The key to a successful Manager
Leadership like any other art is easier to recognize than to define.Being a manager means setting an example and creating a business.Certainly,what leaders do is always a message that is why they should never be chosen for what they think but for what they are.Their example consist of always striving to improve while remaining one among equals willing to share risks and difficulties.
To become a manager is to take on a unique professional challenge.Managemant embraces 2 poles-one is the people a manager must manage.Without a group of people to manage there can be no management and no manager.To manage is to manage people and their work.Certainly a manager may also manage economic resources,IT resourses,logistical resources,or even tangible resources such as a brand,reputation,customer loyalty etc.
The other pole is Results.A manager manages people and administers resources in order to achieve something that goes beyond either.Managing and getting results are the 2 sides of the same coin.
Becoming a manager usually brings a higher social and professional status compared to other jobs and this confers certain rights and priviledges above all it confers rank and wealth.But most importantly,it brings a set of obligations and responsibilities.A manager who fails to understand that his responsibilities comes first and rank and wealth second,is already off the mark.Like other professions managers are made not born.
Taking a new Identity:
The moment a person is appointed to be a manager,two things happen.He sees his ambitions fulfilled and finds himself in the new environment and also those around him,especially his subordinates.He experiences the satisfaction of being listened to attentively,obeyed promptly and flattered and praised in public.
There is no second chance to make the first impression.A manager must think before making his first public gestures and actions as they will have a lasting impact.
Starting by persuading people generates more managerial capital than resorting to command and control.Giving orders is not the mark of a strong manager.A manager must learn to give orders but not all the time.A manager will be more effective if he properly manages those who work under him and makes them realize that it is upto them to achieve the desired results including their own personal development.
A new manager must not act impulsively,as others will take note of his decisions and action.He should listen carefully before acting.When a new manager is asked for an opinion,he must stop to think and not react spontaneously else people may think he is not taking the question seriously enough.
A new manager must realize that he must achieve an unstable and dynamic balance between his motivations,competencies and limitations and to do this he needs to know himself better.As he faces responsibilities he matures and starts to see his own strengths and weaknesses as a manager more clearly.Becoming a manager is a major personal experience.It is associated with changes in personality,and character as a person rises to new responsibilities.The new challenges force him to bring into play qualities of his personality that he has never used before or did not even know he had.
Managers have to learn to live with imperfection.They have to realize that they cant control everything.They have to manage business and personal risks.
Help for the Beginner:
The new manager immediately faces challenges and problems that demand decisions and actions.He can start learning immediately from what he does and its consequences.He can also watch and learn from what his colleagues do in similar situations.Previous boss can be a source of valuable advise and guidance.A persons first boss tends to make a deeper impression than those who follow.Corporate training programs can also be a great help in this orientation phase.Manager development is a long process,driven by exposure to variety of intellectual,emotional and ethical challenges.The key lies in learning to learn from experience.An efficient manager takes maximum benefit from the environmental experiences.People who enjoy learning look for new opportunities and challenges so that they can continue to grow.This gives them the mental elasticity and self-knowledge to combat stress.
New manager tends to bahave in a particular manner when training and managing teams.They should realize that people behave differently in teams.So,a manager has to understand each individual in a team.
The most important thing is not to teach but to learn.Manager must learn to manage.New managers must stay away from short cuts and fast tracks that seem to lead effortlessly to the destination but it keeps the manager away from learning to live with the consequences of his acions in the long run and absorbing the lessons from experience.
Hence being a manager means setting an example and creatng a business.Managers are bold because they believe themselves to be capable of achieving very demanding goals ad magnanimous because they believe they will continue to grow for as long as they live and they never allow themselves to imagine they have reached the end in any sense as they can and must go further.Lastly,they are humble because they know that a leader proves his worth when he stops being a leader.
As someone has rightly said "The Race is not Over as I have not Won Yet",this is the kind of winning attitude that every individual must have in order to achieve his/her goals.
Keep Smiling.....
Kavita Iyer
No comments:
Post a Comment