Build Your Team and Develop Potential Successors
The manager of the future will possess another essential quality, that being fully understanding the processes involved in the whole firm. This understanding of the whole environment of the organization is going to be very important as this would allow greater personal career development for the individual would come to fully appreciate the value that his of her work ads to the firm. It is suggested that undertaking constant job rotation within an organization is paramount to gaining a good understanding of the whole organization.
This would allow greater appreciation of the internal stakeholders involved. Managers wishing to enhance their career should constantly seek such diverse work opportunities, even for a short time as a week. This new experience helps them to fully comprehend areas of the firm that they have not worked in before. So it is possible for a production manager to work on a marketing assignment to understand the value that he can provide to the marketing function.
Managers of the modern era have a deep fair that by disseminating their skills and expertise, they might breed potential replacements of their own selves. However, research shows that by sharing your intellectual abilities, managers might, in effect, help your own career. By breeding successors for your current task, you make yourself available for new assignments that enhance your career in monetary and intellectual terms. This would mean that you would grow with the business instead of becoming a nut or bolt in the whole machine.
By doing this, one would automatically keep assessing his skills and expertise and make himself ready for more challenging tasks that might come their way. Set Clear Performance Expectations It is very easy for people to get carried away and set unrealistic targets and expectations from oneself and/or your subordinates. This leads to lower morale when targets are not achieved and thus the whole work environment suffers. Subordinates are constantly looking towards the manager for guidance as to the expectations that the manager holds from them.
Lack of guidance would mean that the staff would do things as they seem fit and thus a lot of confusion would develop. Subordinates might resort to making assumption as to what is the best option given a particular scenario. This would lead to an expectation gap developing between the manager and the subordinates. Moreover, essential and scarce energy and time would be wasted on unproductive activities of contemplating the best course of action. Although this unintentional delegation may help in overcoming the rigidness of inked standards and procedures, targets may not be achieved.
Thus, the importance of the guiding function cannot be disregarded. Clear guidelines help bridge any expectation gap that may exist. This helps in achieving the overall objectives as every individual understands his contribution to the bottom line. Leadership skills are essential here for they help the manager to set the tone for performance of every individual. Recognize Positive Actions and Efforts It takes a great deal of courage to acknowledge the good work of others. This heart is lacking in many managers around the world.
Thanking employees for their contribution and overall efforts is a positive way to gain influence over them by garnering their respect. Surveys comprising many managers show that money is not the only motivating factor for employees. Instead, many employees look forward to public appreciation of their efforts. Successful managers understand this and take active steps to ensure that this motivating exercise is carried out. THREE FACES OF A SUCCESSFUL MANAGER Any manager who wishes to succeed in his task has the following shoes to fill:
