Build your management skills
Ineffective management impacts worker productivity and organizational success. Learn how to assess your strengths and weaknesses, get the training you need and take your skills to a whole new level.
No one said managing people would be easy. Indeed, management is one of the most challenging endeavors in business -- and one of the most crucial to organizational success. Managers must find ways to share knowledge and to act quickly when faced with new challenges. They deal with demographic issues as well, finding themselves leading teams that are a mix of generations and cultures. Today's manager must cope with the pace of technology as well as find creative ways to attract the best candidates, and keep them challenged throughout their careers. "The combination of these forces has put people back into the competitive equation to a far greater degree than before," reports Towers Perrin, a leading professional services firm. "Competing effectively demands excellence in leadership." (1) How management affects productivity
Employees who are engaged at work, who like their jobs and feel motivated to give it their best, are more productive at work and less likely to bring stress home. Research by the Gallup Organization has shown that disengagement is costly: the lower productivity of actively disengaged workers costs U.S. employers approximately $300 billion a year. However, high levels of engagement are linked to retention, better customer service, higher rates of employee commitment and profitability. Managers play an important role in their organization's success because they directly influence the level of engagement of the employees who report to them. "It's up to the manager to inspire the workforce and keep each person motivated, excited and challenged," says Diane Syer, Ceridian senior training consultant. "That's a tall order. To do it well requires superior management skills." The first step: Assess management skills
Organizations expect their managers to understand human nature: what motivates a person, what threatens that person and what delights them. In short, what makes them tick. But how many managers even know these things about themselves? "Self-assessment is the first step to real knowledge, especially when it comes to managing other people," says Syer. "Managers are challenged to respond to everything from substance abuse to harassment to career development and more. That's why formal assessment is so important. When managers discover more about themselves, when they gain knowledge about their strengths and weaknesses, it's much easier for them to take direct action. And that means a lot to some one who sincerely wants to progress." To help managers determine exactly where their strengths lie, and ways they can improve their personal performance, Ceridian now offers a brief assessment quiz for managers. To learn more about the "Rating your skills as a manager" assessment, contact your Ceridian representative. Or if you're already a LifeWorks customer, go to www.lifeworks.com to access the assessment. Twelve steps to management success
"An employee's direct supervisor has the greatest impact on his or her performance and loyalty to the company," says Hal Morgan, Ceridian director of LifeWorks publications. "And Ceridian's customers are taking steps to improve managers' skills. They know that their employees, and their managers, deserve fresh ways of meeting the needs that arise every single day. That's why Ceridian created the comprehensive booklet Twelve Ways to Be a Better Manager." The booklet includes chapters on communication, managing conflict, teamwork, diversity, coaching and career development. Contact your Ceridian representative to learn more about this "must read" for managers. Or, if you're already a LifeWorks customer, go to www.lifeworks.com to order a copy. The power of coaching
We also take a powerful consultative approach: management coaching. It's the best way to tailor your organization's management development to the needs of a particular person. This one-on-one process uses top professionals to determine a manager's "mental models" and then reconstructs them in a manner that shapes new behavior. Ceridian customers no longer look at coaching as a "fix-it" strategy. Instead, they're using coaching to invest in their managers. Coaching helps people manage themselves by examining issues such as empathy, self-confidence and self-control. It helps managers become better leaders by addressing accountability and team development. Coaching helps people manage their own work, too, by assisting with problem solving that produces real results and keeps initiative high. Managers who use Ceridian's one-on-one coaching learn how to more successfully influence others -- internally and externally, up the hierarchy, across it, and down. "We've all heard the expression, 'it's lonely at the top,'" says Kevin Bourne, Ceridian project director, organizational effectiveness consulting group. "But it's not just lonely for CEOs. If you're a department head or team manager, you're just as likely to feel alone and estranged, with nowhere to turn for guidance. We've found that managers really gain confidence and develop their skills when they learn how their thought processes work, define how they want to be in the future and determine exactly what they need to do to change." "We see managers making bigger leaps through coaching," Bourne says. "Both personally and professionally, because it's a holistic strategy." To find out more about Ceridian ManagerCoach, contact your Ceridian representative. Sources:
- "Winning Strategies for a Global Workforce: Attracting, Retaining and Engaging Employees for Competitive Advantage," Towers Perrin Global Workforce Study, 2006.
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