Posts Tagged ‘management success’

You want to be a successful leader or manager, right?

Of course you do but, despite this, it is surprising just how many people stop themselves from being successful.

So how can you start achieving more success?

Start taking DECISIONS (the ‘D’ in DAR)

We all have lots of choices available to us. Choices are great but it is decisions that get things moving. So if you want to get more success, start taking DECISIONS.

ACT on decisions

Decisions are great and can be hugely invigorating and motivating but the key thing you must do is take ACTION. It is the actions which move you forward, provide the channel for feedback on what is and what is not working. Make a habit of taking ACTION on DECISIONS if you want more success.

REMEMBER: DECISIONS + ACTIONS = RESULTS

RESULTS don’t happen by chance. They are a direct consequence of the decisions and actions you take. If you don’t stop using temporary staff for example, your outlay on salary costs is never going to change. Similarly, if you have a great idea for a product but never take it to the launch stage, you are never going to generate revenues.

The Bottom Line

If you are struggling to deliver as a leader or manager, take time out to review whether you are really taking decisions and then acting on decisions. You might be surprised what a difference simple changes can make.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

From the outside looking in, management can appear easy. When you are making the transition to management there are 3 common challenges that managers face. What are they and what can you do to overcome them?

Challenge 1: Letting Go

Before you were in a management position, you were probably used to doing a lot on your own. Now you are a manager, you need to be willing to delegate and let go of things. Remember that there was once a time when you could not do all the things you can do now. The only reason you have been successful was because someone was willing to let go and give you a chance to try something new.

Challenge 2: Fear of Being Unpopular

It is natural to want to be liked by everyone. Yet the trouble is you cannot be popular with everyone all of the time. Let go of needing to be popular with everyone and accept whatever decision you take, it will not suit everyone.

Challenge 3: Fear of Making a Decision

If you are a surgeon, a decision that you make in an operating theatre could be life or death. Few management decision fall into that category. Have a bias for taking decisions, recognising that you will get some wrong and most right.

The Bottom Line

Any sort of transition brings challenges. The key is to be willing to embrace these challenges rather than allowing them to keep you stuck.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here

Action 1: Do an honest self assessment

 

It might be tough to do but if you are serious about moving forward, you need to take a long hard look at where you are right now in terms of mindset, skill set, experience and personal attributes.

 

Action 2: Get some feedback

 

Feedback is hugely valuable to you.  Getting some insights from others helps you to understand where your strengths are and what you need to work on.

 

 

 

Action 3: Get clear on your priorities

 

The biggest concern I hear from professional people is that they are running at speed but still struggling to get things done.  We can all fill up our week or month with activities but you need to be focusing on the priorities.

 

Action 4: Set a few key goals

 

We are all (me included) inclined to be far too ambitious when it comes to setting goals for the year ahead.  When setting your goals focus on a few major goals that will have a significant impact on what you and your team deliver.  It might be process automation, updating a system, a new product launch, a new way of running meetings or a new way of reporting to name just a few.

 

Action 5:  Set aside time for leading and managing

 

A huge part of leading and managing is about making time for your staff.  Sadly many leaders and managers fill their calendar with lots of activities and forget about making time for staff.  You can be sure that there will be staffing issues during the year so plan with this in mind.

 

Action 6: Think about how you can add more value

 

Many organisations are currently facing or are likely to face real challenges in the coming year.  The people who step up to the plate and focus on adding value are likely to get noticed. Ask yourself how you could add value to the organisation.

 

Action 7: Think about your contribution to the wider organisational agenda

 

We all to a greater or lesser extent can get stuck in a silo mentality where we only think about our own function or department.  Those that aspire to be a leader know that they need to be able to contribute to the overall success of the organisation, not just within their functional area.

 

Action 8: Take on a new challenge

 

I don’t know about you but I often found that I delivered better performance when I took on a new challenge.  We all can to some extent become complacent and go with the flow if we don’t have a new stimulus.  Taking on a new challenge not only stretches you but builds your skills, experience and provides renewed motivation.

 

Action 9: Make more use of your team

 

As a leader or manager you have responsibility for a team.  If you want to get the best from that team you need to help each and every team member grow and develop.  This might mean delegating and empowering individuals more or even setting up a small action learning set to resolve a particular problem or challenge.

 

Action 10: Make a commitment to developing yourself

 

None of us know everything and we all need to continually work on our professional development.  Make a plan, set aside the time and take the action to develop yourself in 2010.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers.  For more information click here

A new year presents a golden opportunity to take stock and set out plans for great success in the year ahead.  For many, achieving the results that they want as a leader or manager is an important area, not least because of the personal rewards it brings.  In reality, success as a leader or manager does not happen by chance, so what are the x key questions you need to answer to achieving greater success as a leader or manager in 2010?

 

What do you want to achieve by the end of 2010?

 

Seems like a really easy question but in truth it is one of the most challenging to answer.  When people sit down to formulate their response they often fall into the trap of coming up with vague statements that are meaningless.  To overcome this, take the time to write out in some detail what you want to achieve by the end of 2010.  Remember that your career does not operate in isolation from the rest of your life so think broadly.

 

Why do you want to achieve more success in 2010?

 

Mark Fritz the author of a number of books talks about the importance of the why being bigger than the what.  In essence what he is saying is that unless the reasons for wanting to achieve something compelling are crystal clear they will never become more than aspirations.  The why is what provides the drive and motivation to keep going no matter what the barriers are.  For each thing that you want to achieve keep asking and answering why you want to achieve that particular goal.

 

What detailed plans do you have?

 

Knowing what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve something is great but unless it is supported by a detailed plan or action steps the chances of success are greatly reduced.  For each goal that you want to achieve list out the series of steps that you need to take to achieve it.  This does not need to be 100% complete at the start and you can add to it as new ideas for actions come to mind.

 

What sacrifices are you ready to make?

 

In life and in our careers everything is about choices.  By saying yes to something we are saying no to something else.  To achieve anything of significance is likely to require you to make some tough choices.  For example, you might need to take a short term secondment to get specific experience that requires you to spend time apart from the family.  This may or may not be a sacrifice you are willing to make.  Being clear about the sacrifices you are willing to make improves decision making.

 

What sacrifices are you unwilling to make?

 

We all have our boundaries or things that we are not willing to do.  Don’t see this as a weakness but instead see it as a strength.  If there are certain things that you know that you are unwilling to do, be clear about them and use them and stick to your guns.

 

What changes do you need to make?

 

They say that insanity is keeping doing the same things and expecting different results.  If you have taken the time to reflect on the last 12 months you will more than likely have identified some changes that you need to make in 2010. These changes might be about the environment in which you work, the staff you lead or manage or project.  They could just as easily be changes that you personally need to make in say your attitude, outlook or skill set.

 

What support do you have?

 

Trying to doing it all alone is tough even if you are the most motivated person around.  Successful people know that it is important to have some form of support in place.  This can take many forms, including working with a coach, finding a mentor, forming a mastermind group or a professional network to name just a few.

 

What follow up do you have in place?

 

One of the most important things to have in place if you are going to achieve more success as a leader or manager in 2010 is a system of follow up or accountability.  This simply involves letting someone else know what you are aiming to achieve by the end of 2010 and having some sort of way of regular reporting on progress.   

 

Bottom Line – Achieving greater success as a leader and manager does to happen by chance.  What questions do you need to answer to achieve more success in 2010?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve results as leader and managers.  For more information click here

While doing one of my regular sessions at the gym recently it occurred to me that there were many things that we can learn about leading and managing from the way we approach and what we do when it comes to working out.

 

So what are the key things that we can learn about leadership and management success from our gym workouts?

 

We need to have a goal

 

Most of us decided to join the gym for a specific reason.  It might have been to lose weight, build our stamina, help manage our stress levels, fun or just to maintain good health.  If we want to achieve success as a leader or manager we need to have clear goals.

 

Start small and build from that point

 

I can remember when I first ever went to the gym about 10 years ago.  The training plan I had was focused on doing a little bit on a range of exercises.  I did not try and jump straight to wild challenges in terms of times on the cardio machines and the weights I was lifting.  When new in post as a leader or manager, don’t try to go for glory from the outset, focus on achieving some easy wins.

 

It’s a long term project

 

When you start something new, especially exercise, you tend to find that you get pretty dramatic improvement initially, you plateau and then seem to struggle to get up to the next level.  As a leader or manager chances are that you will make some quick improvements and during the first couple of months it can feel like you are on the crest of a wave.  However, what you are really looking for is sustained success over the long term, so view leading and managing as a long term project.

 

We all need to do maintenance

 

When working out we know that it is important to do our stretching if we are to avoid injury or damage.  Most managers and leaders started in a particular professional discipline.  Even if you have a broader role now, it is vital that you maintain your knowledge and keep your skills up to date through continuing professional development.

 

 

Bottom Line – Just like working out, your aim as a manager or leader is to achieve long term sustained success.  So what do you need to start focusing on to achieve more success?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to be successful managers and leaders.  For more information about his Services and Programmes click here

Pick up any of the many textbooks out there on the subject of management and you will find plenty of advice about how to do certain things, how to develop the rights behaviours and get the best from others.

 

In my experience, less is written about the importance of making the mindset shift when transitioning to management.  So why does this matter anyway?

 

You probably got promoted because you were great at doing

 

Look at the way most organisations decide who gets promoted.  In most cases they look for people who are doing a great job at a lower level and consistently delivering.  While this tells you a lot about the individuals personal drive and ability to get things done by themselves it tells you nothing about their ability to get results from others.  A key part of your successful transition is being able to start to get to work on getting results from others.

 

You might hold on to what you know

 

The great thing about those things we know how to do and are good at doing is that they help us build our self esteem and self confidence.  The danger you need to be alert to is holding on to things that you really should be letting go of and delegating to others.

 

You have new expectations

 

As a manager your performance is measured differently to when you were one of the team.  Being clear on what you are expected to deliver is an important part of your success and so is being able to change how you work so that you deliver on these new expectations.  Where do you need to be focusing your attention?

 

You probably have a huge portfolio of work

 

If you are like most folks, you will have to manage and still deliver on significant pieces of work personally.  If you don’t make the mindset shift that time needs to be set aside for managing it will probably never happen.  If the managing piece does not happen how your bosses assess your performance is likely to be less favourable than if you were actually making time for managing.

 

Bottom Line- Successful transitioning to management requires you to shift mindset.  So what mindset shifts do you need to make to achieve more success?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health profesionals to be highly successful managers and leaders.  For information about services and programmes click here

As a manager you have to deal with all types of people from all walks of life with different, attitudes and motivations.  The challenge therefore is to be as aware as you can be about the people you manage so that you can interact with them appropriately and achieve the best results.

 

The people that you manage are likely to fall into one of following behavioural zones as a default.  This does not mean they are always in this zone but the default is their natural preference.

 

Analytical

 

The people who are in the analytical zone as their default will be motivated and really keen on quality.  The analytical types tend to work best when dealing with facts.

 

Drivers

 

As the name suggests the people whose default zone is driver tend to be action orientated folks.  They get their spark not by getting into action and getting things done.

 

Amiables

 

The big focus for the amiables is on relationships.  They are motivated by co-operating and working with others.

 

Expressives 

 

The expressives tend to be at the other of the scale from the analytical folks in that they are very much interested in the big picture.

 

Chances are that you will be able to recognise some people that you manage that fit really neatly into one category or another and some that flit a bit more between more than one category.  The value of understanding which zone people tend to operate in is that as a manager:

 

1. You can choose strategies for motivating that are really going to motivate.  For example, asking a driver to reflect is probably just going to leave them confused. 
2. You can adapt your management style to the person you are interacting with so that it fits and hits a chord with the other person. 
3. You get better at seeing and appreciating different perspectives or ways of looking at things. 
4. You are open to taking on board and understanding different takes on issues which helps you deliver better results.

 

Bottom Line – Success as a manager is as much about understanding others as it is what you do personally.  So what do you need to do to create more success as a manager?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective managers and leaders.  For more information about services and programme click here

Leading and managing is tough and requires a huge amount of skill, experience, knowledge and personal attributes.  So for something completely different, this article shares my ideas on the complete A to Z of leading and managing.

 

Now I am sure that you will have heard some of these before so what I want you to focus on is how you might apply each of these tips on a day to day basis. 

 

A is for acknowledging others and a bias for action.

B is for maintaining balance between life and work and bringing out the best in others.

C is for clarity of purpose, communicating effectively and making great choices.

D is determining the direction or strategy, deciding what to do and decisiveness.

E is emotional competence, enthusiasm and evolution.

F is for focusing on what matters, treating everyone fairly and having fun. 

G is for goal setting, giving effective feedback, getting the best from teams.

H is for honesty, helping others to achieve success, taking the hard decisions.

I is for innovation, idea generation and interest in other parts of the organisation.

J is for making judgements even when you have imperfect information.

K is for keeping your knowledge up to date and knowing what you do best.

L is for lifelong learning and listening effectively to others contributions.

M is for maintaining morale in good and bad times, motivating others and making decisions.

N is noticing the great things that people are doing day in and day out.

O is for optimism, spotting and exploiting opportunities and being open to ideas.

P is for professionalism, personal and team productivity and performance.

 

Q is for quality, using questions effectively to deal with challenging situations and gain insights.

 

R is for results focus, recognising the talents of others and balanced risk taking.

 

S is for setting strategy, finding solutions and standing back from the detail.

 

T is for taking control of your time, taking responsibility and team development.

 

U is for understanding expectations and using the range of team skills and expertise.

 

V is for understanding your values, creating organisational values and valuing others.

 

W is for working with others, aiming to create win-win outcomes and tackling time wasters.

 

X is slightly challenging so I am going to cheat. X is for using your experience effectively.

 

Y is about knowing when to say yes, knowing yourself and your development needs.

 

Z is about not immediately discounting zany ideas before you have properly considered them.

 

Got some personal tips to share?  Leave a comment with your favourite A to Z leadership and management tips.

 

Being a manager is easy- right? All you have to do is go around giving orders to others and not doing much work yourself.  When we work alongside a great manager we can easily fall into the trap of believing that it is easy.  Yet in truth managing is often an area where highly competent people struggle.  So what are 5 key reasons why you might struggle as a manager?

Reason 1: You lack self control

Reason 2: You don’t take responsibility

Reason 3: You have a win at all cost mindset

Reason 4: You have gaps in social skills

Reason 5: You don’t have a network

Bottom Line – Managers rarely struggle because they are not technically competent.  It is more often than not about their personal qualities.  So where do you need to develop to achieve success?

A recent survey by the International Coach Federation identified that the number one reason why people choose to work with a coach is due to a lack of self confidence.  Someone who is self confident can sometimes be viewed by others who are less confident as arrogant.  Yet in truth self confidence is really about having a strong sense of self worth and capabilities.

If you are a manager, your success or otherwise is influenced by factors such as:

• Knowing that that you have the capability or competence (or can acquire it) to take on and deal with the challenges that without doubt will arise.

• Speaking up an airing your views even when they might be slightly controversial.

• Being able to take decisions even when you might not have all of the information at your fingertips that you might need or like.

• Getting other to provide support to get things done or make change.

A manager lacking self confidence is likely to have some traits or develop traits that get in the way, including:

• Being indecisive, procrastinating and failing to move things forward.

• Going with the consensus when deep down you know it is not going to produce results.

• Avoiding taking any risks that could lead to a step change in performance.

•  Being focused on surviving rather than thriving.

Bottom Line – You can have an abundance of self confidence and at the same time still be the manager who delivers great results and has the full support of the team.  So what’s stopping you succeed?