ExcellentBee

Managers also often wear the high-anxiety hat. These tasks are performed without any joy and become a painful reminder of problems managers face. These are challenging tasks that test a manager’s competence to function when faced with critical decisions. They may not occur often but they define the manager’s character and involvement. Fortunately there are not too many. The following examples define the high-anxiety hat:

❑ Dealing with Harassment and Addiction.

There is no doubt that you will encounter problems regarding harassment and addiction of various types. You will most likely resolve such issues with interaction from the human resource and legal departments. These become serious matters because if the wrong perceptions persist careers can be destroyed. But your role is to ask the right questions. You cannot sit on the sidelines and leave the decision to the human resource and legal people. You must actively participate. You owe it to your employees. You don’t take sides. You demand that company politics not enter the discussion.

❑ Coping with the Death of an Employee or an Employee’s Close Relative. What would you do if one of your team died when on an assignment in another city? Could you approach the spouse or the parents and pass on the sad news? How would you approach the immediate family? You can’t just leave it up to the human resource people. This person worked with you; at the very least you have responsibility to be the messenger. You can’t pass the buck to some unknown person.

❑ Having the Courage to Discipline.

Most organizations have policies and procedures (P&P) related to employee disciplinary

action, and the fewer the better. Interpretation and implementation of those policies is left to the manager’s discretion.

5 THE ACTION HAT: DOING THE WORK

The action hat describes some of the real work of the manager. As a professional you have probably heard a lot about managers delegating. While managers do delegate many activities, there are others that require a full understanding and cannot be delegated. For the inexperienced manager these activities may seem not only extremely challenging but a total departure from the experiences as a specialist. They involve:

❑ Reviewing and understanding the workload

❑ Reviewing the people competencies

❑ Linking competencies to workload

❑ Developing budgets and forecasts

❑ Focusing on the customer

❑ Managing the manager’s work

Source : Gerard H Gaynor. 2004

4. THE PEOPLE HAT: UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOR

The people hat involves gaining an understanding of human behavior. The uniqueness of people needs to be taken into account in developing plans and in making decisions that involve people. Managers very quickly find themselves in a position to make decisions that have current as well as future consequences.

❑ Selecting the appropriate staff takes time.

3 THE LEADERSHIP HAT: TAKING THE LEAD

Leadership is the third component of managing. There are those who make a distinction between managing and leading. While leadership is vital, it is only one part of the management process. Leadership doesn’t work in isolation to meet organizational objectives. Keep in mind that we’re considering leadership as it applies to the in-development manager. Rather than trying to define leadership, let’s consider leadership as taking the lead. See Chapter 7 for a full discussion of leadership. Leadership involves path finding ; it involves defining where the organization is going and what it wants to be; it involves looking into the future; it involves going beyond the traditional opinions and rituals and it is not jumping on the bandwagon of the latest management guru. So here is a list of attributes that apply not only to the entry-level manager but to all managers:

2. THE DIRECTION HAT: TEACHER, COACH, PROMOTER, INNOVATOR

In providing direction, managers integrate knowledge, skills, attitudes, personal characteristics, and experience of the unit into an effective and efficient team. Providing direction involves managing the assigned and available resources within the limits of the organizational infrastructure.

The resources include people, intellectual property, information, organizational attributes, technology, time, customers, suppliers, plant and equipment, facilities, and financial. The organizational infrastructure includes purposes, objectives, strategies, organizational structure, guiding principles, policies and practices, management attitudes, management expertise, support for innovation, acceptance of risk, communication, and social responsibility.

This list may lead you to believe that becoming a manager involves more than could be expected of any human being. But a close look at the list shows that in our personal lives we already demonstrate some of these competencies but under different circumstances. Focusing on the following activities in meeting objectives allows you to develop a competent staff that meets current as well as future requirements. In the process you provide opportunities for growth. Focus the group but provide the flexibility when required.