often quiet but are usually angry about something; their negative behaviour is an easy way of expressing their anger. To deal with the problem it is necessary to find out what has made the person angry. CAUSES OF NEGATIVE BEHAVIOUR The causes could include one or more of the following: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ a real or imagined slight from you or a colleague; a feeling of being put upon; a belief that the contribution made by the person is neither appreciated nor rewarded properly in terms of pay or promotion; resentment at what was perceived to be unfair criticism; anger directed at the company or you because what was considered to be a reasonable request was turned down, eg for leave or a transfer, or because of an unfair accusation, eg overclaiming travel expenses. DEALING WITH THE PROBLEM It is because there can be such a variety of real or imagined causes of negative behaviour that dealing with it becomes one of the most difficult tasks a manager has to undertake. If the action taken is crude or insensitive, the negative behaviour will only be intensified. This might end up in invoking the disciplinary procedure, which should be your last resort. In one sense, it is easier to deal with an actual example of negative behaviour. This can and should be handled on the spot. If the problem is one of general attitude rather than specific actions it is more difficult to cope with. When individuals are accused of being, for example, generally unenthusiastic or uncooperative, they can simply go into denial, and accuse you of being prejudiced. Their negative behaviour may be reinforced. If you have to deal with this sort of problem it is best to do it informally, either when it arises or at any point during the year 99
Slide 117: How to be an Even Better Manager when you feel that something has to be done about it. An annual formal appraisal meeting is not the right time, especially if it produces ratings which are linked to a pay increase. Raising the issue then will only put individuals on the defensive and a productive discussion will be impossible. The discussion may be informal but it should have three clear objectives: 1. To discuss the situation with individuals, the aim being if possible to get them to recognize for themselves that they are behaving negatively. If this cannot be achieved, then the objective is to bring to the attention of individuals your belief that their behaviour is unacceptable in certain ways. 2. To establish the reasons for the individuals’ negative behaviour so far as this is feasible. 3. To discuss and agree any actions individuals could take to behave more positively, or what you or the organization could do to remove the causes of the behaviour. Discussing the problem Start by asking generally how individuals feel about their work. Do they have any problems in carrying it out? Are they happy with the support they get from you or their colleagues? Are they satisfied that they are pulling their weight to the best of their ability? You may find that this generalized start provides the basis for the next two stages – identifying the causes and remedies. It is best if individuals identify for themselves that there is a problem. But in many, if not the majority of cases, this is unlikely to happen. Individuals may not recognize that they are behaving negatively or will not be prepared to admit it. You will then have to bring to their attention the problem as you see it. You should indicate truthfully that you are concerned because they seem to be unhappy and you wish to know if they feel that you or the organization is treating them unfairly so that you can try to put things right. Give them time to say their piece and then give a rational explanation, dealing with specific grievances. If they are not satisfied with your explanation you can say that they will be given the opportunity to discuss the problem with higher authority, thus indicating that you recognize that your judgement is not final. 100
Slide 118: How to Handle Negative Behaviour If the response you get to these initial points does not bring out into the open the problem as you see it, then you have to explain how the individual’s behaviour gives the impression of being negative. Be as specific as possible about the behaviour, bringing up actual instances. For example, a discussion could be based on the following questions: ‘Do you recall yesterday’s team meeting?’ ‘How did you think it went?’ ‘How helpful do you think you were in dealing with the problem?’ ‘Do you remember saying…?’ ‘How helpful do you think that remark was?’ ‘Would it surprise you to learn that I felt you had not been particularly helpful in the following ways…?’ Of course, even if this careful approach is adopted, there will be occasions when individuals refuse to admit that there is anything wrong with their behaviour. If you reach this impasse, then you have no alternative but to spell out to them your perceptions of where they have gone wrong. But do this in a positive way: ‘Then I think that it is only fair for me to point out to you that your contribution (to the meeting) would have been more helpful if you had…’. Establishing causes If the negative behaviour is because of a real or imagined grievance about what you or colleagues or the organization has done, then you have to get individuals to spell this out as precisely as possible. At this point, your job is to listen, not to judge. People can be just as angry about imaginary as about real slights. You have to find out how they perceive the problem before you can deal with it. It may emerge during the discussion that the problem has nothing to do with you or the company. It may be family troubles or worries about health or finance. If this is the case, you can be sympathetic and may be able to suggest remedies in the form of counselling or practical advice from within or outside the organization. If the perceived problem is you, colleagues or the organization, try to get chapter and verse on what it is so that you are in a position to take remedial action or to explain the real facts of the case. Taking remedial action If the problem rests with the individual, the objective is, of course, 101
Slide 119: How to be an Even Better Manager to get them to recognize for themselves that remedial action is necessary and what they need to do about it – with your help as necessary. In this situation you might suggest counselling or recommend a source of advice. But be careful, you don’t want to imply that there is something wrong with them. You should go no further than suggesting that individuals may find this helpful – they don’t need it but they could benefit from it. You should be careful about offering counselling advice yourself. This is usually better done by professional counsellors. If there is anything specific that the parties involved in the situation can do, then the line to take is that we can tackle this problem together: ‘This is what I will do’, ‘This is what the company will do’, ‘What do you think you should do?’ If there is no response to the last question, then this is the point where you have to spell out the action you think they need to take. Be as specific as possible and try to express your wishes as suggestions, not commands. A joint problem-solving approach is always best. TEN APPROACHES TO MANAGING NEGATIVE BEHAVIOUR 1. Define the type of negative behaviour which is being exhibited. Make notes of examples. 2. Discuss the behaviour with the individual as soon as possible, aiming to reach agreement about what it is and the impact it makes. 3. If agreement is not obtained, give actual examples of behaviour and explain why you believe them to be negative. 4. Discuss and so far as possible agree reasons for the negative behaviour, including those attributed to the individual, yourself and the organization. 5. Discuss and agree possible remedies – actions on the part of the individual, yourself or the organization. 6. Monitor the actions taken and the results obtained. 7. If improvement is not achieved and the negative behaviour is significantly affecting the performance of the individual and the team, then invoke the disciplinary procedure. 8. Start with a verbal warning, indicating the ways in which behaviour must improve, and give a time-scale and offers of further support and help as required. 102
Slide 120: How to Handle Negative Behaviour 9. If there is no improvement, issue a formal warning, setting out as specifically as possible what must be achieved over a defined period of time, indicating the disciplinary action that could be taken. 10. If the negative behaviour persists and continues seriously to affect performance, take the disciplinary action. If you have no alternative but to dismiss someone, the approach you should adopt is given in Chapter 33. 103
Slide 121: 19 How to influence people Managers are constantly having to exert influence – on their bosses, their colleagues, their staff and their clients, customers and suppliers. They must know about persuading people, presenting cases and resolving problems when exerting influence. PERSUADING PEOPLE A manager’s job is 60 per cent getting it right and 40 per cent putting it across. Managers spend a lot of time persuading other people to accept their ideas and suggestions. Persuasion is just another word for selling. You may feel that good ideas should sell themselves, but life is not like that. Everyone resists change and anything new is certain to be treated with suspicion. So it’s worth learning a few simple rules that will help you to sell your ideas more effectively. TEN RULES FOR EFFECTIVE PERSUASION 1. Define the problem. Determine whether the problem is a misunderstanding (a failure to understand each other accurately) or a true disagreement (a failure to agree even when both parties 104
Slide 122: How to Influence People 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. understand one another). It is not necessarily possible to resolve a true disagreement by understanding each other better. People generally believe that an argument is a battle to understand who is correct. More often, it is a battle to decide who is more stubborn. Define your objective and get the facts. Decide what you want to achieve and why. Assemble all the facts you need to support your case. Eliminate emotional arguments so that you and others can judge the proposition on the facts alone. Find out what the other party wants. The key to all persuasion is to see your proposition from the other person’s point of view. Find out how he or she looks at things. Establish what he or she needs and wants. Accentuate the benefits. Present your case in a way that highlights the benefits to the other party, or at least reduces any objections or fears. Predict the other person’s response. Everything we say should be focused on that likely response. Anticipate objections by asking yourself how the other party might react negatively to your proposition and thinking up ways of responding to him or her. Create the person’s next move. It is not a question of deciding what we want to do but what we want the other person to do. Your goal is to get results. Convince people by reference to their own perceptions. People decide on what to do on the basis of their own perceptions, not yours. Prepare a simple and attractive proposition. Make it as straightforward as possible. Present the case ‘sunny side up’, emphasizing its benefits. Break the problem into manageable pieces and deal with them one step at a time. Make the other person a party to your ideas. Get him or her to contribute. Find some common ground so that you can start with agreement. Don’t try to defeat the other person in an argument – you will only antagonize him or her. Clinch and take action. Choose the right moment to clinch the proposal – don’t prolong the discussion and risk losing it. But follow up promptly. CASE PRESENTATION As a manager, you will frequently have to make out a case for what you think should be done. You have to persuade people to believe 105
Slide 123: How to be an Even Better Manager in your views and accept your recommendations. To do this, you must have a clear idea of what you want, and you have to show that you believe in it yourself. Above all, the effectiveness of your presentation will depend upon the care with which you have prepared it. Preparation Thorough preparation is vital. You must think through not only what should be done and why, but also how people will react. Only then can you decide how to make your case: stressing the benefits without underestimating the costs, and anticipating objections. You should think of the questions your audience is likely to raise, and answer them in advance, or at least have your answers ready. The most likely questions are: What – – – – Why How – – – – – – – – – – When – is the proposal? will be the benefit? will it cost? are the facts, figures, forecasts and assumptions upon which the proposal is based? are the alternatives? should we change what we are doing now? is this proposal or solution better than the alternatives? is the change to be made? are the snags to be overcome? have the alternatives been examined? am I affected by the change? will be affected by the change and what will be their reaction? is likely to have the strongest views for or against the change, and why? will implement the proposal? should this be done? Who To make your case you have to do three things: 1. Show that it is based on a thorough analysis of the facts and that the alternatives were properly evaluated before the conclusion was reached. If you have made assumptions, you must 106
Slide 124: How to Influence People demonstrate that these are reasonable on the basis of relevant experience and justifiable projections, which allow for the unexpected. Bear in mind Robert Heller’s words (1982) that ‘a proposal is only as strong as its weakest assumption’. 2. Spell out the benefits – to the company and the individuals to whom the case is being made. Present your case ‘sunny side up’. Wherever possible, express benefits in financial terms. Abstract benefits, such as customer satisfaction or workers’ morale, are difficult to sell. But don’t produce ‘funny numbers’ – financial justification which will not stand up to examination. 3. Reveal costs. Don’t try to disguise them in any way. And be realistic. Your proposition will be destroyed if anyone can show that you have underestimated the costs. Remember, boards want to know in precise terms what they will get for their money. Most boards are cautious, being unwilling and often unable to take much risk. For this reason, it is difficult to make a case for experiments or pilot schemes unless the board, committee or individual can see what the benefits and the ultimate bill will be. Presentation Your proposal will often be made in two stages: a written report followed by an oral presentation. The quality of the latter will often tip the balance in your favour (or against you). Effective speaking and writing reports are dealt with in Chapters 43 and 50 respectively, but it is appropriate to note at this stage some special points you should bear in mind when making a case orally in front of an audience: 1. Your presentation should not just consist of a repetition of the facts in the written report. It should be used to put across the main points of the argument, leaving out the detail. 2. Do not assume that your audience has read the written report or understood it. While you are talking, try to avoid referring to the report. This may switch people’s attention from what you are saying. Use visual aids, preferably a flip chart, to emphasize the main points. But don’t overdo them – it is possible to be too slick. The audience will be convinced by you, not by your elegant visual aids. 107
Slide 125: How to be an Even Better Manager 3. Make sure your opening secures people’s attention. They must be immediately interested in your presentation. Begin by outlining your plan, its benefits and costs, and let the audience know how you are going to develop your case. 4. Bring out the disadvantages and the alternative courses of action so that you are not suspected of concealing or missing something. 5. Avoid being drawn into too much detail. Be succinct and to the point. 6. An emphatic summing up is imperative. It should convey with complete clarity what you want the board, committee or individual to do. The effectiveness of your presentation will be largely dependent on how well you have prepared – not only putting your facts, figures and arguments clearly down on paper but also deciding what you are going to say at the meeting and how you are going to say it. The more important the case, the more carefully you should rehearse the presentation. Checklist 1. Do you know exactly what you want? 2. Do you really believe in your case? 3. Have you obtained and checked all the facts that support your case? 4. What are the strongest arguments for your case? 5. Why must the present situation be changed? 6. Who else will be affected? Unions, other divisions or departments? 7. What are the arguments against your plan? 8. What alternatives are there to your plan? 9. To whom are you presenting your plan? Have you done any lobbying? 10. Have you discussed the finances with the experts? 11. Do you know who are your probable allies and who are likely to be your opponents? 12. Have you prepared handouts of any complicated figures? 13. Have you discussed the best time to present your case? 14. Your ideas were good when you first thought of them: are they still as good? 108
Slide 126: 20 How to interview THE OVERALL PURPOSE OF A SELECTION INTERVIEW This chapter is about selection interviews which provide the information required to assess candidates against a person specification. A selection interview should provide you with the answers to three fundamental questions: 1. Can the individual do the job? Is the person capable of doing the work to the standard required? 2. Will the individual do the job? Is the person well motivated? 3. How is the individual likely to fit into the team? Will I be able to work well with this person? THE NATURE OF A SELECTION INTERVIEW A selection interview should take the form of a conversation with a purpose. It is a conversation because candidates should be given the opportunity to talk freely about themselves and their careers. 109
Slide 127: How to be an Even Better Manager But the conversation has to be planned, directed and controlled to achieve your aims in the time available. Your task as an interviewer is to draw candidates out to ensure that you get the information you want. Candidates should be encouraged to do most of the talking – one of the besetting sins of poor interviewers is that they talk too much. But you have to plan the structure of the interview to achieve its purpose and decide in advance the questions you need to ask – questions which will give you what you need to make an accurate assessment: ■ ■ ■ Content – the information you want and the questions you ask to get it; Contact – your ability to make and maintain good contact with candidates; to establish the sort of rapport that will encourage them to talk freely, thus revealing their strengths and their weaknesses; Control – your ability to control the interview so that you get the information you want. All this requires you to plan the interview thoroughly in terms of content, timing, structure and use of questions. But before doing all this you need to consider who is to conduct the interview and what arrangements need to be made for it. PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW Initial preparations Your first step in preparing for an interview should be to familiarize or refamiliarize yourself with the person specification which defines the sort of individual you want in terms of qualifications, experience and personality. It is also advisable at this stage to prepare questions which you can put to all candidates to obtain the information you require. If you ask everyone some identical questions you will be able to compare the answers. You should then read the candidates’ CVs and application forms or letters. This will identify any special questions you should ask about their career or to fill in the gaps – ‘what does this gap between jobs C and D signify?’ (although you would not put the question as baldly as that; it would be better to say something like this: ‘I see there was a gap of six months between when you left 110
Slide 128: How to Interview your job in C and started in D. Would you mind telling me what you were doing during this time?’). Timing You should decide at this stage how long you want to spend on each interview. As a rule of thumb, 45 to 60 minutes is usually required for serious, professional or technical appointments. Middle-ranking jobs need about 30 to 45 minutes. The more routine jobs can be covered in 20 to 30 minutes. But the time allowed depends on the job and you do not want to insult a candidate by conducting a superficial interview. THE CONTENT OF AN INTERVIEW The content of an interview can be analysed as dividing into three sections: the interview’s beginning, middle and end. Beginning At the start of the interview you should put candidates at their ease. You want them to talk freely in response to your questions. They won’t do this if you plunge in too abruptly. At least welcome them and thank them for coming to the interview, expressing genuine pleasure about the meeting. But don’t waste too much time talking about their journey or the weather. Some interviewers start by describing the company and the job. Wherever possible it is best to eliminate this part of the interview by sending candidates a brief job description and something about the organization. If you are not careful you will spend far too much time at this stage, especially if the candidate later turns out to be clearly unsuitable. A brief reference to the job should suffice and this can be elaborated on at the end of the interview. Middle The middle part of the interview is where you find out what you need to know about candidates. It should take at least 80 per cent of the time, leaving, say, 5 per cent at the beginning and 15 per cent at the end. 111
Slide 129: How to be an Even Better Manager This is when you ask questions designed to provide information on: ■ ■ the extent to which the knowledge, skills, capabilities and personal qualities of candidates meet the person specification; the career history and ambitions of candidates and, sometimes, on certain aspects of their behaviour at work such as sickness and absenteeism. End At the end of the interview you should give candidates the opportunity to ask questions about the job and the company. The quality of these questions can often give you clues about the degree to which applicants are interested and their ability to ask pertinent questions. You may want to expand a little on the job. If candidates are promising, some interviewers at this stage extol the attractive features of the job. This is fine as long as these are not exaggerated. To give a ‘realistic preview’ the possible downsides should be mentioned, for example the need to travel, or unsocial working hours. If candidates are clearly unsuitable you can tactfully help them to de-select themselves by referring to aspects of the work which may not appeal to them, or for which they are not really qualified. It is best not to spell out these points too strongly. It is often sufficient simply to put the question: ‘This is a key requirement of the job, how do you feel about it?’ You can follow up this general question by more specific questions: ‘Do you feel you have the right sort of experience?’ ‘Are you happy about (this aspect of the job)?’ At this stage you should ask final questions about the availability of candidates, as long as they are promising. You can ask when they would be able to start and about any holiday arrangements to which they are committed. You should also ask their permission to obtain references from their present and previous employers. They might not want you to approach their present employer and in that case you should tell them that if they are made an offer of employment it would be conditional on a satisfactory reference from their employer. It is useful to ensure that you have the names of people you can approach. 112
Slide 130: How to Interview Finally, you inform candidates of what happens next. If some time could elapse before they hear from you, they should be told that you will be writing as soon as possible but that there will be some delay (don’t make a promise you will be unable to keep). It is not normally good practice to inform candidates of your decision at the end of the interview. You should take time to reflect on their suitability and you don’t want to give them the impression that you are making a snap judgement. PLANNING THE INTERVIEW When planning interviews you should give some thought to how you are going to sequence your questions, especially in the middle part. There are two basic approaches as described below. Biographical approach The biographical approach is probably the most popular because it is simple to use and appears to be logical. The interview can be sequenced chronologically, starting with the first job or even before that at school and, if appropriate, college or university. The succeeding jobs, if any, are then dealt with in turn, ending with the present job, on which most time is spent if the candidate has been in it for a reasonable time. If you are not careful, however, using the chronological method for someone who has had a number of jobs can mean spending too much time on the earlier jobs, leaving insufficient time for the most important, recent experiences. To overcome this problem, an alternative biographical approach is to start with the present job, which is discussed in some depth. The interviewer then works backwards, job by job, but only concentrating on particularly interesting or relevant experience in earlier jobs. The problem with the biographical approach is that it is predictable. Experienced candidates are familiar with it and have their story ready, glossing over any weak points. It can also be unreliable. You can easily miss an important piece of information by concentrating on a succession of jobs rather than focusing on key aspects of the candidates’ experience which illustrate their capabilities. 113
Slide 131: How to be an Even Better Manager Criteria-based or targeted approach This approach is based on an analysis of the person specification. You can then select the criteria on which you will judge the suitability of the candidate which will put you in a position to ‘target’ these key criteria during the interview. You can decide on the questions you need to ask to draw out from candidates information about their knowledge, skills, capabilities and personal qualities which can be compared with the criteria to assess the extent to which candidates meet the specification. This is probably the best way of focusing your interview to ensure that you get all the information you require about candidates for comparison with the person specification. INTERVIEWING TECHNIQUES Questioning The most important interviewing technique you need to acquire and practise is questioning. Asking pertinent questions that elicit informative responses is a skill that people do not necessarily possess, but it is one they can develop. To improve your questioning techniques it is a good idea at the end of an interview to ask yourself: ‘Did I ask the right questions?’ ‘Did I put them to the candidate well?’ ‘Did I get candidates to respond freely?’ There are a number of different types of questions as described below. By choosing the right ones you can get candidates to open up or you can pin them down to giving you specific information or to extending or clarifying a reply. The other skills you should possess are the ability to establish rapport, and listening, maintaining continuity, keeping contact and note-taking. The main types of questions are described below. Open questions Open questions are the best ones to use to get candidates to talk – to draw them out. These are questions which cannot be answered by a yes or no and which encourage a full response. Single-word answers are seldom illuminating. It is a good idea to begin the interview with one or two open questions, thus helping candidates to settle in. 114
Slide 132: How to Interview Open-ended questions or phrases inviting a response can be phrased as follows: ■ ■ ■ ■ ‘I’d like you to tell me about the sort of work you are doing in your present job.’ ‘What do you know about…?’ ‘Could you give me some examples of…?’ ‘In what ways do you think your experience fits you to do the job for which you have applied?’ Probing questions Probing questions are used to get further details or to ensure that you are getting all the facts. You ask them when answers have been too generalized or when you suspect that there may be some more relevant information which candidates have not disclosed. A candidate may claim to have done something and it may be useful to find out more about exactly what contribution was made. Poor interviewers tend to let general and uninformative answers pass by without probing for further details, simply because they are sticking rigidly to a predetermined list of open questions. Skilled interviewers are able to flex their approach to ensure they get the facts while still keeping control to ensure that the interview is completed on time. The following are some examples of probing questions: ■ ■ ■ ■ ‘You’ve informed me that you have had experience in… Could you tell me more about what you did?’ ‘Could you describe in more detail the equipment you use?’ ‘What training have you had to operate your machine/equipment/computer?’ ‘Why do you think that happened?’ Closed questions Closed questions aim to clarify a point of fact. The expected reply will be an explicit single word or brief sentence. In a sense, a closed question acts as a probe but produces a succinct factual statement without going into detail. When you ask a closed question you intend to find out: ■ what the candidate has or has not done – ‘What did you do then?’ 115
Slide 133: How to be an Even Better Manager ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ why something took place – ‘Why did that happen?’ when something took place – ‘When did that happen?’ how something happened – ‘How did that situation arise?’ where something happened – ‘Where were you at the time?’ who took part – ‘Who else was involved?’ Capability questions Capability questions aim to establish what candidates know, the skills they possess and use, and what they are capable of doing. They can be open, probing or closed but they will always be focused as precisely as possible on the contents of the person specification referring to knowledge, skills and capabilities. The sort of capability questions you can ask are: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ‘What do you know about…?’ ‘How did you gain this knowledge?’ ‘What are the key skills you are expected to use in your work?’ ‘How would your present employer rate the level of skill you have reached in…?’ ‘What do you use these skills to do?’ ‘How often do you use these skills?’ ‘What training have you received to develop these skills?’ ‘Could you please tell me exactly what sort and how much experience you have had in…?’ ‘Could you tell me more about what you have actually been doing in this aspect of your work?’ ‘Can you give me any examples of the sort of work you have done which would qualify you to do this job?’ ‘Could you tell me more about the machinery, equipment, processes or systems which you operate/for which you are responsible?’ (The information could refer to such aspects as output or throughput, tolerances, use of computers or software, technical problems.) ‘What are the most typical problems you have to deal with?’ ‘Would you tell me about any instances when you have had to deal with an unexpected problem or a crisis?’ Unhelpful questions There are two types of questions that are unhelpful: ■ Multiple questions such as ‘What skills do you use most frequently in your job? Are they technical skills, leadership 116
Slide 134: How to Interview ■ skills, teamworking skills or communicating skills?’ will only confuse candidates. You will probably get a partial or misleading reply. Ask only one question at a time. Leading questions which indicate the reply you expect are also unhelpful. If you ask a question such as: ‘That’s what you think, isn’t it?’ you will get the reply: ‘Yes, I do.’ If you ask a question such as ‘I take it that you don’t really believe that…?’ You will get the reply: ‘No, I don’t.’ Neither of these replies will get you anywhere. Questions to be avoided ■ Avoid any questions that could be construed as being biased on the grounds of sex, race or disability. Ten useful questions The following are 10 useful questions from which you can select any that are particularly relevant in an interview you are conducting: 1. ‘What are the most important aspects of your present job?’ 2. ‘What do you think have been your most notable achievements in your career to date?’ 3. ‘What sort of problems have you successfully solved recently in your job?’ 4. ‘What have you learnt from your present job?’ 5. ‘What has been your experience in…?’ 6. ‘What do you know about…?’ 7. ‘What is your approach to handling…?’ 8. ‘What particularly interests you in this job and why?’ 9. ‘Now you have heard more about the job, would you please tell me which aspects of your experience are most relevant?’ 10. ‘Is there anything else about your career which hasn’t come out yet in this interview but you think I ought to hear?’ ASSESSING THE DATA If you have carried out a good interview you should have the data to assess the extent to which candidates meet each of the key points in the person specification. You can summarize your assessments by marking candidates against each of the points – ‘exceeds 117
Slide 135: How to be an Even Better Manager specification’, ‘fully meets specification’, ‘just meets the minimum specification’, ‘does not meet the minimum specification’. You can assess motivation broadly as ‘highly motivated’, ‘reasonably well motivated’, ‘not very well motivated’. You should also draw some conclusions from the candidates’ career history and the other information you have gained about their behaviour at work. Credit should be given for a career that has progressed steadily, even if there have been several job changes. But a lot of job-hopping for no good reason and without making progress can lead you to suspect that a candidate is not particularly stable. No blame should be attached to a single setback – it can happen to anyone. Redundancy is not a stigma – it is happening all the time. But if the pattern is repeated, you can reasonably be suspicious. Finally, there is the delicate question of whether you think you will be able to work with the candidate, and whether you think he or she will fit into the team. You have to be very careful about making judgements about how you will get on with someone. But if you are absolutely certain that the chemistry will not work, then you have to take account of that feeling, as long as you ensure that you have reasonable grounds for it on the basis of the behaviour of the candidate at the interview. But be aware of the common mistakes that interviewers can make. These include: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ jumping to conclusions on a single piece of favourable evidence – the ‘halo effect’; jumping to conclusions on a single piece of unfavourable evidence – the ‘horns effect’; not weighing up the balance between the favourable and unfavourable evidence logically and objectively; coming to firm conclusions on the basis of inadequate evidence; making snap or hurried judgements; making prejudiced judgements on the grounds of sex, race, disability, religion, appearance, accent, class, or any aspect of the candidate’s life history, circumstances or career which do not fit your preconceptions of what you are looking for. Coming to a conclusion Compare your assessment of each of the candidates against one another. If any candidate fails in an area which is critical to success, he or she should be rejected. You can’t take a chance. Your choice 118
Slide 136: How to Interview should be made between the candidates who reach an acceptable standard against each of the criteria. You can then come to an overall judgement by reference to their assessments under each heading and their career history as to which one is most likely to succeed. In the end, your decision between qualified candidates may well be judgemental. There may be one outstanding candidate but quite often there are two or three. In these circumstances you have to come to a balanced view on which one is more likely to fit the job and the organization and have potential for a long-term career, if this is possible. Don’t, however, settle for second best in desperation. It is better to try again. Remember to make and keep notes of the reasons for your choice and why candidates have been rejected. These, together with the applications, should be kept for at least six months just in case your decision is challenged as being discriminatory. 119
Slide 137: 21 How to be interviewed Just as there are skills in interviewing as described in Chapter 20, there are skills in being interviewed – making the right impression and responding to questions in a way that convinces the interviewer that you are the right person for the job. This chapter provides advice on the basic approaches you can adopt when being interviewed which, while none will guarantee that you will get the job, will all help to improve your chances. These approaches are concerned with: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ preparing for the interview; creating the right impression; presenting yourself; responding to questions; ending on a high note. PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW The first thing to remember when preparing for the interview is that you would not have been asked to attend unless you at least matched the basic specification. This should give you the confi120
Slide 138: How to be Interviewed dence to plan how best to build on that foundation. You need to answer the following questions: ■ ■ What have I got to offer that is likely to put me in a strong position to get this job? Answer this by studying what you know about the job from the advertisement or, ideally, a more detailed specification produced by the prospective employers. This should give you some idea of what they are looking for. How should I present my qualifications for the job? Answer this by preparing a brief 40- or 50-word statement which sums up what you have to offer, what your ambitions are and why you want this job. This can be your point of reference throughout the interview, which you can use as the basis for more detailed descriptions of your achievements and experience, accompanied by explanations of why these are relevant. Such a statement might read like this: I am an experienced project manager with a proven track record of delivering projects on time, to specification and within budget. My achievements in a company operating in broadly the same field as yours fit me for the senior management position we are discussing. ■ What answers might I give to some typical questions? For example: – Why do you want this job? – Tell me about yourself. – What have been your major achievements in your present job? – What are your strengths? – What are your weaknesses? – What do you think you would bring to this job? – What interests you most in your work? – Tell me about a time when you successfully dealt with a major problem at work. – What are your ambitions for the future? – What are your interests outside work? Some of the material for answers to these questions should be found outlined in your statement. You may have to think how you would elaborate on it, but don’t try to learn answers by heart. You have to appear spontaneous and, in any case, you cannot be sure that these questions will be asked in the same form (although it would be an unusual interview if none of them appeared in one shape or another). 121
Slide 139: How to be an Even Better Manager CREATING THE RIGHT IMPRESSION First impressions in interviews count. Interviewers tend (often wrongly) to allow their initial reaction to you to colour the whole interview. So you must try to present yourself well from the very start. The things you can do include: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ dressing the part – neat not gaudy; walking confidently into the room; giving a firm handshake and making eye contact; providing non-verbal clues such as smiling (but not a foolish grin), responding to the interviewer by nodding your head, leaning forward while listening and replying; sitting as far back on the chair as you can, not slumping; looking at the interviewer, maintaining a high level of eye contact. From the start you have to give the impression of self-confidence. This is what interviewers are almost always looking for. And throughout the interview the way you respond to questions should convey your confidence in your own ability and your suitability for the job. The more articulate you are, without being glib, the better. RESPONDING TO QUESTIONS A good interviewer will ask you open questions which will encourage you to talk and reveal your strengths and weaknesses. Some people talk themselves out of a job, so be careful not to overelaborate. Make your replies as concise, clear and self-confident as possible. Use positive language and provide positive information. You have to present your case convincingly. If you prefix your answers with a phrase such as ‘I feel’, ‘I think’ or ‘Perhaps’ you weaken your position. However, there is a danger of appearing too boastful or egotistical if you constantly blow your own trumpet and use ‘I’ to start every sentence. Max Eggert (2003) suggests that although it may be more powerful to say ‘I did’ rather than ‘We did’, it is possible to reduce the impression of egotism by using phrases such as ‘My experience shows that I…’, ‘Colleagues tell me that…’, ‘My boss once remarked that…’ or ‘The team I was leading were able to…’. 122
Slide 140: How to be Interviewed One of the trickiest questions you may be asked is about your weaknesses. You cannot claim that you have none (no one will believe you). However, because negative information carries more weight with interviewers than positive information, Max Eggert recommends that although interviewers usually ask about weaknesses (plural), you should only ever admit to one. He suggest that interviewees should respond to questions, not answer them, by which he means you should control the information you release about yourself. To illustrate this approach he suggests that the answer to a question about weaknesses should be along the following lines: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Choose a trait about your character or personality which is obviously true. Extend that trait until it becomes a fault. Put it back in the distant past. Show how you have overcome it. Confirm that it is no longer a problem. ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE You will often be asked if you have any questions at the end of an interview. Do not bore the interviewer with trivial questions about the organization or the job. Instead ask positive questions which tacitly assume that the job is yours, such as, ‘What would be my priorities when (not if) I join you?’ and ‘What would you expect me to achieve in my first year?’ 123
Slide 141: 22 How to get job engagement Job engagement takes place when people are committed to their work. They are interested, indeed excited, about what they do. Job engagement can exist even when individuals are not committed to the organization, except in so far as it gives them the opportunity and scope to perform and to develop their skills and potential. They may be more attached to the type of work they carry out than to the organization that provides that work, especially if they are knowledge workers. Getting job engagement is more likely when people feel empowered, as discussed at the end of this chapter. DEVELOPING JOB ENGAGEMENT Developing job engagement starts with job design or ‘role development’. This focuses on the provision of: ■ Interest and challenge – the degree to which the work is interesting in itself and creates demanding goals for people. 124
Slide 142: How to Get Job Engagement ■ ■ ■ ■ Variety – the extent to which the activities in the job call for a selection of skills and abilities. Autonomy – the freedom and independence the job holder has, including discretion to make decisions, exercise choice, schedule the work and decide on the procedures to carry it out, and the job holder’s personal responsibility for outcomes. Task identity – the degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work. Task significance – the extent to which the job contributes to a significant end result and has a substantial impact on the lives and work of other people. All these factors are affected by the organization structure, the system of work and the quality of leadership. The latter is vital. You can make a major contribution to achieving job engagement and therefore higher performance by the way in which you lead people, and this includes making an effort to ensure that their jobs provide variety, autonomy, task identity and task significance. All this depends more on the way in which job holders are managed and led than on any formal process of job design. Managers and team leaders often have considerable discretion on how they allocate work and the extent to which they delegate. They can provide feedback which recognizes the contribution of people, and they can spell out the significance of the work they do. The Hay Group has developed a model for what the group calls ‘engaged performance’, which is made up of six elements (see Table 22.1). Some of these will depend on what the organization does, although as a manager you can help with the development of policies in such areas as work-life balance. But you can make a direct contribution in all the six areas defined in the table. EMPOWERMENT Job engagement can also involve empowering people. Empowerment is the process of giving people more ‘power’ or scope to exercise control over and take responsibility for their work. It means allowing them more autonomy. Empowerment releases the creative and innovative capacities of people, and provides for greater job satisfaction, motivation and commitment. It is about engaging both the hearts and minds of people so that they can take the opportunities available to them for increased responsibility. 125
Slide 143: How to be an Even Better Manager Table 22.1 The Hay Group model of engaged performance 4. Tangible rewards competitive pay good benefits incentives for higher performance ownership potential recognition awards fairness of reward 5. Work–life balance supportive environment recognition of life cycle needs/flexibility security of income social support 6. Future growth/opportunity learning and development beyond current job career advancement opportunities performance improvement and feedback 1. Inspiration/values reputation of organization organizational values and behaviours quality of leadership risk sharing recognition communication 2. Quality of work perception of the value of work challenge/interest opportunities for achievement freedom and autonomy workload quality of work relationship 3. Enabling environment physical environment tools and equipment job training (current position) information and processes safety/personal security The following are 10 ways to empower people: 1. Delegate more. 2. Involve people in setting their targets and standards of performance and in deciding on performance measures. 3. Allow individuals and teams more scope to plan, act and monitor their own performance. 4. Involve people in developing their own solutions to problems. 5. Create self-managed teams – ones that set their own objectives and standards and manage their own performance. 6. Give people a voice in deciding what needs to be done. 7. Help people to learn from their own mistakes. 8. Encourage continuous development so that people can both grow in their roles and grow their roles. 9. Share your vision and plans with members of your team. 10. Trust people and treat them as adults (Tom Peters). 126
Slide 144: 23 How to be a better leader Leadership is the process of inspiring individuals to give of their best to achieve a desired result. It is about getting people to move in the right direction, gaining their commitment, and motivating them to achieve their goals. According to Warren Bennis and Bert Nanus (1985): ‘Managers do things right, leaders do the right things.’ THE ROLES OF THE LEADER Leaders have two essential roles. They have to: 1. Achieve the task – that is why their group exists. Leaders ensure that the group’s purpose is fulfilled. If it is not, the result is frustration, disharmony, criticism and eventually, perhaps, disintegration of the group. 2. Maintain effective relationships – between themselves and the members of the group, and between the people within the group. These relationships are effective if they contribute to achieving the task. They can be divided into those concerned 127
Slide 145: How to be an Even Better Manager with the team and its morale and sense of common purpose, and those concerned with individuals and how they are motivated. John Adair (1984), the expert on leadership, suggested some time ago that these demands are best expressed as three areas of need which leaders are there to satisfy. These are: (1) task needs – to get the job done; (2) individual needs – to harmonize the needs of the individual with the needs of the task and the group; and (3) group needs – to build and maintain team spirit. Other more recent research has expanded and refined this model, but it still rings true as a basic description of what leadership is about. LEADERSHIP STYLES Leaders adopt different styles which can be classified as: ■ ■ ■ ■ Charismatic/non-charismatic. Charismatic leaders rely on their personality, their inspirational qualities and their ‘aura’. They are often visionary leaders who are achievement orientated, calculated risk takers and good communicators. Non-charismatic leaders rely mainly on their know-how (authority goes to the person who knows), their quiet confidence and their cool, analytical approach to dealing with problems. Autocratic/democratic. Autocratic leaders impose their decisions, using their position to force people to do as they are told. Democratic leaders encourage people to participate and involve themselves in decision-taking. Enabler/controller. Enablers inspire people with their vision of the future and empower them to accomplish team goals. Controllers manipulate people to obtain their compliance. Transactional/transformational. Transactional leaders trade money, jobs and security for compliance. Transformational leaders motivate people to strive for higher-level goals. THE IMPACT OF THE SITUATION The situation in which leaders and their teams function will influence the approaches that leaders adopt. There is no such thing as an 128
Slide 146: How to be a Better Leader ideal leadership style. It all depends. Effective leaders can flex their styles to respond to different situations and demands. The factors affecting the degree to which a style is appropriate will be the type of organization, the nature of the task, the characteristics of the group and, importantly, the personality of the leader. A task-orientated approach (autocratic, controlling, transactional) may be best in emergency or crisis situations, or when the leader has power, formal backing and a relatively well-structured task. In these circumstances the group is more ready to be directed and told what to do. In less well-structured or ambiguous situations, where results depend on the group working well together with a common sense of purpose, leaders who are more concerned with maintaining good relationships (democratic, enablers, transformational) are more likely to obtain good results. However, commentators such as Charles Handy (1989) are concerned that intelligent organizations have to be run by persuasion and consent. He suggests that the heroic leader of the past ‘knew all, could do all, and could solve every problem’. Now, the post-heroic leader has come to the fore, who ‘asks how every problem can be solved in a way that develops other people’s capacity to handle it’. LEADERSHIP QUALITIES The qualities required of leaders may vary somewhat in different situations, but research into, and analysis of, effective leaders have identified a number of generic characteristics which good leaders are likely to have. John Adair (1984) lists the following qualities: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ enthusiasm – to get things done which they can communicate to other people; confidence – belief in themselves which again people can sense (but this must not be over-confidence, which leads to arrogance); toughness – resilient, tenacious and demanding high standards, seeking respect but not necessarily popularity; integrity – being true to oneself – personal wholeness, soundness and honesty which inspire trust; warmth – in personal relationships, caring for people and being considerate; humility – willingness to listen and take the blame; not being arrogant and overbearing. 129
Slide 147: How to be an Even Better Manager Daniel Goleman (1998) emphasizes motivation to achieve beyond expectations. He also stresses (2000) the need for a high level of emotional intelligence (see Chapter 14). WHAT ORGANIZATIONS REQUIRE OF LEADERS Research conducted by the Industrial Society (1997) showed what organizations required of leaders and how these requirements fit into today’s structures and cultures. What organizations want is: ■ ■ ■ ■ leaders who will make the right space for people to perform well without having to be watched over – not bosses; flat structures where people can be trusted to work with minimal supervision; a wide range of people who are able to ‘take a lead’, step into a leadership role when necessary and consistently behave in a responsible way; a culture where people can be responsive to customer demands and agile in the face of changing technology. BEHAVIOURS PEOPLE VALUE IN LEADERS The respondents to an Industrial Society survey were asked to rank the importance of 35 factors in leader behaviour. The top 10 factors, in rank order, were as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Shows enthusiasm. Supports other people. Recognizes individual effort. Listens to individuals’ ideas and problems. Provides direction. Demonstrates personal integrity. Practises what he/she preaches. Encourages teamwork. Actively encourages feedback. Develops other people. 130
Slide 148: How to be a Better Leader LEADERSHIP CHECKLIST The task ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ What needs to be done and why? What results have to be achieved and by when? What problems have to be overcome? To what extent are these problems straightforward? Is there a crisis situation? What has to be done now to deal with the crisis? What are these priorities? What pressures are likely to be exerted? The individual ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ What are his/her strengths and weaknesses? What are likely to be the best ways of motivating him/her? What tasks is he/she best at doing? Is there scope to increase flexibility by developing new skills? How well does he/she perform in achieving targets and performance standards? Are there any areas where there is a need to develop skill or competence? How can I provide the individual with the sort of support and guidance which will improve his/her performance? The team ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ How well is the team organized? Does the team work well together? How can the commitment and motivation of the team be achieved? What is the team good and not so good at doing? What can I do to improve the performance of the team? Are team members flexible – capable of carrying out different tasks? Is there scope to empower the team so that it can take on greater responsibility for setting standards, monitoring performance and taking corrective action? Can the team be encouraged to work together to produce ideas for improving performance? 131
Slide 149: How to be an Even Better Manager CASE STUDIES The following are descriptions of the leadership style deployed by three highly effective managers. In each case the style was influenced by three factors: the environment, the people involved, and the personality of the manager. Edward Smith Ted Smith was the planning manager in a large engineering works. He had some 200 people working in the departments under his control who dealt with process planning, shop loading and production control. It was a highly responsible job and his staff included highly qualified engineers as well as large numbers of clerks doing routine work. Ted’s job was to make sure that his departments ran like clockwork. Everyone had to know exactly what to do and when they had to do it. Close co-operation between the three areas under his control was essential. Charismatic-type leadership was out. He had to be cool, calm, measured and a little bit distant. Everyone in the department had to believe he knew what he was doing and what he wanted. He therefore held regular meetings with all his subordinates at which he quickly and efficiently reviewed progress, gave instructions and, as and when necessary, discussed problems. At these meetings he was prepared to switch quickly from being someone who knew exactly what he wanted and who expected people to do exactly as they were told (because it was sensible and right for them to do so) to someone who was prepared to listen to different views, weigh them up and decide. Sometimes he would deliberately throw his managers a problem and tell them to go away and solve it, and let him know the outcome of their actions. Ted also ensured that his managers transmitted the content of these meetings down to first line supervisor level. And the latter were encouraged to meet their sections regularly. He emphasized throughout the need for teamwork and demonstrated his commitment by ensuring that at inter-departmental meetings problems of lack of co-operation or poor communications were given priority. The only time he was ever seen to express anger was when work suffered because of feuds between departments. 132
Slide 150: How to be a Better Leader Elwyn Jones Elwyn Jones was the HR director of a large conglomerate in the food industry with over 80,000 employees. The firm had grown fast by acquisition and was highly decentralized. Staff were deliberately kept to a minimum at headquarters and Jones had only four executives responsible directly to him. He was, however, also responsible for the implementation of group personnel policies in each of the divisions and on these matters the divisional personnel directors were responsible to him. Jones was not in a position to dictate to divisions what he wanted them to do. He could only influence them, and he felt that he had to get genuine acceptance for new policies before they could be introduced. He therefore had to consult on any changes or innovations he wished to introduce and, in most cases, he had to solicit cooperation on the testing of new ideas. With his headquarters staff, Jones adopted a highly informal, almost permissive approach. He gave them broad guidelines on how they should develop their ideas in the divisions but encouraged them to think and act for themselves. He never called a formal meeting. He was more likely to withdraw to the local pub where, under the watchful eyes of ‘big fat Nellie’ behind the bar, he consumed pink gins with his colleagues and discussed strategies on entirely equal terms. He adopted precisely the same approach with the divisional personnel directors, although once or twice a year they all got together in a country hotel (one recommended by the Good Food Guide, of course) and spent a pleasant couple of days talking generally about their mutual interests. James Robinson Jim Robinson was the managing director of a medium-sized business (1,000 employees) in the fast-moving consumer goods sector of industry. He had come up the hard way and his experience had always been in similar firms. Business was highly competitive and the pressures on maintaining, never mind increasing, market share were considerable. Tough decisions about products, markets and people had to be made often and quickly. There was a nonexecutive chairman and three outside non-executive directors on the board, but they let Robinson get on with it as long as he delivered the results they wanted – which he did. 133