Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Management Training Can Help Staff have Freedom They Need to Perform.

Trusting your staff to do what they are good at is key to building a successful organisation, but sadly too often managers fail to recognise the significance of this.

Modern Management as well as modern life seems to be one of control. It is vital that budgets are hit, performance targets achieved, and often at the expense of freedom and creativity. That is not to say that these things are unimportant, because, clearly they are important, but what a manager should never do is over control their staffs work.

Humans are interesting animals. We generally respond to stimuli from others in the same manner in which the stimuli are presented. In other words, if you smile at someone, they will usually smile back, if you scowl, then don’t be surprised if they return something similar!

The point of this is that the more a manager controls their staff’s work, the more they will behave in a way that necessitates even more control. This becomes a vicious circle with the Manager exerting more and more control, but also complaining that their employees don’t take any responsibility or show any initiative.

To break the cycle, Managers need to understand the impact their behaviour has on others. Management Training can help because it teaches Managers techniques to empower their staff, as well as helping them overcome their fears about handing over ‘control’ to their staff.

Management Training can help Managers to:

Set out the desired results they want from their staff (in terms of what and not how).

  • Identify guidelines, policies, principles, and procedures considered essential to get the desired results.
  • Set out the necessary resources e.g. financial, human, or technical resources to achieve the results.
  • Hold their staff accountable – this isn’t about control but being clear about how results/performance will be measured and evaluated, and how progress reports and accountability sessions held.

There can be real benefits from investing in Management Training in this way. Not only will Managers end up giving their staff the freedom to get on with the job, but they will also find that they have more time to think and do their own job. In this way, the Manager, staff and ultimately the whole organisation benefits from the Management Training received.

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