As a manager, you’re in a unique position. Delegation of authority is often the most difficult concept for most new managers to grasp. I know because I had trouble with the idea myself. I was used to completing all of my tasks on my own and was overly cautious and unsure about passing work to my subordinates.

Part of the problem was that I had a rough time changing my mindset. My coworkers and peers were suddenly lower on the corporate totem pole than I was. I felt odd suddenly passing off work to those I had recently been working with as equals.

Managers and supervisors are not supposed to take on an overabundant amount of work. It is your job, officially, to practice the delegation of authority. You are responsible for making sure that your team members are highly trained so that you do not have to worry about the quality of the work they will return to you.

This doesn’t mean your team members won’t make mistakes. They will – as you have in the past and will inevitably do again in the future. On the bright side, they’ll learn from their mistakes and will not remain dependent on you for constant guidance and supervision.

I firmly believe that every management training program should include a focus on the delegation of authority. In the process of delegation, we learn how to reevaluate our own levels of accountability while sharing our responsibilities with others.

Delegation doesn’t mean that you assign a task to a subordinate and then wash your hands of it. You must carefully prepare the project to be assigned; plan exactly how you want it done; clearly communicate the directions and goals to your team members; check to make sure the project is completed correctly; and let your team know how much you appreciate their work.

That last part – appreciation – is essential. Your team needs to know how much you appreciate each and every task they accomplish on your behalf. Your thanks can range from simple kind words to small treats or even an extra bonus.

Evaluate the current state of your desk and determine which projects you’re holding on to because you’re afraid to give them to someone else. It’s time to let go of your insecurities – choose a team member and practice delegating your authority.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

The life of a manager is always busy. Not only must you complete a number of tasks on your own, but you must coordinate projects your team has been assigned as well. During the course of your job you may end up having to give a training presentation to your team, or you may have to present a completed project to a group of superiors. No matter who your audience, there are a few things you can do to make sure your presentation goes off without a hitch.

1. Prepare in advance. By “in advance” I mean days or weeks before your presentation. The night before or the morning of will simply leave you frazzled and unorganized. Preparing in advance will give you plenty of time to make changes, if necessary. Besides, preparing in advance is an excellent time management exercise.

2. Visualise your presentation. Visualisation is an incredible way of creating success for yourself. Visualisation gives you the opportunity to practice your presentation before you are in front of a large group. Use your imagination to see your presentation the way you want it to appear to others and you’ll be one step closer to presenting it that way.

3. Don’t forget about eye contact. I remember the first time I had to give a presentation in public. I was so nervous I had no idea where to look. Up at the ceiling? Down at my shoes? Directly at my notes? All wrong. Making eye contact doesn’t mean you have to look at each person in the room individually. Choose one or two friendly faces and alternate your focus between them at different points during your presentation.

Of course, you’ll want to use a few visual aids and summary documents so that your guests walk away with a clear understanding of what was discussed, but we’ll talk about how to put those things together at a future date.

Just remember, as a manager, presentations may pop up out of the blue. Make sure you’re always as organized as possible so that, in the end, it’s never too difficult to give a presentation or report on your current projects or goals.

Thanks again,

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Tom had been working on a major project for two weeks, carrying his laptop between his home and the office and putting in countless hours of overtime. The report he was working on was likely the most important of his career thus far – his boss had never assigned him and his team a project of such magnitude before this one.

One morning Tom walked into the office, set up his laptop, and walked away to get a cup of coffee. He was starting to feel the pressure of the looming deadline and had begun to become frustrated with the slow pace some of his teammates were taking with their contributions to the research. As he was settling back into the office to begin working, a member of his team came in and sat across from him at his desk. They began discussing files and the team member reached across to grab and handful of relevant papers. On his way back across the desk, he accidentally knocked over Tom’s cup of coffee – the one he had placed just a little too close to the laptop.

After a frozen moment of terror, both men watched as the coffee settled into the small keyboard, working its way into the computer’s mainframe. There was an ugly grinding sound before the computer halted to a stop and the screen went completely blank. Tom’s project was destroyed – no one would be able to recover the lost document in time.

Tom went absolutely crazy. He couldn’t think straight, began yelling obscenities, and blamed the poor soul on the other side of the desk for his misfortune. His behavior escalated until he had progressed from anger to outright rage. It took three members of upper management to calm him down.

Tom was understandably upset, but was his rage justified? It was not. There is never a good reason for behaving in an inappropriate manner at work. Tom was devastated because he was in a new management position, was coordinating his first project, and felt as though he had just failed.

If Tom had remained calm and collect, he could have mourned his first draft and then collected his team for a meeting to determine the quickest and most effective way of recreating the work that had been done thus far. Each member of his team had a role in the process and, with a little bit of work, what he had done so far could have been duplicated. Instead, he ignored his feelings of frustration until he was pushed over the edge by a single incident. This is a terrible example of anger management.

My example about Tom’s situation is a slight exaggeration. Most people won’t react quite as harshly when they lose their tempers, but their anger will still be blinding. Anger is a natural human response to a bad situation, but you can control your anger and choose your own reaction.

How will you choose to respond?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

It is important to make sure your team is getting along as well as possible in order to ensure your projects are completed on time. Unfortunately, there will be times when certain members of your team seem to bang heads with each other, and it will be your job to identify the reasons and attempt to find a solution before your entire project goes up in flames!

As a manager, it will be your responsibility to recognize conflict and nip it in the bud. Being able to identify the various types of conflict will require continuous improvement on your part. There are a handful of reasons your employees or team members may be in conflict with each other.

Individuals have different objectives. A successful team has to have a clear objective so that everyone is working towards the same goal. Two different people working towards two different goals will have difficulty communicating with each other, as they’ll each believe themselves to be right.

There is an unhealthy level of competition. Competition can be a wonderful motivator, but not if the team members in competition are taking themselves too seriously, find themselves arguing over information, and suddenly become unproductive. Competition occurs on the corporate level as well, with different departments vying for resources as they become available.

Their roles are not clearly defined. When you first start a new project, it’s important to make sure each member of the team understands his or her tasks and how they will contribute to the overall outcome. If these roles are not clearly identified, individuals will start to feel as though other members of the team aren’t pulling their weight, or they might perceive their teammates as being overly critical of the tasks they do perform.

The workflow has been disrupted. Sometimes one part of a project can not be completed without another part being finished first. If the group completing the first tasks is late, or turns in shoddy work, the second group will be further delayed. This will almost always lead to resentment and a disgruntled, uncomfortable workplace.

There was a breakdown in communication. Sometimes pieces of information are relayed incorrectly in error. In some cases, an employee may withhold a piece of information to purposely sabotage another. Regardless, communication errors are a major cause of conflict in the workplace. It’s important to make sure all information is relayed as efficiently and effectively as possible so that no one person relies on another for critical data.

These are just a few of the reasons for conflict in the workplace, but they’re also some of the main causes. Over the coming days we’ll take a closer look at conflict it and how to both manage and resolve it. In the meantime, what are some of the major causes of conflict in your particular environment?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”