One of the most difficult things I had to learn as a young business person was effective management delegation. I was afraid to delegate tasks to those beneath me; partially because I was used to doing so much on my own and partially because I was afraid the job wouldn’t be completed to my own personal standards. Rather than take the risk, I tried to finish projects by myself and rarely asked for help.

What a mistake! I soon had more work than I could handle and the quality of my completed tasks was suffering; not because I didn’t care but because I simply didn’t have enough time. I quickly realized that delegating tasks is not only integral to the successful completion of projects, but it is also an effective method of time management!

When your superiors give you a task, you automatically become responsible for the project and can be held accountable for the outcome. You’ll then delegate the task to an individual or group, thus transferring responsibility to those who are going to do the physical work. In the end, however, your superiors are going to look to you for the end product and you will always be held accountable for the quality of the work.

Your team should be properly trained and prepared for any task you hand them. You have, after all, spent countless hours working with them so there should be no question in your mind as to whether or not they can handle any given situation. Some managers are afraid of giving up power or control, but this is also an unreasonable excuse for avoiding delegation.

Delegation can be a scary concept for both new and seasoned managers, but it is one you have to learn to deal with rather quickly. There is not a single person in the world that can do everything, and you’ve been given the authority to hire a team for a reason. As long as you have taken the time to properly train your new hires, there should be no reason to hold back when it comes to delegating tasks.

Take a close look at the members of your team. Are they properly prepared for anything you may have to throw at them? If not, you haven’t done your job and you need to make a plan to remedy the situation as soon as possible!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

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

As a manager, or even as a management trainee, you’re going to spend a significant amount of time focusing on how to deal with conflict as it arises. No two situations are going to be alike, so you’ll find having a grasp upon a handful of different strategies to be more beneficial than not.

Before you can decide upon a conflict management strategy, you must ask yourself three main questions:

1. Who is involved in the conflict at hand? Are they individuals, teams, departments, or a combination of each?

2. Why are these individuals or groups in conflict with each other? Is it personal or professional?

3. How serious is the conflict? Is it brewing just under the surface, is it growing in intensity, or does it need immediate attention?

There are a myriad of ways to deal with conflict, but here are a few of my favourites:

Avoid the conflict. It seems as though this is not a strategy at all, but if you are consciously monitoring a conflict while avoiding it, you’ll be able to intervene if it becomes necessary. Avoidance tends to work very well if two employees are involved in a simple disagreement and are likely to come to their own conclusions without help.

Find a compromise. Meet with both parties, understand their points of view, and figure out what each one can give up in order to make the other happy. Each should find the resolution to be palatable in some way, shape, or form. They will each be forced to stand down on some issues while maintaining their positions on others, but no one person will be forced to completely give up on his or her ideas.

Stage a confrontation. Confrontations can be scary and stressful, but sometimes allowing all parties involved in a conflict to air their views is enough to make the conflict go away. Everyone involved will have to verbalize their positions and reasoning. This gives each participant enough information to come to and agree upon a logical conclusion. Confrontation should be used carefully, however, as some individuals will perceive the situation as a personal attack and walk away feeling hurt.

Being able to identify and resolve conflict will allow you to keep your organisation running as smoothly as possible. You’ll be able to control the situation and practice effective delegation while making sure your projects are completed despite the setbacks conflicts sometimes cause!

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”

Fact – every single person you know experiences stress at some point throughout his or her life. Even the happiest and most productive employees will become stressed out about their jobs or family lives at one point or another. The real question is how you, as a manager, will handle that stress in order to avoid additional conflict.

We want to keep our employees as happy as possible so that they’ll continue to do their jobs effectively. When you begin to notice that once happy employees are acting grumpy and agitated, what actions will you take to control the situation before it explodes? Here are a few suggestions:

Encourage exercise. Does your company have an in-house gym? Is it possible for you to offer your employees a discounted rate at the local gym or health club? Perhaps you can have a personal trainer come in to work with your employees for a few weeks to help them get the ball rolling. It may cost a few dollars, but it’s a proven fact that people who exercise regularly are happier, experience less stress, and are more productive!

Encourage proper break times. Do your team members take advantage of their lunch hours or breaks? If not, try to encourage them to do so. Employees who never take time to relax are often stressed as well. They feel as though they’re always racing the clock, which causes high levels of stress, anxiety, and overall discontent.

Form workplace support groups. Make sure your employees have someone to turn to when their jobs or lives do become overwhelming. While the discussion of personal situations should remain limited, it’s pretty hard to draw the line between personal and work lives. Having the support of fellow employees is essential during difficult times – especially if someone genuinely needs help with his or her workflow, or has become overwhelmed with a sudden onslaught of new or time-sensitive projects.

You are not responsible for the physical or mental health of your employees, but at the same time you must remember that a person’s work/life balance does contribute to their stress and overall happiness. As a manager, it’s important to recognize the signs of stress and take action to prevent that stress from having a negative impact within the workplace.

Management trainees are encouraged to learn as much about stress management as possible before working with their new teams. They’re also taught to recognize the signs of stress within themselves, so that they can solve their own problems without impacting the productivity of their groups.

Do you have a creative method of helping your team deal with stress? We’d love to hear about it…

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

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