It’s one thing to be the manager of a department or workgroup, but it takes a very special person to be a leader. While popular sayings would have you believe that leaders are born and not made, I do believe it’s possible for anyone with desire to learn how to be an effective leader.

That said, there are a few things every good leader needs to have in order to be effective.

The first is a set of great creative skills. You need to be creative in order to generate new ideas. Being creative doesn’t mean you have to be ready to pull a new idea out of your back pocket at the drop of a hat, though. It means being able to find resources and find ways to effectively implement them in an appropriate manner.

Analytical skills are essential to your success as well. If you’re presented with a group of ideas you’ll need to be able to look at them and use a certain set of criteria to determine which ideas are good, which are not, and which merely need a bit of improvement.

Finally, the development of your practical skills is incredibly important. Your practical skills will give you the ability to take the ideas you’ve developed, implement them, and convince your team and others that they are both effective and valuable.

Put these three skills together and you’ll have the tools you need to be a dynamite leader. It will take time to perfect your skills, but in the end you’ll appreciate the effort you’ve put into developing your own leadership potential.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

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

You’ve spent months interviewing applicants, hiring new employees, and training each one to become an effective member of your team. You’ve spent a lot of time looking at each employee as an individual, but now it’s time to take a step back.

Are all of the members of your team working together well – as a team?

That was the point, right? Forming an effective team?

So now you have to determine whether or not your team is working effectively and there are three main things you should look for:

• Are we, as a team, hitting our targets and reaching our goals?
• Do we need to improve our workflows, procedures, and processes?
• Does everyone on the team get along on a personal level?

If you answered YES to all three questions than it’s safe to say you’ve done an excellent job with your team building efforts. If you answered NO to any of those questions than you need to figure out why and make changes to your goals, procedures, or even to the team as a whole.

How effective is your team?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Manager Training

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

When you begin coaching or mentoring new employees you may find yourself stuck in a difficult situation. In short, many people don’t know how to get started and, once they’re on a roll, they don’t know when to end the mentor/mentee relationship.

As you get started, keep in mind that there are four main phases of mentoring.

First you must establish some sort of rapport with your mentee. You need to spend some time getting to know each other while at the same time identifying some of his work habits, thought processes, and ethical beliefs. This should give you an idea of how easy it will (or will not be) to guide him.

Once you’ve gotten to know each other you’ll need to set a direction for your mentoring. You’ll want to develop a plan of action with specific, identifiable goals. Use both your mentee’s desires and your own experience to set goals appropriate for his level of experience.

You will, of course, want to begin making progress. This means identifying what work your mentee has that can be applied towards your mentoring goals, assigning new projects (if you are also the employee’s manager),  and providing a certain amount of training and/or resources.

Finally, once your mentee is comfortable in his job role, you should simply move on. You don’t have to make yourself unavailable to your mentee, but at some point you’ll have to cut your ties enough to let him do his job on his own. Besides, by then you may have someone else waiting in the wings for your time and attention.

Do you have a specific mentoring program in your workplace? If so, how does it work? Do you have mentoring groups or do you form one on one relationships?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Courses

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

What do you do when a customer calls to ask you for help or information? Do you merely give him what he asks for and end the call?

I’d venture to guess the answer to that question is YES.

Is that really the best level of customer service you could give, though? Is there anything else you could do to make your clients happy?

The honest answer to this question is YES as well.

The problem is that you don’t know what you could be doing simply because you haven’t bothered to ask.

There are three questions you should ask your customers. You don’t have to ask them daily, weekly, or even monthly. Once or twice a year survey your customers and get an idea of what they expect, what makes them happy, and what they wish you were doing better for them. Ask these questions:

• What aspects of our business relationship do you really like?
• What services do you think we should be offering you that we are not?
• What aspects of our business relationship do you think need improvement?

The answers to these questions will prove to be incredibly valuable. What you do with these answers is up to you, but if you take a proactive approach I think you’ll find that your client’s view of your customer service levels will increase dramatically!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

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

Over the course if your management career you’re going to meet a variety of different people. Each will be similar in some ways but they will also each have a different level of knowledge. Some people have areas of specialty while others are generalists. In order to manage the knowledge of those on your team, and the knowledge you will all encounter, you’ll have to keep certain essential features in mind.

First, you’ll need to have methods for capturing the most important knowledge and information your team encounters. This means sending the right person to training classes and meetings; having excellent documentation systems; and even providing quality continuing education classes.

If a team member brings a piece of information or knowledge to the table you’ll need to find ways to validate the information not only to ensure that it is accurate, but to make sure it is still relevant as well. Something that is “correct” may not necessarily be “timely.”

As a manager it is your responsibility to determine what type of information you need and when it is needed. Do you need to include certain people at different stages of a project so that they can add their skills and expertise? Do you need to send someone to a particular conference in the spring because of an upcoming project?

Finally, remember that knowledge is power but too much knowledge is useless. The internet has made accessing knowledge and information incredibly easy. It’s your job to figure out how to sort through all of the information you receive to determine how much you really need.

Handle the knowledge and information your team has to offer efficiently and you’ll find yourself in the position to do great things. Mishandle that information and you’ll find yourself swamped in a sea of confusion!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

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