2010 March | Coach Train Learn

Archive for March, 2010

Management Tactics – No Winners With Win/Lose Or Lose/Win

In every relationship we have, we need to be focused enough to ensure that there is a balance between both sides. When there is not, that’s when the trouble begins. The workplace is definitely no exception…

The relationships that we make as managers with our people are the invaluable partnerships that enable us to deliver much more than we could alone.

The teams of individuals we bring together synergize to create results that are far more than the sum of the parts. When we manager others, it’s our role to do this.

The relationships we form to drive a successful team cannot be at group level. For the people in the team this is not enough. They need us to be prepared to engage in personal relationships with them, one-to-one, from time to time.

Whilst we can impact on the team as a whole for the decisions that we make and even impose on them, the effects are never at team level, they are always felt inside, by each and every one of those involved.

So, we have to make effective relationships with each person we manage and, there’s more, we have to ensure that the outcomes meet the needs on both side of that one-on-one partnership too.

If we seem to succeed and they feel let down (the win-lose), they will be less committed, because their needs are not being met. If this goes on for a time, they will feel used and that you are insincere in your words that encourage a close relationship. Trust starts to dissipate and the relationship will break down.

On the other hand, where you meet the needs of the person sitting opposite you and fail to achieve the goals you need to succeed, (the lose-win), the balance tips the other way and the relationship founders because you are not achieving the results that you are measured on.

With win-win, both sides get their very personally driven needs and goals met. The business thrives from successful results achieved and the individuals thrive as well, because their needs are understood and activities aligning them with the business requirements becomes much more effectively delivered too.

Indeed, if the only way you can work is where one side loses, it’s probably best that each side agrees that it isn’t working out and both sides walk away. Truly win-lose and lose-win are, in effect a win for neither side at all, because of the deeper consequences that will affect all.

Manager ‘Wins’

Let’s say a manager gives way a lot on meeting the needs of their team members. He is lax on discipline because the employees want ‘freedom to express themselves’ and gives it away.

This might result, if allowed to impact on deadlines for example, that sales quotas aren’t achieved. The manager could lose their job and individuals get a much worse deal from their new manager.

A classic example of Lose/Win, except in the bigger picture, it isn’t.

Employee ‘Wins’

The alternate view, might be where a manager rarely spends one-on-one time with his people, citing that his schedule is far too tight with the results he has to achieve.

Employees become less committed and the better ones find a new job with a manager much better suited to understanding their own, very individual, needs.

The first manager finds he struggles to achieve the results that the business needs and is challenged on his own performance (and has much less effective staff left behind to help recover).

A great example of a Win/Lose, but it isn’t even that at all.

The challenge for managers and employees is to acknowledge that the other side has to win as well, because a side that is losing is much more likely to have a significantly bigger impact all round.

Management Development Secrets – Incorporating Your New Skills Quickly

Growing your management skills needs vision and action. In the busy workloads many managers have, they can find they struggle to embed any learning they get.

And, of course, there are ways to make sure that not only do you really ‘get it’, but that it works strongly in your favor as you progress.

One of the biggest challenges managers find when making the effort to learn and grow, is how to find the time to learn and then practice new skills, despite much learning these days being designed to be ‘on the job’.

So here’s a three-step (plus a stretch!) process, that seems to be how it works best for many of those managers who have taken their own steps to be better at their role.

It is an easy route to success, but not everyone will have the same challenges – we are all different and we learn in different ways as well, of course.

1. Read, Listen or Watch

Not everyone finds reading a book as easy as all that, so by learning in whichever mode you prefer, you will have an easier way to consider the contents.

Whichever way you work, try to find a short synopsis before the meaty stuff, so that you have a good overview of the contents in advance.

This will enable you to create a picture of the whole thing, which works well for many people.

2. Make Just Five Key Points

Next up is a more thorough read, listen or view, which is best done the same day that you skim it as above. When you go through it in the detail in which you decide upon, it’s a great advantage to make some notes as you go.

Because people learn more from less, you might need no more than 5 key points, just right for keeping you focused, as well as enough to get you excited!

3. Practice Soon Three Times

With the key points you’ve noted (remember, just 5!), take a look at the whole concept and, depending on its character, get into it as soon as possible.

Try to have a go at a small, relevant development activity ‘three times in a row’, where you can.

If there are a few activities you can think of, try each one three times before you move onto the next one.

Review what happened each time and notice what you learnt.

4. Stretch Bonus – Share With Someone Else

This is a great extra tip if you really want to make this a great learning experience for you.

They say that the most effective way to learn something is to get the instruction and then teach it to someone else.

Now you can’t manufacture opportunities all the time, but by being aware that opportunities might arise, you will ensure that you are ready to share just when the moment comes.

By giving these ideas a try out, you will be surprised how much more effective you will be as you learn and develop your management skills.

(c) 2010 Martin Haworth. This is a short excerpt from one of 52 lessons in management development at Super Successful Manager!, an easy to use, step-by-step weekly development program for managers of EVERY skill level. Find out more at http://www.SuperSuccessfulManager.com.

The Valuable Management Benefits Of Effective Communication

Communication skills are vital in the way we lead and live our lives. The workplace needs effective communication too – and the rewards can be stunning.

For managers in organizations, the use of effective communication skills is the most likely activity to ensure success for their team.

It’s where a good manager needs to spend most of their time, in the conversations they hold, day-in, day-out with each of their people.

Conversely, where a manager is not blessed with the ability to connect particularly well with their people, there’s likely to be much damage done. Their people feel isolated, distrusted, demotivated and more.

When you try to evaluate in cold, hard cash terms what good communication skills are worth, it’s maybe not quite so easy. The numbers don’t tumble so easily out onto the bottom line like the sale of a product or service might.

That said, it’s there working for you all the time and possibly the most valuable asset you can have. The biggest margin of any of your products at all.

Still, the challenge is to understand better how you put an absolute value on:-

•    Better relationships – where you interact closely with your people
•    Understanding your people – so that you appreciate how to get the best from them
•    Developing intuition – that helps you sniff out trouble well ahead of time
•    Really listening – to show you care for and value their contribution highly
•    Hearing the unsaid – that gives you inklings of where the conversation can go next
•    Matching language so others understand – to make the most of everyone
•    Clear messages – that they all ‘get’ and can work with, without frustration
•    Few misunderstandings – so that what’s expected of them is always what’s done
•    Better interpretation – demonstrating that you really know them – and them you

To name but a few, because the values of relationships that come from effective communication so consistently stretch across the whole area of people management, it’s hard to be comprehensive.

So then, this is all a bit of a minefield, especially when the bean-counters on the 11th floor want some numbers attached to the value of communication, as an area where you and your people need to develop.

Yet, instinctively, we just know that the best communication skills deliver the best results. It’s just a bit tricky to place a value on it.

And, we can all can reflect on experiences in the past, where something was misunderstood costing bottom line profit.

You see, getting communications right is a value-creating exercise, that is tricky to measure absolutely, and all the more important because of that.

Management Development Secrets – Easy Problem Solving

Managers all have problems – this is, of course, a given as part of the job.

The challenges come from resolving them – and the first step is finding out just what kind of problems you have.

They come in all shapes and sizes, yet when you boil it down, there are the kinds of problems you want – and those you don’t.

The tactics for resolving problems, whether they are Good or Bad, are the same, so there are skills you can adopt to make problems of both sorts go away, for good!

The difference between the two sorts of problems are that if we could, we would choose to experience more of the ‘Good’ Problems, because they help us learn new skills, develop our performance or are just plain fun to do.

If there was a way of defining different sorts of problems, it might be that there are some ‘problems’ – often the ones we would choose ourselves – which we enjoy, as distinct from the sorts of problems that we want rid of, that simply drive us nuts.

Good Problems

Good Problems are where we have a passion in finding solutions that will make a difference.
Having the time to focus on these sorts of problems is often eroded by filling our days with the sort of problems we don’t want.

When we create the time, space and focus, we can enjoy more Good Problems, indeed, we seek them out, just because that’s our nature and we want the challenge of solving them.

Good Problems are more like intriguing challenges or puzzles. We want them in our day, because there is a pleasure in them. We learn from them, have fun and are passionate about finding interesting solutions too.

Good Problems are the ones we set ourselves to develop and grow, whilst delivering better performances along the way too.

Good Problems we choose to do, because we are inventive and want to be challenged, which leads us to…

Bad Problems

When we look from the right perspective, any problem has some good in it. In fact often, we gain much more from resolving the Bad Problems that we come across, because the learnings are so very big!

Because the opportunity to consider the ways of overcoming a tricky problem that we faced into, when viewed constructively, can be very useful indeed.

That said, every day we face problems that are something of an irritant. These are problems we do not choose to be creative about our development – these are just a pain!

Fixing them makes these problems go away – at least for a while – except where the fix was a Band-Aid and we see them bouncing back again sometime later.

Making Bad Problems go away permanently enables us to make more space for the kind of problems we want in our work and lives. Those we choose to explore – the Good Problems we like.

With Bad Problems, we sometimes don’t realize the value we accrue from the experience – a bit like taking a nasty tasting medicine!

You see, all problems are different, so making the choices to move from the Bad problems we don’t want to make space for the Good Problems which we like and want, is a major progressive step in how we set about our management.

Manager & Employee Relationships – 5 Ways To ‘Win-Win’

Getting the best from workplace relationships is one of the most significant goals for managers.

The truth is, there must be outcomes for both sides that work effectively – and they come in different shapes and sizes.

For workplace relationships to be effective, there has to be a benefit that both sides achieve, or the interaction is always going to be an uphill challenge, with neither side ultimately fully satisfied.

Indeed there is no overall value when one side deems themselves to be the ‘winner’ and the other side goes away empty handed.

In the one-to-one relationships we have with every one of our people, it’s vital to ensure that you as manager achieve the business outcomes you need to deliver.

On the other hand, the individual on the other side of the desk, must go some way to having their needs met too. Often these are needs which are even more valuable than simply their salary check at the end of the month.

In truth, they need more again to be fully motivated and ‘turned on’ to the relationship that you have between you.

The Win-Win Scenario can sound a bit like a trade-off for a manager. One where there might be a hint of ‘giving it away’.

To balance this view a little, let’s have a look at five situations where a manager might feel like they are losing out by giving their employee more than they might wish – and then see the positives that can accrue from that.

1. ‘I need some time’ – by offering some time to sit with, listen and support/coach your employee, you are building the relationship, developing trust and encouraging them to take ownership of their own evolution in their job.

This does NOT mean you are responsible for their ‘next steps’ – you are careful to pass those back to them – you DO have a role in facilitating their choices.

2. ‘I need your help’ – could precipitate a groan or two. Yet this is a perfect opportunity to show that you aren’t a softie, just prepared to suffer with them.

Asking for help is just that, requiring a gentle nudge along the way to get them moving.

This is great for clarifying your role as a support for their chosen actions, as well as providing the opportunity for them to self-enable.

3. ‘I need you to understand’ – sounds like trouble? Maybe. In fact when you are approached to understand your people better, this is a great moment to savor.

It shows that you are approachable and it shows a willingness on the part of your colleague to build a better bridge in the relationship between you.

Of course, it is vital that you pay full attention and take on board what is said, willingly seeking to understand what they want to get across.

4. ‘Please listen to me’ – means that they need you to appreciate them. It is about them sharing with you that they feel unheard, so it’s a warning sign.

The important thing here is that they are prepared to ask, so the relationship is not at rock bottom. There is a willingness to partner with you – and that’s a positive sign for the future.

5. ‘I’m bored with working here’ – isn’t that great! If and when you ever hear this, it can be music to your ears, because it shows that there is a desire NOT to be bored.

When you are approached in this way, your ‘win’ is that you have potential there that is not being fulfilled, so there are options.

This is not a Lose/Win at all, because once you switch them on, their value will soar, providing significantly better performance for you and your progress towards your goals too.

Rarely, where there is a relationship to unfold, will there be Win/Lose or Lose/Win experiences for managers who are prepared to grasp the opportunities that jump out at them.

The key is to ensure that you are open to the possibilities that make each and every interaction a ‘Win-Win’, because it is available to you, if you want to make the effort to take it.

Management Development Secrets – Four Advanced Coaching Skills

Coaching is a valuable talent that managers use when developing their people. It has the capacity to ensure that they perform to their very best, without telling them everything.

Sometimes it’s important to let them discover things for themselves.

The core activity of coaching is to ask questions that stimulate thinking and them listen a lot, to help that thinking process.

It requires practice and experience to become really good at it. managers are ideally placed to be good at coaching, because the nature of their role is with people. Interacting with them daily help develop the coaching skills and realizes potential as you go.

There are four useful additions to the questions and listening elements of the skill:-

Building Rapport

When you develop a close rapport with your people, you will find coaching much easier, because you already have a partnership going for you both.

If you have to formalize something as interactive as coaching without any previous work on relationship building, it’s going to be much more challenging, so that why it’s important to Build Rapport naturally.

The key here is to build rapport in every interaction you have with people by being interested in them all of the time.

That’s when it works best.

The Value of Trust

When there is a trusting culture in your team, you will be able to open a lot of doors that otherwise can remain shut.

A trusting relationship is much more likely to help an openness that will grow as trust builds. This openness is, in turn, great for getting to the bottom of challenging issues with people and letting them express themselves fully.

As a manager, being trusted is one of the most vital components to enable you to manage effectively, whilst also enabling your people to be of their very best.

Being sensitive to understanding what trust means in the eyes of your employees is one of the most important elements of a manager’s own self-development

Noticing Skills

There is another great tactic you can use, that makes a big difference in how you are perceived by your people.

People want to know they are appreciated and that the work they do is seen and valued, because we all like to have what we do recognized, whether it is in the workplace or anyplace at all.

The thing is – and this depends where you are in the world – when we get recognized for the good work we do, we can deny the thanks we are offered, so as managers, we need to nurture the ability in our people to accept praise when noticed.

Creating a team culture into a positive, productive ‘way we do things around here’ where everyone supports each other – by noticing.

Self-Management

The attitudes you demonstrate in the work you do, are a vital element of the way you ‘get on’ with your people.

Your own ‘Self Management’ as a coach, needs to be about recognizing the value of putting others first and leveraging their capabilities.

It means letting go a little, enabling others and taking risks with them. Being there to support, encourage and stretch them – as well as letting go of the complete control that you are so used to.

Self-management is about giving yourself permission to be more relaxed, knowing that you indeed have within you the capabilities to make this work through the way you manage your people.

Nothing replaces the core coaching skills of asking effective questions as well as listening closely to your people. With these additional tactics you can be even more skilled.