I’d like you to take a few minutes out of your day and think about your personal philosophy regarding your work environment.

Are you working as an individual, or as part of a team? Is your team operating independently or in conjunction with all of the other teams your company employs?

As a manager, you need to develop sharp conceptual skills. These allow you to view your organisation as a whole, viewing the abstract workings for a better understanding of how the entire operation works.

No one person can stand alone, nor can one team. Your job is to be capable of viewing each person or team as an individual while maintaining a broader focus on the overall goals that each must work together to achieve. Each person or group feeds into the next until, ultimately, the job is done.

Ask yourself these questions:

* Are you working alone, or do you delegate to your team?
* Do you consult with other managers, or consider them separate because they have different job functions?
* Does each team within your organisation function independently, or do they interact with each other and have a good understanding of the tasks each complete?

If you’re thinking with a limited frame of mind, it may be time to pan out to a wider view. While the small tasks are important, you’ll find that they’re more effective if everyone understands how they contribute to the larger overall picture.

It’s all about being able to think in the abstract.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Courses

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FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Over the next few days we’re going to take a look at seven skills I truly believe any good manager or management trainee should strive to develop. This particular skill set will ensure you have the ability to perform your job functions while at the same time communicating effectively with your team.

Without further delay, please consider:

• Technical skills – will allow you to actually accomplish your job.
• Interpersonal skills –will enable you to communicate with other people.
• Conceptual skills – give you the ability to see the overall picture and goals of your organization.
• Diagnostic skills – give you the ability to assess and react to individual situations.
• Communication skills – relate closely to interpersonal skills and allow you to both relay and receive thoughts and ideas.
• Decision-Making skills – allow you to recognize problems and effectively identify and decide on a plan of action.
• Time-Management skills – allow you to organize, prioritize, and delegate work in the most effective manner possible.

As a manager, it’s often difficult to juggle your individual tasks with your management roles. Each and every day involves a series of interruptions as you are challenged by your scheduled tasks, surprise meetings, unexpected phone calls, staffing concerns, and other unpredictable occurrences.

Each of the skill sets we are going to explore is important in and of itself. An effective manager will be able to mold each of these skill sets together, thus allowing him to not only guide his team, but complete his own day-to-day tasks with as much efficiency and as little stress as possible.

We’ll go into further detail on each throughout the coming week. Stay tuned.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

A quick management exercise to get those grey cells working…