Management Essentials DAY 1
For managers in the Schools of Arts and Humanities and the Humanities and Social Sciences
Also see films atLeadership Essentials: Management responsibilities
Programme:
Day 1
Introduction to programme
Role of the manager
-Why good management matters
-Key responsibilities of managers
Management Styles
-Different styles for management
-Using appropriate styles effectively
Feedback skills
-Why and when
-Share best practice in how to give it
-CEDAR: a feedback tool for improving performance or behaviour
Action planning
Day 2
Handling challenging conversations
-Examples of challenges
-Share best practice for preparing for and managing a challenging conversation
-Being assertive
Action planning and evaluation
Role of the manager
Aims:
- To reflect on your key responsibilities as a manager and feel confident in carrying out your management role
- To identify a range of management styles and use the one most suited to the situation
- To identify when feedback needs to be given and to give it clearly and constructively
- To tackle challenging conversations with confidence, ensuring, where possible, positive outcomes for all parties
In the light of the aims of the course above, what are your challenges as a manager?
Why does good management matter?
What do managers have to do?
John Adair: Action Centred Leadership
Flexible management
In each case, read the facts and what approach you will take to managing this person.
Jan
Jan, 19, has just started work in your team. This is his first permanent job. He brings a great deal of enthusiasm to his work – sometimes a little bit too much, as he will try to impress by doing extra work which is beyond his abilities and beyond what is required.
One part of his role is to extract data from a database and present it in a format that can be circulated to the Senior Management Team each month. This will be the first time he has done anything like this.
Jenny
Jenny is 35 years old and has worked in the department for 5 years. She does routine work to a good standard but struggles to get motivated to do anything new and different. You need her to take on the responsibility of compiling all documents for the monthly SMT meeting. So far she has simply been providing one or two reports each month.
Mina
Mina is 25 years old and has recently passed her probation. She’s brilliant at IT.
Last month she delivered a short IT training session to the team on project management software. It went well but she was very self-critical afterwards.You have now asked her to deliver a 45 minute training session on some new presentation software. She seemed reluctant to agree.
Boris
Boris is 53 years old. He has been working in the department for 13 years and is widely regarded as ‘a safe pair of hands.’ He produces work of a consistently high standard, and gives early warning when he encounters problems that are beyond his capabilities.
He takes a high degree of responsibility for his own work, to the extent that he occasionally takes on too much. In these situations, he is more likely to stay late than to seek help from someone else.
Management Styles
Based on Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership model
SUPPORTIVE BEHAVIOUR (Ask) / S3 (Coach)Supports, coaches and develops the individual. Less emphasis on the work itself (as long as standard is maintained). Problem solving and planning together. Looks for development opportunities. / S2 (Support)
Coaches and trains individuals, provides structure, motivation, sets example and corrects errors. Remains clear on targets and standards. Equal energy in concern for the job and for individuals.
S4 (Delegate)
Knows staff well including their abilities and motivation. Allows individual to get on with their work by delegating authority to achieve outcomes. Interest in results rather than methods. Keeps an oversight by monitoring. Remains available as a resource, or a consultant. / S1 (Direct)
Tells what to do and how to do it.
Strong concern for the job. Defines and communicates standards of performance. Allocates work and checks on standards (quality, quantity, time, cost). Sets individual and team targets and deadlines, ensures staff are working to their job description.
DIRECTIVE BEHAVIOUR (Tell)
Your preferred style(s)
- Most managers have a preference for a particular style – what is yours?
- Consider two people who work for or with you.
- Which management style or styles do you predominantly use with each person?
- Is this style always helpful or are there any changes you could usefully make?
Person A
Person B
Feedback Skills
- Why do we need to give feedback?
- How should we give effective feedback? Any top tips?
- What makes it difficult to give feedback?
In 2s or 3s consider the following scenarios, making assumptions as necessary about the background. Prepare to give the feedback, then practise in 3s, rotating roles so that each person is the manager, the staff member and the observer. Observers, consider:
- What worked well?
- What could have been done differently?
- You have just overheard Jan in a conversation with a colleague, promising to deliver a piece of work by the end of the week. You know this promise is unrealistic given Jan’s other priorities..
- For the first time, Jenny has compiled the documents for the SMT meeting. She has organised the work well, kept to deadlines and liaised effectively with various senior people, from whom you have heard positivefeedback about her professionalism. The end product is a much higher-quality set of documentation than you have had before.There’s a table of contents and everything is consistently formatted. Your only concern is whether it needs to be so perfect for an internal meeting– will you say so or not?
- Minahas just given her training session to the team. Youattended as a participant. While she gave the right information, she mostly spoke to her notes and to the screen behind her, rather than to the audience.
CEDAR: a model to give corrective feedback about a specific area of work or behaviour
Clarify: the expected standard of performance or behaviour
Explain: the observed performance or behaviour
Discuss: two-way discussion of the situation and possible solutions
Agree: decide and record plans for improvement
Review: make a time to meet to review and evaluate progress
Key learning from day 1
Make a note of any key points for you or actions you wish to remember or work on after today.
Complete the following before day 2
During this week, plan to put your START/STOP/CONTINUE in to practice.
Reflect on your own management style and preferences, what do you do well and how could you build on your skills in this area?Review how and when you give (and receive) feedback. What works well, what could you work on?
Observe other managers around you. What do they do effectively? What could be done differently?
Where, when and how can you build on relationships that will support your development in these areas?
Any other observations or reflections to bring to day 2
Personal and Professional Development 2015Page 1