The 5 Things Great Managers Sense about their People, Every Day -

Home
>
Business Management
>
The 5 Things Great Managers Sense about their People, Every Day

The 5 Things Great Managers Sense about their People, Every Day

Using all of your senses, to help you test how your people are feeling in your business, is a learned skill. Once you start to use it, your abilities to notice become refined and you have a background sensor working for you, day after day.

As a precursor to having the quick route into how your people are feeling each day, it is a big help if you have open and honest relationships with them to start with. This comes from keeping in regular conversation with them, being true to your word and understanding that it is not always your business that is the most important thing in their lives. Make a start on getting these right and you will be well on your way!

By sensing the following five things, you will build rapport much more easily and learn what's going on with your people quickly, time after time.

Mood
The first, easiest and most powerful thing to sense is mood. As part of your morning welcomes to your people, naturally engaging in conversation will give you a hint about mood. Take care here, many people are overly sesnitive to fault and blame here. It is easy to blame yourself through assumption. It is easy to blame others for behaving 'stupidly'. The truth of mood is usually somewhere in-between or neither. A 'sense' of mood gives you a heads-up on how you might be exepcted to behave with that individual during the day. This can be varied pace, focus, challenge and urgency, amongst others. Know your people well and you will build a picture. Note, a good boss, will not avoid dealing with things which need dealing with, it's more about the 'how you do it'.<

Workload
Holding great, open conversations will give you a feel for where they are in their workload. This is a 'good thing' to know and with experience you can judge what it means to each of your people. For example, some of your people will find it hard to say 'no' to you, the intimidating boss that you are (just kidding - I hope!). And that often means they can't cope with the workload they take on. Getting sensitive to how each individual on your team responds is very important to you, and to them. You can help build their saying 'no' skills by encouraging honesty and reality and feedback - to you! Conversely, some people need much more workload to get the best from them - they thrive on the energy they get from a full to-do list. Your sensing their individual needs makes the difference.

Health
We all have off days. Sometimes it's subclinical flu; sometimes it's a bit of dodgy catering (as Dickens would say, 'a peice of undercooked beef'). Whatever causes it, we feel under the weather. As a manager, you can get a feel for this if you know your people well enough. And let them know it's OK to have a slower day sometimes. Hey, they've shown up, so lighten up and let people make their own pace on a bad day - by recognising this as their need right now you will build a reserve of trust in you, that will be in your favour in the future.

Relationships
It happens. Sometimes things get a bit strained. It might be between you and one of your key people, or it might be between two of them. We are all individuals and because of that we bring richness to our organisations and team. But - and it is a big but, the downside is that we can sometimes have different viewpoints - and that's OK! If you are managing a team of your people, you will develop an understanding of just who is getting on well enough with whoever else - and conversely, you will develop a sense of who isn't. Intervene with care. Choose the right time and place. It is worth the trouble to prepare and also to avoid it going on too long. By having a good ability to pick up on clues, you will be in the advance party to get things rolling positively again. Don't let things drift for too long.

Home
Without effort, your people will bring their whole lives along with them to work. And sometimes they will need some help with their 'domestics'. Now, it does require some skill to tackle these issues with them. Often it is best to appreciate their needs, listen a lot and use great coaching skills to help them see solutions. You will try hard not to become their 'advisor'. But by being able to sense that they have troubles and need a little of you to help them, it works well for building your business relationship - and that is an investment which pays off. Taking care not to be too open here will pay dividends. You need to have a fall-back position where you can draw the line on your responsibility to them, yet be there for them.
By knowing your people in ways that only come from keeping in close, intimate touch with them, you will soon get to know them well, day by day, by honing and using your senses.

Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com (Note to editors. This article may be edited for use in your publication or newsletter as long as a live link to the website is included)

...helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow...

In The News:

Flight Management Announces First Agency Agreement
MarketWatch - 4 hours ago
Functioning as a central agency for a large, diverse group of carefully screened carriers, Flight Management expects to quickly secure its position as an ...
National Storm Continues Recovery with Second Quarter Results MarketWatch
all 17 news articles

RTT News
Assurant to Acquire GE Consumer & Industrial's Warranty Management ...
MarketWatch - 22 hours ago
for Assurant to acquire GE's Warranty Management Group (WMG) business, a unit that markets and sells extended warranties and service contracts for major ...
Assurant announces acquisition of GE Consumer & Industrial's ... Trading Markets (press release)
Assurant to Acquire GE's Warranty Management Group - quick facts RTT News
Assurant signs warranty accord with GE unit The Associated Press
Wall Street Journal - Trading Markets (press release)all 92 news articles

Babson Executive Education's Retail Management Program Helps ...
MarketWatch - 46 minutes ago
Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., is recognized internationally as a leader in entrepreneurial management education. Babson grants BS degrees through its ...

The Southern Ledger
Hot spots: News from around the world
Chicago Sun-Times, United States - 9 hours ago
NEW ORLEANS -- A Federal Emergency Management official says Hurricane Gustav evacuees whose homes remain uninhabitable -- because of power outages, ...
FEMA may cover hotel costs for hurricane evacuees The Associated Press
FEMA to cover hotels for those with damaged homes Houston Chronicle
FEMA fields complaints as evacuees return to Big Easy USA Today
NBC13.com - KTALall 448 news articles

Earthtimes (press release)
Dow Falls 344.65 As Hedge Funds
Wall Street Journal - 14 hours ago
Part of the nervousness about hedge funds stems from a decision this week by Ospraie Management, one of the biggest players in commodities, ...
Ospraie Management to close flagship fund BusinessWeek
Lehman Brothers and the Cost of Multitasking Wall Street Journal Blogs
Ospraie Management closes main hedge fund guardian.co.uk
Bloomberg - Hedge Fund Netall 314 news articles

Business management theorist, Hammer, dies
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, NY - 5 hours ago
Michael Hammer, the author of several seminal books on business management who applied his theories to the non-profit world, died Wednesday night. ...
Management Author Hammer Dies Wall Street Journal
all 2 news articles

Questcor Strengthens Management Team's Manufacturing and ...
MarketWatch - 7 hours ago
announced today that it has recently expanded its management team with the appointment of Timothy O'Neill, Ph.D., Vice President, Contract Manufacturing, ...

Rivermine Hosts FREE Aberdeen Group Webinar on Telecom Expense ...
MarketWatch - 5 hours ago
... new strategies for reducing wireless and wireline spend including: -- How an organization can become a Best-in-Class telecom expense management leader; ...

Univar Selects Acorn's Profitability and Cost Management Solution
MarketWatch - 9 hours ago
... Systems today jointly announced the selection of Acorn Systems' Performance Analyzer, the market leading profitability and cost management solution. ...

RTT News
US non-manufacturing sector grew in August
Reliable Plant Magazine, OK - 4 hours ago
The report was issued September 4 by Anthony Nieves, CPM, CFPM, chair of the Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Business Survey Committee; ...
Service sector grows CNNMoney.com
US service sector expands slightly in Aug - ISM guardian.co.uk
US Service Industries Unexpectedly Grew in August (Update1) Bloomberg
The Associated Press - Forbesall 407 news articles

management - Google News

The 5 Things Great Managers Sense about their People, Every Day

Business Management