I.

Managing people

Is it hard or easy to manage people? For some percent in this world, it seems to be extremely easy though they never followed any course of managing people before. Some other percent think it is okay because they learned something from the past. But for most of us, managing people is something so far and difficult. In this, we just mention in the ones who want to manage people effectively. The cry for better management can be heard in every corner of the corporate arena. So with all this focus on managing people effectively, why do so many companies have such a difficult time actually making it happen? First, note that "management" is not one thing. It is the amalgam of insights, skills, determination and often bold, decisive actions. When broken down into its parts, the task of managers appears to be Sisyphean (in Roman Mythology Sisyphus was a king whose punishment was being compelled to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat it throughout eternity). So, the answer to the question is HARD or extremely HARD, in our opinion. Actually, as we said, it depends much on the situations and the ones. So, there is nothing called the absoluteness here.

Here are 5 elements that prevent businesses and the individual in them from doing a better job of managing people. 1. Bureaucratic Rigidity Most businesses, particularly larger ones, are by nature, rigid. Good management of people requires flexibility to deal with the vagaries of human behaviours. A corporate culture driven by short-term earnings demands does not encourage or enable flexibility. Risk-taking, the kind that tends to inspire employee innovation and engagement, is a key part of the management process; but it is not typically all that acceptable in the executive suite. 2. Looking for Quick Fixes in All the Wrong Places "Let's improve our people management practices!" Too many companies hire high-paid consultants to develop new management models and methodologies when they don't have the

foggiest idea how the culture drives management decisions. So often, the people on the frontline who produce the bottom line are ignored. 3. A Paucity of Fresh Perspectives Few organizations have the abilities, willingness or emotional intelligence to turn themselves on their ears. Yet, that is what would be necessary in order to effectively manage people. Too often, the people who rise to power positions in most companies have been doing the same ineffective things over and over again. Their blind obsession on the task at hand is what got them to the top. It's what can drive them into ineffectiveness. You have to challenge the status quo if you want to adopt and adapt to a fresh perspective on people management practices. "I have seen the enemy... " is a powerful, frightening brutal fact for many in power, but one that must be confronted if one is interested in innovation. 4. Incongruity "Our people are our most important asset." First of all most corporate cultures simply does not support that statement. Second, to regard people as assets betrays an impersonal "human-is-amachine" approach to people. Both of these attitudes reveal low emotional intelligence. 5. We Just Don't Get It Maybe the greatest obstacle to managing people better is that we simply don't pay attention or acknowledge what constitutes the human experience. Management, besides being an inexact art, is not just the stuff of balance sheets, margins, machines, etc. although paradoxically all these things are created and managed by people. Management is not something you do once then sit back and enjoy your work. It's a neverending, unfolding story with many subplots. It is a mindset, a viewpoint, not only of work, or people, but of one's worldview. It's about making unique, often seemingly disconnected associations, connecting the interactions no one else sees. It is ongoing curiosity, questioning, searching for something new, different, better -- posing the uncomfortable questions like "What if?" or "Why not?" That is the stuff of managing people. So here we are in a changing world of unknowns, unpredictabilities, surprise events, terrorism and roller coaster behavioural economics and an environment of business that is summed up by, "The rules have changed, the players have not noticed!"

A few companies like Southwest Airlines, Apple, Patagonia and Google have managed to learn how to manage their people very well. Many smaller less publicized companies are doing a great job too. The ROI in their investments? -- profits, highly engaged, aligned, productive people. I wonder why more companies don't choose the courageous decision to do a better job of managing their people? Further, you think its enough but its not at all. When you, a new manager, have to work with a team, full of hard-working people but powerful with ability, what would you do? Difficult people are much more difficult to solve than normal ones and your problems now are puzzles. II. How to managing people effectively? What qualities and kills are needed for managers to manage people.

In fact, there are many, many theories telling us how to do it. We found out some, considered some and decided one. Managing people effectively is an art (or science if you think its true - it does not matter). An art is always needed gifted ones but a science is not. So you can learn or you dont need to learn, you are still able to have that ability. Okay, now lets start with the first thing, the theory we mentioned above, the management skill pyramid.

Look at the pyramid, or you can call it anything you want because I also dont think it looks like a pyramid. It looks like Maslow's hierachy of need with four instead of five floors levels. But it also doesnt matter, we just need to focus on what they are telling us from each level. Level 1 of the Management Skills Pyramid shows the basic skills any beginning manager must master. It is the foundation of the management skills pyramid, which shows the skills a manager must master to be successful and shows how these management skills build on each other toward success. Basic Management Skills There are four basic management skills anyone must master to have any success in a management job. These four basic skills are plan, organize, direct, and control and are discussed separately in detail below. Plan

Planning is the first and most important step in any management task. It also is the most often overlooked or purposely skipped step. While the amount of planning and the detail required will vary from task to task, to skip this task is to invite sure disaster except by sure blind luck. That's what gives us the adage of the 6 P's of planning (or 7 P's depending on how you count). More Articles On Planning Although most people associate the term planning with general business planning, there are also different levels of planning:

Strategic Planning Tactical Planning Operational Planning

And there are different kinds of planning:

Disaster Planning Succession Planning Crisis Planning Compensation Planning

Organize A manager must be able to organize teams, tasks, and projects in order to get the team's work done in the most efficient and effective manner. As a beginning manager, you may be organizing a small work team or a project team. These same skills will be required later in your career when you have to organize a department or a new division of the company. Clearly, there is a lot of overlap between planning the work and in organizing it. Where planning focuses on what needs to be done, organization is more operational and is more focused on how to get the work done best. When you organize the work, you need to:

determine the roles needed, assign tasks to the roles, determine the best resource (people or equipment) for the role, obtain the resources and allocate them to the roles, and assign resources to the roles and delegate authority and responsibility to them.

Whether you have been assigned a small team or a project to manage, beginning managers must also be able to organize offices and data systems.

You may not be able to physically move people around in order to get your team together, but you should consider it. On the other hand, you may need to move several people into a small space and you will have to organize things so the team can work effectively within that space. Later in your career, you may need to organize an office to accommodate teams from several different departments and their specific needs. You will also need to be able to organize all the systems that will handle the data your team needs to collect or distribute. These days, those are probably computer systems. You must decide whether, for example, you need to set up shared web pages on the company's intranet or just a shared folder on the file server. How are you going to organize the systems so everyone who needs information has access to it (and that it is not available to those who should not see it, like your competitors)? If your team needs or produces something other than information, you must organize so that your team gets what they need, when they need it, and can get out to others what your team produces at the right time. Don't forget about organizing yourself. We will go into this at a higher level in Level 3 of the Management Skills Pyramid, but even as a beginning manager you must be able to organize yourself, your time, and your space so you can be most effective. Here are some articles that can help you manage yourself effectively. Finally, remember, that it is seldom enough to organize things once. With constant changes in resources, goals, and external factors you will usually need to reorganize to adjust for them. Direct Directing is the action step. You have planned and organized the work. Now you have to direct your team to get the work done. Start by making sure the goal is clear to everyone on the team. Do they all know what the goal is? Do they all know what their role is in getting the team to the goal? Do they have everything they need (resources, authority, time, etc.) to do their part? Pull, Don't Push You will be more effective at directing the team toward your goal if you pull (lead them) rather than push (sit back and give orders). You want to motivate the people on your team and assist and inspire them toward the team goals. Level 2 is the team building skills any developing manager must master. It is the next level of the management skills pyramid, which shows the skills a manager must master to be successful and shows how these management skills build on each other toward success. Team Management Skills

There are three categories of team management skills anyone must master to have any success in a management job. These are motivation, training and coaching, and employee involvement and are discussed separately in detail below. Motivation The most fundamental team management skill you must master is motivation of your team and of the individual members of the team. (We will discuss self motivation later in this series.) You can't accomplish your goals as a manager unless your team is motivated to perform, to produce, to deliver the results you need. Motivating each of the individuals on your team requires a recognition on your part that each team member's motivation needs are different. And motivating the team requires a different approach from motivating the team members. Motivating Individuals

The Lesson of the Red Horse What does a nine-year old drawing animals on scraps of paper have to do with motivation? A lot really. The Lesson of the Red Horse stresses the importance of employee motivation and its effect on performance. Larry Doesn't Work Here Anymore For employee retention employee motivation is key. Putting each person in the right job is a critical part of that. See what a difference you can make by using your people in the spots where they can do their best. How To Give Positive Feedback Another key to successful motivation is the way you give feedback. You have to provide feedback to your employees and they have a right to expect it. Try to focus first on giving positive feedback and resort to negative feedback only as a last resort. The Coffee Cup One of your best management tools may be a coffee cup. The simple act of taking someone to coffee gives you an opportunity to sit with them, listen, and learn. That kind of a conversation can be powerful employee motivation. Management Tips for Motivation These are some additional motivation tips. De-motivating Your Employees And while you are working hard to motivate your team, be sure you are not doing anything that will de-motivate them.

Training and Coaching

It is unlikely that you will ever manage a team where everyone is adequately trained. It is even more unlikely that you will have a team that never needs coaching. You need to be able to identify the training needs of your team members and be able to get that training for them. And you need to coach all the members of your team, even the well trained ones, to help them achieve their best levels of performance. Training

New Employee Training Regardless whether you spend a few hours or a few months orienting new employees, there is a cost. New Employee Orientation (NEO) can save you money in the long run if you take the time to properly train new people. Cross Training Employees Cross training is training someone in another activity that is related to their current work. It is good for managers, because it provides you more flexibility, which saves money in labor costs. It is good for the employees too. It lets them learn new skills, makes them more valuable, and can combat worker boredom. Learn at Lunch Learn at Lunch, is a program to help employees grow and advance. Learn how to set one up so both the company and the employees benefit from it.

Coaching

Employee Coaching: When To Step In You have to let people make mistakes if they are going to learn. The trick is knowing when to step in and when to hang back and let them try on their own. What Professional Baseball Can Teach Professional Managers The same factors apply in baseball as in business. Generally the teams with the best managers make it to the playoffs and to the World Series. In business, too, it is usually the best managed companies that succeed. Are you the best managed company in your market? Performance Management Instead of Layoffs It costs too much to leave an incompetent manager in place. If the employee won't request a return to a level at which they were competent, the company must take action. Specific training can be part of this. Coaching, An Essential Management Skill One of the most important things we do as managers is coach our subordinates. One of the most important skills you can develop as a manager is that of a good coach. Here are some more resources that can help you improve your skill.

Level 3 is where the developing manager must master personal development. It is the next level of the management skills pyramid, which shows the skills a manager must master to be successful and shows how these management skills build on each other toward success. Personal Management Skills There are two areas of personal management skills you must master to be successful as a manager. These areself management and time management. We discuss these in detail below. Self management By this point in your development as a manager, you are good at assigning work to your employees and coaching them through the difficulties so they can produce their best work. You know how to motivate them and discipline them. You have built them into a team. But are you as good at managing yourself as you are at managing otherrs? Do you stay focused on the tasks that are truly important and not just urgent? Do you do your job the best you are able? Take Ownership of Your Job Every job you do has your "signature" on it. Do it the best you can; do it the best it can be done. That is how you succeed. Scruples Are A Good Thing There is a reason for that little voice in your head. Listen to it. Don't just do things right, but also do the right thing. You will do a better job as a manager if you don't have to waste time remembering what lies you told to whom. Pareto's Principle - The 80-20 Rule It is important that as a manager you focus on what is truly important, not just what appears urgent. The 80-20 Rule can help you do that. Ten Things To Do Today To Be A Better Manager Here are ten areas you can focus on to improve as a manager. Time Management If you have learned nothing else in your management career, you have learned that there is never enough time to do all the things you feel need to get done. That is why is it critical to your success as a manager that you be skilled at managing time. A To Do List That Works You can't do everything so use a To Do list to keep you focused on the important ones. It can be simple or complicated, but develop one that works for you - or use mine. Don't Multi-task When You Can Use Chunking

Human beings can't really multi-task. We can do different tasks in rapid succession, but not at the same time. Chunking lets you spend less time in "restarting" and more time getting things done. It takes practice to make it work, but it is well worth the effort. Meeting Management Managers spend a lot of time in meetings and a lot of time running meetings. You have less control over meetings you attend than over the one you set up. Make sure you get the most out of your meetings by following a few simple tips. Managing Projects: Time and Schedule Time management also is a critically important skill for any successful project manager. Project Managers who succeed in meeting their project schedule have a good chance of staying within their project budget.

Top Level - Leadership Leadership, a critical management skill, is the ability to motivate a group of people toward a common goal. These items will help you develop your skills as a leader.

Moreover, besides the management skill pyramid, we think we should add some more to make them clearer.

The motivation, its extremely hard to motivate people. There are many reasons why its true. My goals are not your goals, neither are your objectives my objectives, sayeth the employee. Yeah, it's not quite scripture, but it's still worth remembering. It often seems like people can be frustrating to try to motivate. When I'm trying to get people going, I sometimes imagine myself as being Tim Conway in an old Disney movie, trying to get some stubborn animal moving. Sound familiar? It makes for great comedy. Doesn't make for so great work days. So why does that happen? Why do people have such a hard time shifting gears from park to drive? Or, you might be thinking you'd be happy with park. Why does it seem your employees are set in reverse? You're probably asking yourself, "Why is it so hard to motivate people?"

As in many cases, sometimes the best way to get better answers is to ask yourself a better quality of question. Your brain is very good at answering the questions you feed into it--that's what it was designed to do. So if you ask yourself a question like, "Why is it so hard to motivate people?" you're going to get answers that will support the idea that people are hard to motivate. Answers like, "Because they're lazy." Or, "Because they want to get something for nothing." Or, "Because everybody wants a free ride." Again, all these answers do is reinforce the idea that people are hard to motivate. You're going to be left with this list of reasons why what you're trying to do is impossible. What's worse, they're all going to be things you can't do anything about. They're all about what's out there, in your employees and in the world, and when it comes right down to it, those aren't things you can do anything about. And if you can't do anything about it, then why try, right? Well, this post isn't over yet, so you can guess we're not going to end there. Instead, we're going to ask ourselves a better quality question, so we can get a better quality answer. In this case, we could ask ourselves something like, "When have my employees been motivated?" Or, "What have I seen my employees really excited about something?" Or, even better, ask questions like, "What can I do differently to better motivate my employees?" Or, "What am I doing that'skeeping them from feeling motivated?" For example, let's say an employee you're having motivation problems with comes to you and asks for a bunch of time off at a bad time. There's another sign this guy's not motivated, right? He's asking for time off at the worst possible time. If he had any mind for the business or any cares about your results, he'd never ask forthat time off. But as you gently reprimand him for the lack of care about the business that his request is showing, stop and think about what effect your gentle words are going to have on his motivation. Can you really think of a time that anyone has been chewed-out into excitement? Does anyone ever say, "Man, he told me I was wrong, and it really inspired me?"

Of course not. I can't lecture someone to greatness. I also can't scare someone into greatness. I can threaten someone into performing a specific action, sure. "Do X or else Y," can often lead to Y. But it doesn't lead to excitement about Y.

The fact is, we get motivated by two things: Opportunity and success. We get excited when we either see the possibility of something good potentially happening to us, or when we have just reached something good. So that gives us two ways of motivating this guy. The first way is opportunity. The fact is, this guy probably knows that he's asking for a bad time. He's probably expecting you to say no--especially if you're the kind of boss who's said no a lot in the past. So instead of saying no, say maybe. Give the guy an opportunity. "You know, that's a really tough time for us, but I think I can figure out a way to make it work. If you do A, B, and C before you go, then I can do X, Y, and Z, and we can get you the time you need." See? Opportunity. How motivated to you think he's going to be about doing A, B and C now? Probably more motivated than he's ever been about getting those done. And if A, B, and C really are the things we need him to do, then we're still not out much with him leaving. To use the motivational vernacular, it's a "Win-Win." Plus, because you're doing X, Y, and Z, you're building trust. Now he knows that you're willing to go out of your way to help him get things he needs. What do you think that's going to do do his desire to help you get things you need later? He can also be motivated by success. In this case, we might go ahead and give him the time, citing past accomplishments as being the justification for it. "How can I say no to an employee who always does A, B, and C?" Of course, it could be that this is a situation where we absolutely, positively, cannot say yes. That happens. Especially with small businesses, or businesses that are time-based like retail, where we can't give the time off because we're going to be so busy at that point. Often in these situations, managers put the responsibility for finding a solution back on the employee. "Of course you can go, as long as you can get someone to cover your shift." Knowing that everyone is working that day, they know there's no one to cover, so they can seem like they're saying yes, when they're really saying no. Ultimately, this kind of dishonesty leads to mistrust, and mistrust leads to unmotivated people. My philosophy is, if you can't provide what they want, at least provide honesty. Explain to the employee exactly why they can't go that day. Maybe sales records showing how busy it's going to be, and maybe a frank explanation of why you just can't do without them.

But more important than the explanation part is an accompanying part where you listen. Let them talk about what their expectations are for when they should be able to get vacation time, or about what vacation they'd like to be able to take in the future. Again, listening to them builds trust. Of course, that's only if we're listening sincerely. These types of articles always talk about listening sincerely as being the key, and it really is true, but I sometimes despair at being able to convey that clearly. I think the people who believe in sincerity already believe it, and the others think, "Yeah, yeah, sincerity. I'm pretty good at faking that." Being pretty good at faking sincerity leads to employees who are pretty good at faking they care about your expectations of them. As long as the employee, on any level, feels that you're working against their interests, they're going to follow you slowly or actively resist you. An employee only becomes motivated when the employee truly feels that the place that you're trying to take them is a place that they truly want to be. As I said in my earlier post about how to motivate people, everyone has a different set of things that motivate them. The key to motivation is you keying in to their wants and desires, not by cramming their personalities into the holes you would like them to fit into. So I guess when it's all said and done, it isn't so much that people are hard to motivate. What's sometimes hard is stepping back, getting to know your employees, and then finding their motivations, instead of trying to get them to adopt yours. And that's serious--it truly is hard. But the good news is, if we do that part, the other stuff, the stuff that seemed so hard before, becomes the easy part.

Finally, in the last part, we think we should shorten down the whole presentation. Part I - Qualities of a Manager 1. Inspires a Shared Vision. An effective leader is often described as having a vision of where to go and the ability to articulate it. Visionaries thrive on change and being able to draw new boundaries. It was once said that a leader is someone who "lifts us up, gives us a reason for being and gives the vision and spirit to change." Visionary leaders enable people to feel they have a real stake in the project. They empower people to experience the vision on their own. 2. Good Communicator. The ability to communicate with people at all levels is almost always named as the second most important skill by managers and team members. Leadership calls for clear communication about goals, responsibility, performance, expectations and feedback. There is a great deal of value placed on openness and directness. The leader is also the team's link to the larger organisation. The leader must have the ability to effectively negotiate and use persuasion when necessary to ensure the success of the team and project. Through effective communication, leaders support individual and team achievements by creating explicit guidelines for accomplishing results and for the career advancement of team members. 3. Domain knowledge. A good manager has to understand what kind of process he is managing. How his team members are working. What kind of tasks they perform? This skill is not as important as the others but without it, in some cases, the team and the manager will never work at full capacity, using the whole potential due to lack of mutual understanding. 4. Enthusiasm. Plain and simple, we don't like leaders who are negative - they bring us down. We want leaders with enthusiasm, with a bounce in their step, with a can-do attitude. We want to believe that we are part of an invigorating journey - we want to feel alive. We tend to follow people with a can-do attitude, not those who give us 200 reasons why something can't be done. Enthusiastic leaders are committed to their goals and express this commitment through optimism. Leadership emerges as someone expresses such confident commitment to a project that others want to share his or her optimistic expectations. Enthusiasm is contagious and effective leaders know it. 5. Empathy. What is the difference between empathy and sympathy? Although the words are similar, they are, in fact, mutually exclusive. According to Norman Paul, in sympathy the subject is

principally absorbed in his or her own feelings as they are projected into the object and has little concern for the reality and validity of the object's special experience. Empathy, on the other hand, presupposes the existence of the object as a separate individual, entitled to his or her own feelings, ideas and emotional history. 6. Competence. Simply put, to enlist in another's cause, we must believe that that person knows what he or she is doing. Leadership competence does not however necessarily refer to the leader's technical abilities in the core technology of the business. Expertise in leadership skills is another dimension in competence. The ability to challenge, inspire, enable, model and encourage must be demonstrated if leaders are to be seen as capable and competent. 7. Ability to Delegate Tasks. Trust is an essential element in the relationship of a project leader and his or her team. You demonstrate your trust in others through your actions - how much you check and control their work, how much you delegate and how much you allow people to participate. Individuals who are unable to trust other people often fail as leaders and forever remain little more that micromanagers, or end up doing all of the work themselves. 8. Dealing with changes. There are several managers who exactly know the whole working process. They are doing things almost automatically. The true manager should be flexible and adaptable. He is able to react quickly when facing any obstacles. Stress shouldnt be a factor to prevent him from taking the right decisions. Part II Skills of a Manager Effective Management Skills to help people and organization improving their own effectiveness and efficiency. Globalisation and rapidly developing technology shows we are in a period of intense competition. Proper management is vital in these complex environments. The quality of manager and effective management styles can determine the culture of the organisation, the productivity of its staff, and, ultimately, success or failure. A manager should have the ability to direct, supervise, encourage, inspire, and co-ordinate, and in doing so facilitate action and guide change. Managers develop their own leadership qualities and those of others. Management utilises planning, organisational and communications skills. These skills are important in leadership also, but even more so are qualities such as integrity, honesty, courage, commitment, sincerity, passion, determination, compassion and sensitivity. An effective manager should have the following skills:

* Creative Problem Solving Skills: Describing and analyzing a problem, Identifying causes of a problem, Developing creative options and choosing the best course of action and Implementing and evaluating effective and efficiency of the decision. * Communication Skills: Listening skills, Presentation skills, Feedback Skills, Report writing skills. * Conflict Management Skills: Identifying sources of conflict functional and dysfunctional conflicts. Understanding personal style of conflict resolution, Choosing the best strategy for dealing with a conflict, and Developing skills in promoting constructive conflicts in organization and teams. * Negotiation Skills: Distinguishing distributive and integrative negotiations, position and principle negotiation, Identifying common mistakes in negotiation and ways to avoid them, Developing rational thinking in negotiation, and Developing effective skills in negotiation that benefits all parties involved. * Self-Awareness and Improvement: Understanding the concept of self-management, Evaluate the effectiveness of self-management, Developing creative and holistic thinking, Understanding the importance of emotions in works as well in self-development, Understand of self-motivation and Effectively managing self-learning and change. * Team-Building Skills: A good manager should keep his team sealed. Competition inside the team is not beneficial for the well being of its members. On the other hand, the competition between teams is very healthy and stimulating. If one team member speeds up without helping the others leaving the rest behind, the whole team is doomed to failure. A professional manager will easily notice these irregularities. He will try to heal the situation by discussing it with his team and, above all, by listening to them. A healthy and successful team relies on trust to large extent. If a manager systematically builds trust, the team will feel more appreciated and committed. Part III The most importance of good human resources manager. In my opinion, the most importance of good human resources manager is Conflict Management Skills. Because human is the most resource of a organization. People is the decisive factor in success or failure of a business. if everyone in the organization to strive together, the businesses will go up. Conversely, if employees know the company's own sake, there is no collective responsibility for the organizations that never developed. In a firm, conflict between employees is inevitable. Thus, managers must understand the needs, motives and character of each employee so that there are ways of resolving conflicts the most effective way.

To do the above, managers must equip themselves with the skills of conflict management. When that is the most important resources of the business is being used effectively.