|
|
|
Bankruptcy as a debt management solution: Why do so many of us have so much debt?
In 2004, 1,562,174 Americans sought protection from creditors through bankruptcy court - a per capita rate over ten times higher than during the worst years of the Great Depression! According to the Consumer Federation of America, in 2003 alone over...
Debt Management and Consolidation
How do you know that you are in DEBT? How do you know that you are really in deep DEBT? Do you think you need DEBT MANAGEMENT or DEBT CONSOLIDATION ? This are the questions that most professionals will ask you about. If not, you will ask...
Debt Management UK - Time Tested Formula For Freedom From Debts.
UK residents seem to enjoy a strange relationship with debts.
While they cannot do with a large debt load over their
shoulders, they also cannot do without incurring them for long.
If a survey is to be taken out of the most rash spenders,...
Importance of Customer Relationship Management or Contact Management
Companies that need customers in order to build a profit need to
have a system in place that effectively and successfully manages
the customer/client relationship. Many companies are choosing to
have some of their employees earn a certificate in...
Time Management Tips for Managers
Late last year I was presenting a workshop for the senior managers of a major organisation. Whilst doing a pre-workshop survey to assess the challenges these managers were experiencing it became very apparent to me that many of them were showing...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coaching - The New Word in Management
The Old Way – Command and Control
Although workplaces and management styles have come a long way in the last decade, the command and control style of management behaviour remains common practice in many companies. This management approach basically means that employees are told exactly what to do, when to do it and even how it should be done. The manager is in charge, has all the answers, and fixes all the problems.
It’s no surprise that plenty of people find this approach demotivating, and that workplaces with a command-control style are rated as pretty unsatisfying. When it comes down to it, none of us really enjoys being told exactly what to do, and neither do our employees. When people feel as though they have no say and are given no opportunity to contribute outside of their work tasks, then they switch off and become “disengaged”.
The command and control approach is being phased out for a more collaborative and engaging style – a “Coach” approach or being a “manager-coach”. This is a positive shift – as long as we support our managers in understanding what on earth is meant by a “coach approach”, and how expectations of them are changing.
Coaching – What does it really mean?
The coaching profession has exploded in recent years, diversifying across many different fields and industries. All of these people are dedicated to helping others achieve their goals, improve aspects of themselves or their business, or move forwards from where they are today.
In a work environment, the role of a manager-coach can be described as :
•achieving results and excellence through others rather than personally taking care of things, and
•focusing on developing employees in order to achieve business results rather than micro-managing their every move.
Adopting coaching as a management style requires managers to help other people unlock their potential and enhance their own performance. It’s about supporting people to learn instead of telling them what the answers are.
The mindset of the manager-coach is to create an environment that fosters learning, independent thinking and opportunities to contribute. The manager-coach doesn’t want to be seen as a solution provider. Rather, they want to be seen as a facilitator, paving the way for team members to achieve their results.
Coach managers are a role model for others. They are excellent listeners and communicators, providing perspective and encouragement whilst setting high standards and expectations.
Making coaching behaviours part of what you do
1.Stop thinking about employees as people that need to be controlled or managed and give them the latitude to take actions and make decisions. Trust is a vital component of this equation. If you can’t trust people to do their jobs well, then you either have the wrong people in the jobs, or you have the right people but you haven’t trained them sufficiently. A third option is that the people are properly skilled, but the manager just can’t let go.
2.Listen, listen listen. If there are unhappy or disgruntled people in your business, you can guarantee that at some stage they’ve tried to tell you what the problem is. It’s likely you weren’t listening (or didn’t want to listen), or perhaps your initial reaction made the person think twice about bringing the problem to you. Truly listening is one of the greatest skills to develop, regardless of your role. Good listeners are genuinely
interested, convey empathy, and want to find out what’s behind the conversation. Great coaches are great listeners –without exception.
3.Focus on developing the strengths of each employee rather than managing merely for results. Identify each person’s development needs and commit to following through on them. When people are growing and improving, their enthusiasm and effectiveness is greater. And they feel more connected and loyal to the company for supporting them.
4.Endorse effort and growth instead of pointing out failures or errors. As individuals, we all know how seldom we are given positive feedback, but how often we are reminded of our “mistakes”. Instead of pointing out errors, the coach-manager accepts them as learning opportunities and uses them to develop their employees. The focus is on making sure the same mistake doesn’t happen again by fixing the source of the problem.
5.Stop providing solutions. Managers often achieve their positions after being technical specialists, and so will have an opinion or view on how to "fix" situations or problems. The mindset is that it's usually faster to tell someone what to do, or do it yourself, than give your employees an opportunity to figure it out. By always providing the answers, managers take away the learning opportunity for their employees to come up with alternative (and potentially better) ways of doing things. If you catch yourself about to provide the answer, take a deep breath and ask a question like: “What would you do in this situation?”
6.As a manager, stop making all the decisions. You don't have all the answers all of the time. Engage those around you - your team and peers - when it comes to finding a way forwards. Involvement breeds ownership and engagement. The more you can find opportunities for people to contribute to the decision-making process and encourage people to have their say, the more your employees will feel connected and satisfied with the company.
7.Be unconditionally constructive - no exceptions. Don't patronise or be critical of others - take complete responsibility for how you are heard. If you catch yourself about to make negative remarks, take a breath and rephrase your words to get your message across without the emotional attachment. It is possible to phrase everything in constructive terms – even a negative sentiment. Practice makes perfect!
8.Create an environment where people want to work with you, and feel valued and respected. Make it clear to your employees what they are responsible for, but give them the latitude to go about it in their own way. In short, treat them the way you would want to be treated.
The Wrap-Up
The true success of a leader can be measured by the success of the people that work for them. When managers and leaders adopt a coaching style, the productivity, motivation and satisfaction of the employees increases, which filters through to bottom –line results. All this makes for an engaged workforce who are committed to giving the business as much as it is giving them. And as an extra incentive, adopting a coaching style of management results in a much more enjoyable workplace for everybody!
About the Author
Megan Tough, director of Action Plus, works with small business professionals who are ready to do more than ‘just get by’. Increase your income - decrease your stress! To learn more and to sign up for more FREE tips and articles like these, visit www.megantough.com
|
|
|
|
|
| About Management - business management - people management - and more |
| THE starting place for exploring MANAGEMENT; helping new managers get started and experienced managers get better. |
| management.about.com |
|
| Management - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| The phrase "management is what managers do" occurs widely, suggesting the difficulty of ... The management of a large organisation may have three levels: ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Free Management Library |
| Quality Management · Research Methods · Risk Management · Sales · Social Entrepreneurship · Staffing · Starting an Organization · Strategic Planning ... |
| www.managementhelp.org |
|
| Welcome to the American Management Association |
| Helping business professionals learn practical management skills and the best practices of world class organization. |
| www.amanet.org |
|
| Project Management Institute (PMI) - The largest project ... |
| The organization of choice for project management professionalism. PMI establishes Project Management standards, provides seminars, educational programs and ... |
| www.pmi.org |
|
| IT Project Management and IT Service Management Ideas and Analysis ... |
| Datamation provides ideas and analysis for IT managers, featuring case studies and trend spotting reports on IT project and service management issues. |
| itmanagement.earthweb.com |
|
| Management |
| International review on management research. Peer-reviewed, occasional. Ejournal, with tables of content, abstracts and full articles available on-line. |
| www.dmsp.dauphine.fr |
|
| Society for Human Resource Management |
| Advances the human resource profession to ensure that HR is recognized as an essential partner in developing and executing organizational strategy. |
| www.shrm.org |
|
| FEMA | Federal Emergency Management Agency |
| Agency of the US government tasked with Disaster Mitigation, Preparedness, Response & Recovery planning. |
| www.fema.gov |
|
| FT.com / Business Life |
| Account Manager. Recruiter: Financial Times. Part Qualified Management Accountant. Recruiter: Robert Half Finance & Accounting ... |
| www.ft.com |
|
| Small Business Management: Advice and Guides |
| Online guide to small business management. Find articles, advice and how-to guides. |
| www.entrepreneur.com |
|
| Academy of Management Online |
| Academy of Management: This is the official web site of the Academy of Management, with information on membership, journals, list servers, web sites, ... |
| www.aomonline.org |
|
| Business Management, Leadership and Decision Making Strategies and ... |
| Provides business management articles, webcasts, online learning, and books as well as conferences focused on leadership and decision making. |
| www.bettermanagement.com |
|
| Object Management Group |
| Distributed object computing industry standards group founded in 1989. Defined standards include CORBA and IIOP. |
| www.omg.org |
|
| Management Reading | Global Executive | Business | Economist.com |
| The one management thinker every educated person should read Nov 17th 2005 ... The story of Emerson's successful management process is fascinating. ... |
| www.economist.com |
|
| Emerald: Home |
| Publisher of journals in management and library and information services, engineering, applied science and technology. |
| www.emeraldinsight.com |
|
| Yale School of Management |
| The mission of the Yale School of Management is to educate global leaders for business and society. We pride ourselves in providing a hard-edged business ... |
| mba.yale.edu |
|
| US Office of Personnel Management |
| Official Federal Government site listing positions nationwide for special agent, federal police officers and related jobs. |
| www.usajobs.opm.gov |
|
| Waste Management |
| Waste Management is the #1 Residential and Commercial Trash Service Provider. |
| www.wm.com |
|
| US Office of Personnel Management |
| Includes federal jobs listings, upcoming events, numerous humans resources reports, news releases and additional official information. |
| www.opm.gov |
|
|