So Now They Call You "Manager"?
You have worked hard and you have just gotten that promotion
you have always wanted and certainly earned. You have never
supervised or been held responsible for other’s job
performance and productivity. Now what? If you can define answers to these fundamental management
questions and truly understand how they can or will affect
you in your new group leadership role, you can position
yourself to maximize your group’s ultimate productivity. 1) DEFINE WHAT IS EXPECTED OF YOU AS A “MANAGER”. • What are the performance objectives of your work group? • Are the group’s performance expectations measurable? • Are the performance expectations tied to a timeline? • Are the objectives realistic? • Are the performance objectives relevant – worth pursuing? 2) DEFINE RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO MEET FUTURE DEMANDS. • What internal and external resources are available to you? • What resources available do you actually have control? • Are the resources enough to meet performance expectations? • Understand how to get more support if you find the need. 3) DEFINE WHO TO INTERACT WITH FOR MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY. • Who within your company affects performance in your group? • Who outside the company can affect group performance? • Can you realistically affect these influential parties? • What support can you expect if you find you need it? 4) DEFINE WHAT VIABLE LEADERSHIP AUTHORITY YOU HAVE. • Can your supervisor clearly define your authority levels? • At what point or level does you supervisor want involved? • Are you given more responsibility than authority needed? • What recourses do you have to address poor group results? Any organization, be it a for profit company, government entity
or non-profit group, is often made up of groups of people who
collectively seek overall “success” for their organization.
As a group leader or manager you can best drive success for
your segment of the organization by being consistently proactive
in defining the span influence and control of your own
leadership role. This is a constant and ever changing process.
Circumstances both inside the organization and affects from
outside require successful managers to gauge their role and
contributions within the four segments defined above. When you think about it, each group within any organization,
and each member within for that matter, should only demand
and use just enough or the organization’s resources to maximize
their productivity. Any use or demand of resources that is more
or less than what actually is required makes for unnecessary
frustration, confusion and waste. Ideally it is the successful manager that constantly adjusts
what is needed to leverage their own group control, support,
influence and their ultimate accountability within the
organization. This leadership skill set does not come natural
to people. A manager must understand the need for their constant
definition of their own role within their organization and the
consequences of proactively communicating same to each of their
subordinates, showing them how their responsibilities and
contributions affect the organization as a whole. As organizations grow and diversify as a response to ever
changing demands of them from their constituents, they naturally
become more dependent on their managers. More often than not,
the organization does not effectively clarify what is expected
of their managers. One cannot expect the organization to make
your management responsibilities easier – it is up to you to do
that for yourself.
About the Author: Mark Smock is 30+ year veteran of business leadership and is
President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, the FIRST
International business buyer directory of its kind. Business
Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means for proactive
business buyers to locate businesses for sale worldwide that
meet their exact registered purchase criteria. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/ |