“The Manager’s Answer Book” by Barbara Mitchell and Cornelia Gamlem (Career Press $16.99).Most manager’s answer books deal with answering questions posed by employees, bosses and other stakeholders. The authors flip the script by answering questions managers ask. Given that the development of management skills drives productivity, I’m going to highlight three, “always seem to come […]
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“The Manager's Answer Book” by Barbara Mitchell and Cornelia Gamlem (Career Press $16.99).
Most manager's answer books deal with answering questions posed by employees, bosses and other stakeholders. The authors flip the script by answering questions managers ask. Given that the development of management skills drives productivity, I'm going to highlight three, “always seem to come up” topics from the skill-development section.
Delegation maximizes a manager's productivity and provides employees with learning and s-t-r-e-t-c-h opportunities. Before delegating a task, set a priority on its completion, identify the skills required and look at the priorities/workloads of your team.
All delegation follows this format: Describe the task, its importance, its deadline, the need for timely updates and how success will be measured. Discuss approaches to handling the task and resources the employee may need to use, and together with the employee create an action plan and timetable. Ensure the employee knows that questions are welcome anytime.
Prioritization involves making “value” decisions by looking at deadlines, the consequences of not meeting them and the effect of the team.
It also deals with recognizing the difference between ”need to do” and “want to do.” Needs come before wants. The authors suggest assigning a higher priority to “Don't want to do but need to do” tasks to ensure they don't slide down the list.
Encouraging ideas — If you want to increase your productivity and that of your team, you must be open to doing different things and doing things differently. Every time you say: “We've always done it that way” or “Yes, but … (which means No),” you're closing creativity's door.
Take a positive approach by saying, “Tell me more,” or asking, “How would that work?” Their responses will show you how well they've done their homework on the idea.
