Being
a Manager
Table
of Contents
1.1
The management team of the_company.
1.2 the_company
managers wear multiple hats
1.3
Managers fulfill the promise of the_company.
1.4 What
does it mean to be an the_company manager?.
2.2
Assign responsibility for doing and for verification.
2.4
Set clear timelines and target completion dates.
2.4.1
Timelines and targets create mental structure and incentives
2.4.2
Timelines and targets facilitate cross-task planning.
2.5
Break tasks into milestones
2.6.4
Growth through building an awareness of softer and larger issues
2.6.7
Reading progress reports
2.7
Assisting with cross-project coordination.
3.1
The costs and benefits of meetings.
3.2.3
Setting and following the agenda.
3.2.4
Distributing the agenda
3.3.2
Turn off the mobile phones
3.3.4
Chairing a meeting (keep on track)
3.3.5
Be clear with action items
3.3.6
Arrange the next meeting at the meeting itself
3.3.7
Setup follow-up meetings for issues too complex to be dealt with
4. c=
oaching: development
of the_company culture and staff..
4.1.1 the_companyns
are nerds
4.1.2 the_companyns
are independent and multi-talented.
4.1.3 the_companyns
are damn good
4.2.1
Job satisfaction – challenge, accomplishment and reward
4.2.1.2
Accomplishment and Reward
4.2.1.3
Dealing with Failures
4.2.2
Being respectful, honest, clear, patient and positive.
4.3
Training and skills development
4.5
Benefits of proper coaching
5.2.3
Exceptions are exceptions
5.3
Handoffs (exiting and vacations)
5.4
Working from home or coming in at odd hours.
5.5
How many hours should people be working?.
5.6
Working with other managers
5.8
Developing resourcing strategies and budgeting.
5.8.1
The Purposes of a Budget
5.8.2 The benefits of Budgeting
5.8.3
Typical Steps in a Budget Preparation.
5.8.4.2
Poor attitudes in setting budgets.
5.8.4.3
Poor attitudes when putting plans into action.
5.8.4.4
Poor attitudes and the use of control information.
5.9.1
Preparing for Recruitment
5.9.1.1
Developing resourcing needs
5.9.1.2
Developing Job Descriptions
5.9.2.1
Attracting Candidates
5.9.4
The Employee’s First Week
5.9.5
Probations and Confirmations
5.9.7
Progressive Discipline and Documentation.
5.9.9
Firing versus retrenchment versus resignation.
The role of the manager is to assure that the employee= s they manage are working as effectively and efficiently as possible and do so over many years of employment.
Because the key to the_company= 217;s survival is our people, the role of manager is one of the most important ro= les at the_company. In fact, we have a single designated manager for each major department/function in the organization.
|
TITLE |
ROLE ABSTRACT |
OWNER |
|
Chief Executive Officer |
Defines, Manages, and Represents unified corporate v= ision internally and externally. Manages the CXOs |
Eric T. |
|
Chief Operations Officer |
Manage the company’s operations including acco= unts, sales, projects, legal, admin, and marketing |
Hsien |
|
Chief Technical Officer |
Manage the company’s technology resources and = direction |
Gunther |
|
Project Director |
Manages all the_company = projects and project managers from a bird’s eye perspective. Takes care of, = and does ongoing post-project sales with, existing clients. Manages accounts receivables. |
Gunther (temporary) |
|
Finance Director |
Manages the company’s books |
|
|
Human Resources Manager |
Manages recruitment, employee satisfaction and enhancements, and employee related administration (such as CPF, medical leave, etc) |
Hsien (temporary) |
|
Office Manager |
Manages the administration of the office |
Rita |
|
Marketing Manager |
Manages marketing, including sales, PR/media, advert= ising, branding, the_company company websites, and w= orks closely with R&D Manager |
Li Yuen |
|
Art Director |
Manages the design team |
Joe |
|
Sales Manager |
Manages the sales team |
Chin Qui |
|
Infrastructure Director |
Manages the infrastructure team |
Philippe |
|
Development Manager (Java) |
Manages the Java developers |
Carlo |
|
Development Manager (Perl) |
Manages the Perl developers |
Ray |
|
Development Manager (R&D) |
Manages the R&D developers |
Carlo |
Of course, as you can see, being a small company, most= managers wear several hats. They may wear multiple managerial hats and they may also be both manager in one context and non-manager in another.
For example, the CEO XXX often works as a sales person underneath the direction of the Sales Manager. At times, he even codes under the direction of the Development Managers for Perl and R&D. Up until recent= ly, he also managed the Perl team.
Eventually, as the_company= grows larger, this situation will change and managers will be allowed to focus so= lely on managing their teams. However, until then, managers must be able to wear multiple hats.
Of course, the problem with juggling so many balls is = that balls sometimes get dropped. Sadly, because the management of employees is = not obviously related to short-term deliverables, management responsibilities a= re often the first to go. What managers need to realize is that the proper management of staff is required= for long-term survival. While it may be tempting to put of managerial tasks for= a “more convenient time”, this cannot be allowed, as it will have drastic consequences.
The
paradoxical thing about
Why is that?
Well, the_company= offers something that is not very easy to find in other companies.
We offer an environment in which every employee has a voice (they can change the organization).
We also give them room to breathe. The= y can do what they want to do and they can grow as fast as they want outside the usual HR restrictions imposed by most companies.
Finally, we have a top-notch team and =
the
right kind’ve environment to challenge and encourage the right
This is not something that happened by chance. In fact, it has taken tremendous effort to create such an environment and it takes even more effo= rt to maintain it.
As a manager, one of your most importa= nt roles is to maintain the environment in which we all want to work. Without = the environment, it will not matter about the strengths of our products, or the promises of our marketing, or the successes of our past. Without our environment we will lo= se our people and the whole company will come tumbling = down.=
So what does it mean to be a manager at the_company?
While every manager will have a job description docume= nt that should go over the job in detail, much of what a manager does is not in the details to be found in a standard job description, but in the rigors and realities daily work.
This document attempts to provide an introduction in o= rder to prepare new managers for the breadth of their job. It should also give seasoned managers a reminder about the more subtle duties that are expected= of them, but which might have slipped in the day-to-day grind.
As such, we will discuss the four key duties of any ma= nager:
From a dollars and cents perspective, a manager is fir= st and foremost responsible for making sure that the deliverables assigned to his = or her team members are competed 1) on time, 2) on budget, and 3) to the quali= ty standards defined by the_company’s brand.=
Deliverables can be as complex as completing a multi-m= illion dollar project or as simple as developing a list of potential clients in a = new market.
Whether the deliverables are small or large, achieving results is crucial to the survival of the company. Especially in a small company, even medium-level slip-ups in productivity can lead to dramatic losses in profitability.
So how does the manager assure proper delivery?
Well, for one, managers must resist the temptation to “go in and do it themselves.”&= nbsp; It is not realistic for a manager to get too involved in the details= of all the projects that his or her team is working on. Micro-management quickly becomes untenable because the manager will quickly run out of time.
Instead, as a manager, you should not worry so much ab= out the details. So long as you have carefully recruited and trained your team,= you should have faith that they will do a good job.
“People often delegate =
211;
or fail to delegate – for all the wrong reasons. They hold on to a ta=
sk
because they like doing it, or want to do it, or are afraid not to do it, a=
nd
they will pass down some other task because they find it distasteful or
‘beneath them’ or have rationalized that it is not the best use=
of
their time.” – Mark McCormack
Managers should maintain a broad understanding of proj= ects and focus on providing “environmental stimulus” to help team members achieve results. In o= ther words, the manager should design and control the work environment in such a= way that the environment, not the manager, actually shepherds employees towards positive results.
Specifically, managers should create an environment th= at is 1) designed to guide employees towards success, 2) provides the employees w= ith the proper tools to succeed, and 3) provides warning bells that will sound = when a project is getting out of control.
“Hire people who are smart= er than you are. Then, don’t sell yourself, sell the company. One of the difficulties with delegation is that managers will sometimes paint themselv= es as the experts rather than as expert managers. Sell your division rather th= an yourself, and you will find more of a willingness among others outside your company to work with your subordinates. The smarter you make the people who work for you look, the smarter you are going to = look as a manager.
Such an environment can be created by managing the following:
Every task,= however small, must have assigned to it 1) a specific person (or set of people) who= se responsibility it is to complete it and 2) a specific person whose responsibility it is to verify that the job has been done correctly.=
The explicit assignment and acceptance of responsibility is key. Everybody must clearly know what is expected of each other.
The person = who verifies completed work need not be the manager. Often the work is too technical for= the manager to review. However, t= he manager needs to find someone to do it and to get the work “signed off”.
Once the ma= nager has assigned responsibility for the task and the verification of the task, = he or she should then provide feedback during the planning process. Of course, managers should not be writing or even developing the project plan themselves. But it is crucial t= hat managers actively edit and comment on the plan when it is drafted.
Doing so sh= ould afford the manager a broad understanding of the project and the work as wel= l as make sure that the team members do a sufficiently good job planning. Withou= t an editor, the temptation is too rush the planning stage. Further, without a second set of eyes reviewing a plan, the risk is that the plan will be lack= ing.
Of course, = remember that some tasks are exceedingly small. For example, a deliverable might be “get this paper signed by Li Hsien and submit it to the our tax accountant.”
In this cas= e, planning review need not be formal. But it does have a place. You will have to use your judgment= on a case-by-case basis. Remember that the overarching goal here is to create an environment that is designed to drive employees to succeed, not to give you= or them more work.
In the case= of a small task, planning review may be as simple as asking the employee to repe= at the instructions back to you so that you can be sure that they understood t= he instructions.
One of the most important environmental stimuli that c= an be provided and managed by a manager is the setting of timelines and the assignment of target completion dates.
Every task should have a timeline and a target complet= ion date.
That is not to mean that timelines and targets cannot = be changed over the lifetime of a project. That is a natural project occurrence and if managed well will have no detrimental affects. It is to say however, that at every stage, a project should have a defined timeline and target completion date.= If no dates can be set, then there should be a date by which dates will be set= !
That said, while it is within the normal course of bus= iness for there to be project slippage, it is not something to be encouraged nor simply accepted. Project slip= page is extremely expensive for the company in terms of opportunity costs and clashes between projects ending and projects beginning.
Timelines and targets are important first because they create a mental structure for the project and generate the mental incentive= to complete a project. Without a deadline there is the tendency in every perso= n to let the project take longer than it needs to.
Without the discipline of a deadline, people have a te= ndency to put off the end because the last 10% of any project is the toughest and without a deadline, all people will tend to extend that last 10%. It is not= a bad thing on the part of the employee.&nbs= p; Everybody does it. It = is natural. However, project sli= ppage is very bad for the company. Fortunately, with proper management, slippage due to the lack of timelines and target completion dates is avoidable by simply setting them f= or every task.
Timelines and targets also provide a means to allow for cross-task planning. That is, because there are so many simultaneous tasks = in process at any time, managers need a way to plan for tasks as a group over = time given limited resources. If tasks have undefined timelines, it makes long-t= erm planning impossible because managers will have no ability to judge resource availability.
It is always easier to manage small tasks rather than = large ones. The smaller the task, t= he fewer things can go wrong. As a result, it is very useful to break larger projects into smaller tasks, or milestones.
As a manager it is your responsibility to work with yo= ur team to define project milestones and then to monitor their progress along = the milestones. These milestones = will provide a natural structure and agenda for your meetings. You can use miles= tone progress as the basis for your meetings.
Progress reports are one of the best ways that you can= keep track of your team’s progress.
Each type of employee has a specific format for progre= ss reporting that are stored on the NT drive under progre= ss_reports.
Progress reports contain instructions embedded within = them and it is important that you read and fully understand these instructions. Table 2.1 shows examples of the “Update Summary” sections from = the project managers and salesperson progress report template.
|
&nbs=
p; &=
nbsp;
&nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; 1.
Update Summary In this section you should provide highlights =
of
the week, success and failures, deliverables met, difficulties overcome,
disagreements resolved, disagreements introduced, clarifications of
specifications, jargon defined, and advice to clients. Take it for granted that there i=
s poor
communication between clients and 3rd party vendors and between
various people at the client site.
This is your opportunity to let everyone know what is going on. &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; 1.
Update Summary In this section you should give highlights from t= he week. Especially useful are= your comments on markets and how they might affect our ongoing strategy. What are you hearing on the streets? Any ideas on new products or markets? Any pr= oblems you are facing in general that we might help you with? Have you learned a= ny juiocy bits of industry jargon or gossip? |
As you can see, each section in the progress report ac= tually provides the instructions that are required to fill it out correctly. Similarly, each type of progress report template has slightly different sections depending on the needs.
As a manager, it is your responsibility to assure that= your team members write good progress reports each week
Writing good progress reports is a skill that takes so= me time to master. A good progre= ss report should have the following characteristics:
The most important goal to achieve through progress re= ports is the promotion of analysis and the most important mistake to avoid is tha= t of promoting status.
Progress reports are not status reports.
As a manager, you do not need status reports. In fact, in most cases, such detai= l will even be beyond your technical knowledge. In terms of status, all you really need to know is whether or not your team is on time completing their milestones. Doing this takes only one or two lines and is better done in impromptu or weekly meetings.
The reason that you do not need status reports is beca= use the_company takes care to hire independent, self-moti= vated, quality people. As a result, there is no need to baby sit. You should be ab= le to provide a structure that shepherds success as discussed above, and then = let them do the work themselves.
The less time spent discussing status the better. Status is crucial for coordination= of effort, but it is also constantly changing and often trivial at a management level. If you find yourself managing the status of your team members, you c= an be pretty sure that you are micromanaging.
Instead, the progress report is a tool to encourage analytical thinking.
All good staff will have no trouble putting their head= down and diligently doing their work. However, though this is an admirable and important quality, it can a= lso lead to project/task failure because of tunnel vision. You must encourage them to think o= utside of the detail - to think about the larger environment.
Thinking analytically includes for example thinking ab= out time, place, other projects and other people. It also involves synthesizing mult= iple ideas into one. During any given week, how do the details of the project re= late to the world and the future around them?
A good progress report (which has been actively read a= nd edited by a manager) will promote analytic thinking and generate creative solutions to every project problem even before they become problems.
Note also that progress reports do not need to be leng= thy. They just need to be complete and meaningful.
Your staff should be encouraged to make sure that their progress reports are complete and that they represent a good overview of th= eir work week.
Progress reports also help you control your resources.= In a small company, it is often th= e case that resources are shared amongst many managers. The progress report is one importa= nt tool that can be used to track such requests and make sure that resources a= re used more efficiently over time.
Further, a well-written progress report will convey an= intuition about where your team members are spending their time. This broad sense can be used to dr= aw attention to problem areas or weaknesses in time management that can be addressed.
Properly written documents are a basic part of global professionalism. While employ= ees are not required to speak and write perfectly grammatical English from the start, it is important that they improve over time. Beyond grammar, your te= am should learn how to use communication as a business tool. They must learn how to communicate effectively and convincingly.
Obviously, working with your team to improve their gra= mmar and presentation skills is not a primary focus of the progress report, but sometimes, it makes a good forum to provide suggestions. As a general rule, one or two comm= ents every month about how your team members can improve their writing, is usefu= l.
At a minimum, you should make sure that your team memb= ers run their progress reports, and all their documents, through spell/grammar = check in Word.
The progress report is also a good forum to help your = staff think about larger project issues such as testing, documentation, third par= ty dependencies, risks, etc. In = the end, one of your key goals as a manager is to constantly push your staff to excel. A good manager will se= e all of his team members promoted constantly.
One key to promotion is the ability to think in ever-l= arger views of the project. The more broadly and complexly an employee thinks about his job, the more senior he is.
The progress report is a tool that helps staff think a= bout these issues and your feedback encourages them to continue to think more complexly and to work more intelligently.
The progress report is also a primary tool for peer review. Often, progress repor= ts are not read just by managers, but by a much wider audience, sometimes including all of the staff.
This is an important part of how information flows thr= ough the company.
Developers need to be able to gain a sense for sales. = Sales people need to know what is happening in R&D. R&D needs to know what is happ= ening in marketing. And everybody needs to know these things without spending too much time.
A well-written set of progress reports can communicate= the entire and current knowledge of the organization in an hour.
But it is not just about information going out. When analysis is presented, analys= is can be discussed. Progress report= s give senior staff the ability to see what the junior staff a= re doing and be able to step in and provide advice as required. Without a prog= ress report, there is no forum for this to take place, especially outside of the technical groups.
Of course, there is some status presented in progress reports. Status is usually presented in the form of action items.&nbs= p; An action item is a specific task that is to be completed by someone= in the next week (eg Client To-Do Items or the_company To-Do items).
As noted above, every action item must have a descript= ion, a doer, a deadline, and a verifier. If no deadline can be set, the writer of = the progress report should specify a time when the deadline can be set.
Learning how to read and edit a progress report takes = as much time as learning how to write one. The comments you make weekly should= not only point out weaknesses in the report, but they should encourage the continuing improvement of your team
Make sure to mix approval with criticism and be sensit= ive to the reader’s ‘feelings’.= For example, try to use blue-colored text when you are providing feedback, especially if the feedback is negative. By default, Word will use red-colo= red text and red-colored text looks scary.
Also, a common mistake made by all of us is to focus o= n all the areas for improvement and to forget to praise the writer for the things they did well. This can cause the reader to lose morale even if you are actually happy with their performance.
That said, honesty is key. = Do not give false praise. They will know.
Also, you must make sure to read actively.
In almost every task of substance, there are people or organizations other than of the employee actually doing the task.
Similarly, in almost every task of substance, the completion, quality, or specifics of the task will affect other people doing other tasks.
As a result, there is a need to coordi= nate across tasks and across people. While it is the responsibility of the emplo= yees completing tasks to manage the details of coordination themselves, it is the job of the manager to facilitate this coordination in any way he or she can= .
For example, while Barb might report to Joe as a line manager, she might also report to Chin Wan and Jenn Chyang on specific = projects, and to Eric T, Eric L. and Chin Qui for= sales projects. In a situation like this, where Joe cannot realistically manage d= own to a project level, communication between managers is essential.
In this sec=
tion we
have discussed managerial “tools” like action items and progress
reports. In the next section =
we
will also talk about meetings. While these tools are certainly part of your
role as a manager, it is important for you to know that they are not
absolute.
Managerial = tools are always dependent on the situation. Sometimes they work and sometimes th= ey don’t. It is your job to improve your intuition about when and where = to use each tool. Using a tool i= n the wrong place can be worse then not using it at all! An improperly edited progress repo= rt, for example, can damage the morale you want to build.
An improper= ly written progress report can waste hours of both the reader’s and the writer’s time.
Everybody hates meetings. But, at the same time, most people, especially managers realize the need for meetings. Meetings are one of the manager= 217;s most crucial tools to enhance work communication. When managed well, meetin= gs can be very effective.
For one, meetings can be an effective way to dissemina= te status information. That is, = in a short 20-30 minutes, your entire team can be brought onto the same page.
Of course a good meeting will go beyond status.
Ideally, status will have already been communicated be= fore the meeting begins and the meeting can be used for analysis and creative gr= oup thinking. As a group, you can= work with each other to solve tough problems. You can also use the opportunity to assure peer review and to promote cross-product training (any team member should know enough about what the others are doing to be able to take on the project of others in the case of emergency).
Further, just as meetings are useful for communicating information upwards and sideways, meetings are also an important tool for c= ommunicating vision and direction downwards. That is, you can use meetings as an opportunity to disseminate propoganda, vision, direction, and goals to your team= .
Similarly, meetings can be used to motivate your team,= give your team a sense of control or impact, resolve conflicts, brainstorm, or to help team members build confidence such as when team members must present within a meeting. As such, meetings are also key tools in coaching your sta= ff.
Of course, there are also costs associated with meetin= gs. For one, you must consider the time costs of all the participants. For example, if an employee makes = 5K per month, she makes about $20 per hour. If you have 8 people in a meeting for 1 hour, the company spends $160, or one whole day’s worth of salary for one employee.
Further, you must consider the opportunity costs. That= is, what could the attendees be doing in the time taken up by a meeting.
If the meeting is large or long, these costs can become considerable in terms of lost profits.
Proper meeting management is critical if you are to ex= tract the greatest benefits from your meetings while minimizing the costs.
It cannot be said enough that the success of a meeting= is proportional to the amount of preparation.
The first rule of meetings is that the purpose and goa= ls of the meeting must be 1) clearly defined and 2) clearly communicated to all of the participants.
Once the broad goal is defined, you should decide who = should attend, where the meeting should be held, and when it should be held.
In deciding who should attend, keep in mind what we al= ready said about costs. Restrict the attendance only to those who are legitimately required. Further, remember that different make-ups of attendees can dramatically change to tenor of the meeting. For example, if you invite senior managers, you may inhibit free discussion.
In deciding where the meeting should be held consider = that in order to be efficient, the attendees must be able to focus. A location with many distractions = will cause inefficiencies.
Once the broad goal is defined and you have determined= who, when, and where, you should take time to develop a detailed agenda that cov= ers explicitly all the topics that will be discussed.
Ideally, the agenda will define 1) what is to be discu= ssed, 2) who will lead the discussion, and 3) how much time will be allotted to t= he discussion.
For example, consider the following agenda
Subject: &= nbsp; Weekly Project Meeting
Chair: &nb= sp; Fred
Time: &nbs= p; 9-10:15AM, Monday January 10th, 2002.
Place: &nb= sp; Meeting Room A
Attendees: = ; Bob, Chee, Sally, Li Ying
09:00 – 09:15&nb= sp; Team Status (Fred)
09:15 – 09:30&nb= sp; Trade Finance Project Update (Chee)
09:30 - 09:45 <= /span> &= nbsp; Payroll Project Update (Sally)
09:45 – 10:15&nb= sp; Code Presentation and Discussion (Bob)
Note, as a general rule, try to schedule the more-impo= rtant items earlier when the meeting participants are thinking most clearly. Furt= her, try to avoid periods during which participants may be lacking energy (such = as after lunch or at the end of the day). Finally, try to organize your agenda logically and according to topic.
The agenda should be developed and distributed to all participants well before the meeting is to be held.
It is important that you give participants enough time= to prepare to discuss the agenda topics and provide feedback about the agenda = in case there is something they need to add, change, or subtract.
Make sure that every attendee has a hard copy of the a= genda, a pen and enough paper.
Also, if the meeting requires audio-visual aids, set t= hem up before the meeting starts. Fu= rther, when possible, have a backup plan in case of technical failure. For example, a full printed copy o= f a power point presentation should always be made in case the laptop or projec= tor fails.
If the meeting is long, make sure to provide breaks an= d/or snacks.
As a manager, it is your responsibility to control/cha= ir your meetings. Like anything else in a company, meetings require active shepherding if they are to be successful.&= nbsp; It is essential that you remain focused, positive, and that you constantly maintain control over your meetings if they are to be successful= .
Not to be too American…but…given the high organizational costs of meetings, tardiness cannot be tolerated, especially from the managers. You should= make it clear to all attendees that tardiness will not be tolerated and you shou= ld lead by example. Continued tardiness is grounds for reprimand and will be considered as part of overall job performance.
Except in the rare case of emergen= cies, mobile phones and pagers should be switched off (not just silent) during meetings. Because people forget, you should remind people to switch their mobile phones off at the beginning of every meeting.
Remenber that in order to listen actively, you must be 100% concentra= ting on the issues at hand. Mental interruptions, even for a moment, rend= er the participant far less effective. Your fidgeting or muted discussions ruin the concentration for everyone in the meeting.
In some meetings, especially one2one’s, confiden= tial information may be discussed. It is important that you make clear what information is confidential and what information you will share with others. Obviously, if you specify that a certain bit of information will be confidential, you must keep it confident= ial. Trust is a key component to your ability to manage your team. It is hard to build trust and easy to destroy it.
As a manager, you should chair your meetings. Chairing meetings allows you to ke= ep meetings on track both in terms of time and in terms of subject matter. When you get a bunch of people as close and as nerdy as the= _company employees are, you are bound to go off track. As the meeting’s chairperson= , you need to reign your team in and focus them on dea= ling with agenda issues. When side= or private discussions arise, tactfully let the participants know that they ne= ed to come back to the issues at hand.
As a corollary, make sure that only one person is talk= ing at a time during a meeting.
Note that as part of your coaching activities, you mig= ht want to appoint team members to chair some meetings as practice. When you do so, you should make su= re that they control the meeting properly. It is one thing to provide training= . It is another thing to waste everyone’s time.
Also, make sure that each of your team members has a c= hance to speak. Some team members, = you will find, will be outspoken and others will be shy and quiet. It is critic= al for you to encourage the quiet ones to speak up and that you direct and con= trol the outspoken ones. Whatever the case, as the chairperson, you need to assu= re that all views get aired and are properly fleshed out.
Finally, as a manager, your word carries authority.
In many meetings, you will assign action items to vari= ous meeting participants. It is c= rucial that these action items are clear. You should always summarize the action i= tems at the end of the meeting. As with all action items, th= ere should be a doer, a deadline, and a verifier.
Action item assignment should be repeated via email af= ter the meeting as well.
If possible, since you have everyone in one place at o= ne time, try to arrange the next meeting at the close of the meeting itself.
Often you discover that an agenda item is too complex = to discuss in the allotted time or that a new issue arises that is not contain= ed in the agenda. If this happen= s, take the issue offline and either deal with it in a smaller group or schedu= le a follow up meeting to discuss the issue in greater detail. Remember your age= nda.
Taking issues offline assures that the right people sp= end the right amount of time.
Meeting minutes are crucial for legal, marketing and communication purposes. They also assure that everyone is actively listening because you can only take good minutes if you are actively listening.
Everyone should be encouraged to take notes in a meeti= ng, but on= e person should officially minute the meeting.
Meeting minutes should be brief but complete and shoul= d use the standard minute template from the NT drive. Good minutes should be completely understandable to those who did not attend. They should also specify the ti= me, place and attendees of the meeting as well as the details of action items.<= /p>
Competed minutes should be distributed in draft form t= o all attendees who should have opportunity to change the minute text. Minutes sh= ould be distributed as soon as possible so that everyone’s memory is still fresh. Ideally, attendees should sign off on the minutes and the secretary should produce final minutes that should be stored on the NT drive.
As a manager, you will use several types of meetings.<= /p>
Weekly team meetings are used primarily to communicate status and to provide a forum to solve problems as a unit. They are current= ly not used much at the_company, but they should b= e.
It is best if you can limit the size of these meetings= down to about 5 or 6 at most and to keep the meeting time short (30-45 minutes t= op). In general, they should also be regular (every Thursday at 2).
One effective strategy to use in team meetings is to h= ave each person report the status of another (random) person in the team. Thus, before the weekly team meeti= ngs, the team members will discuss status among themselves so that they will be prep= ared to be put on the spot. As a result, the meeting can be used for more value-added functions such as reviewing designs or solving problems as a un= it.
These meetings are used to provide one on one coaching= with team members. Appraisal and g= rowth are common topics.
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How are they getting along broadly
What are we doing right that should be enforced and wh= at are we doing wrong that should be corrected
What is your short-term and long-t= erm career goals? What will you specifically do to move yourself further along? What can we do to help you move along?
Reappraise each time. How far have you come and what h= as led to successes or failures. Retarget and go off again.
People have a tendency to let the day to day rigors of= work distract them from their long-term objectives. 121’s are our way to m= ake sure that people do not waste away and that every thing they do at the_company not only benefits the company but moves t= hem discernibly along their career path.
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These meetings provide a forum for the management team= to communicate vision and mission as well as to provide quarterly feedback on = the state of the company.
These meetings are currently used by the shareholders =
to
discuss financial and HR issues that are considered highly confidential.
These meetings provide a forum for the management team= to coordinate activity and to provide status.
Of course, a manager’s job is far more than simp= ly making sure that the trains run on time.&n= bsp; As we have said before, one of the foundations of the_company lies in its people. The emplo= yees that we have gathered together represent one of the best sets of people in = the region. We have bested compan= ies thrice our size in the market and that is not just because of our great technology or our processes. It is because of our team.
We hire a certain type of person that requires a certa= in type of management and we have created a certain type of culture that needs= to be fostered if we are to continue to attract the type of employee that we a= re after and if we are to maintain the quality standards we have achieved thus far.
As a manager, it is your responsibility to help create, maintain, and evolve the type of environment required by the_company employees.
But who is that person and what type of environment do= they need?
The typical employee is a bit of a ner= d. And I don’t just mean the techies. = employees are nerdy, admin and techs alike!=
There is a distinct technophilia demonstrated by even the business people within the_co= mpany, and this technophilia is a characteristic we fo= ster through Brown Bags, Tech Reviews, and in other ways.
Like any small company employee, the t= ypical employee is also a self-starter and a jack-of-all-trades. Typically, they a= lso prefer horizontal or minimal management and often can manage themselves fai= rly well. They will also have a thirst for knowledge and a drive to remain on t= he cutting edge of their skills (be they technical or business).=
This independence and capability is cr= itical in a small, fast-moving company and will be a characteristic of the_company for many years into the future. We must endeavor to continue to hire this type of person because for the foreseeable future, we will suffer from resource constraints and will require extraordi= nary output from each member of the staff.
As part of our commitment to quality, = it is also true that the_company boasts a community of “the best” developers, project managers, and sales and business people around town. The quali= ty of our staff, in fact, is one of the most powerful tools that we have to attra= ct more quality people. There is a definite domino effect.
So how do mangers create the right environment?=
Maintaining and building a team like this depends on t= he proper management of people and as such, is a critical part of your job.
The most important thing you can do in your role as ma= nager is to create an environment in which your team members enjoy their jobs. If people like their jobs, they will be much more efficient and that satisfact= ion and dedication will inspire others.
Job satisfaction, for the average employee, is best ma= naged by shepherding the following process
Challenge -> Accomplishment and Reward -> Challe= nge . . .
Employees need to feel challenged. This is what keeps them interested= and what keeps them striving.
Of course challenge is not necessarily only related to= the current job. Challenge for a developer for example, need not only be technical, but could also include business, managerial, and personal challenges as well. One employee told me= in his one2one that his personal goal was not to learn Java or be a better sys= tems administrator, but was simply to be “less grouchy”.
To a certain degree, your job as a manager is to help = your staff define challenges, and then prompt them to face them. Often this is as simple as helping the team member set their goal post just out of reach, but not so far that it is demotivating.
Once the challenge is defined, you should then help th= e team member plot a course to surmount the challenge. Usually, this should include somet= hing that they do and something that you (or the organization) do. It is importa= nt that the team member does not feel that they are on their own. Similarly, y= ou do not want to become a crutch. This course to success must be marked with clear milestones.
Once the goal is defined, the strategy is set, and the milestones are laid, you provide the stick, carrot, and feedback that will provide just the right amount of discipline needed by the employee to push their limits.
Let’s face it, it is common for manager’s = to highlight failures and overlook successes.= This is quite understandable, especially under the pressure of projects. When things are goi= ng well, you, as a manager, might turn your attention to the future. You don’t want to be looking back into the past. But when things go wrong, everythi= ng blows up and the past is suddenly under a microscope.
While this is quite normal, it is also the worst thing= that you can do as a manager.
People need to feel like they are doing something posi= tive with their lives. Remember that work represents most of the waking lives of people. Accomplishing things = at work is critical to one’s self esteem.
So, while it is important to address failures, it is p= erhaps more critical to acknowledge, and acknowledge publicly, successes. Providing a sense of accomplishmen= t can be as extravagant as a bonus, a raise, a promotion or time off, but usually just a public note of praise will more than suffice.
It is key that your team me= mbers do not feel stalled or dead in the water.&nbs= p; Team members should feel that there is constant improvement and that= no other environment would do as much towards helping them move along their career path.
As such, it is important that accomplishments are foll= owed by new challenges.
To summarize, you should…
1) help them identify and set specific goals
2) define explicit means to reach those goals and specific timelines by which the goa= ls should have been attained
3) monitor their progress and keep them focused
4) review their progress, successes and failures at the end of the timeline
5) start the process over again with grander goals.
Failures happen and they should not be feared. Quite t= o the contrary, failures are a critical tool to help you define success. Unfortunately, most managers handle failure poorly. Failures are met with scoldings and even public embarrassments.
Now, this is not to say that scol= dings and public humiliation are not sometimes appropriate motivational tools. However, they should be used very carefully. Failures should be dealt with in a positive way. They should be used as a critical opportunity for improvement= .
The manger’s role is to make sure that the team = member actually takes advantage of the lesson.&nb= sp; This means that the manger should help the team member
Finally, people want to have an effect upon their envi= ronment. Rather than being a cog in the mac= hine, they want to have some impact on their jobs and their lives. It is crucial that team members fe= el as if what they want and feel makes a difference to their work and the whole company.
As a manager, it is your job to create an environment = that allows your team members to constantly achieve these goals and to constantly improve their performance over time.
To a certain degree, as a coach, you can think of your= role as that of closing the gap between a team members current situation and that of their ideal. What’s more, it is your jo= b to push the limits of their ideal and help them achieve more than they thought possible.
Of course, coaching must be set within a context of tr=
ust,
honesty, clarity, patience and positivity. Also, remember that you are the bo=
ss and
that what you says carries a great deal of weigh=
t,
especially in
Do your best to control your own anxiety and focus on creativity and positivity. Your team members WILL make mistak= es. It is your job to turn those short-term failures into long-term successes.
Of course, more than anything else, you must actively listen.
As we all know, hallway meetings are always very telli= ng. It is the informal environment when so much of your management is actually don= e, so use it to your advantage. Find out how your team members feel. Find out = how happy they are and how you could better create a positive environment.
As we have said before, one of the primary goals of the manager is to develop the skills and career path of their team members. When managing bright people, keepi= ng them constantly on their toes is the surest way to create job satisfaction. Often, since project work may not mean working with the coolest new thing, = you must fight the boredom that can set in by challenging your team to push the= ir limits in other ways.
Of course the most straight-forward form of training involves helping your team grow their technical skills.
This help may take the form of formal or informal trai= ning sessions.
In terms of informal training, you should encourage yo= ur team members to take part actively in Tech Reviews and Brown Bags as well a= s to do outside readings.
Focus on tech everyone should take notes questions on = the last week’s content filter topics
less formal and broader set= of topics covered but stil filtered and still rele= vant.
In terms of formal classes, it is probably appropriate= to offer formal classes to your team at least once per year. As a manager, you should be findin= g out which classes are available and appropriate and then pushing training throu= gh the budget process.
Of course, in terms of building skills, you should not
simply consider technical skills. Especially in
Productivity however, more often has to do with confid= ence then it does about technical skills. One of the things you should be doing as a manager is working with e= ach of your team members to help them grow in confidence level. They should be constantly pushed to achieve just beyond their capacity. To do this, they often need suppor= t.
In the end, as a manager, your job is to move your team members from “doing”, to “understanding”, to promotion.
The ability to do a job well is valuable. However, it = is limited. What we strive for a= t the_company are employees who go beyond doing their j= ob well. They must also be able to analyze their job within the larger fabric = of the company. They must “understand” what they are doing.
Once they do that, they can begin to make wiser decisi= ons about their own time and the time of others around them. They can also take= on more and more responsibility and increase the efficiency of the whole compa= ny.
Everyone is busy.&nbs= p; As such, most other groups have very little time to investigate what your team is doing. This caus= es two problems.
As a result, it is important for you to market your te= am throughout the company. This assures that information is properly dissemina= ted and that your team gets credit for the work they have done.
The most important benefit of proper coaching is that = you will slowly move from supervising to delegating. As such, both you and your team wi= ll become far more efficient in your jobs and everyone will be able to focus m= ore on activities higher up in the value chain.
Further, good coaching will produce higher quality sta= ff. You will have the unique opportunity to bring out the best in your team.
Most importantly, you will help to create an environme= nt in which we all want to work.
In general most people hate time sheets. They take up = a lot of administrative time for the individual, unless you are horribly efficien= t, and on top of that, the amount of time it takes to collate and sort out all= the time sheets for any administrative employee is also considerable.
For a small company working the way we do, we have so = far managed to avoid implementing the use of time sheets. However, this year unfortunately we will be implementing their use, and we suspect we will hav= e to do it more for the developers for business reasons.
Currently we have to implement the use of time sheets = for support and maintenance for Customer A because this is the only way we can = work out a compromise between a retainer that justifies keeping our resources on standby, and our clients concern that they minimize standby time, and pay f= or real support time.
We therefore managed to work out an upfront yearly fee= that helps us with our cash flow, but this only gives them our standby services = on a limited basis – 6 days a month. Anything done in excess of those six working days has to be charged on a per hour basis.
While you can immediately see how having to account fo= r time used up, and additional time is not going to be trivial, it does serve a us= eful purpose in helping us figure how much time we are really spending on the client. Clocking in the time can help justify a modification of the fees la= ter on, and gives a better justification should we try to negotiate an increase= in fees (or correspondingly give us some leeway to give discounts, if we can do so).
It also allows us to price future projects better. The= more statistics we can gather about the efficiency of our organization, the more effective we can make it. Ide= ally, the development of sales quotes and Matrices can be brought down to a scien= ce and we can do away with awkward feature negotiations because the sales quote was not close enough to the project reality.
One of the nice things about being in a small company = is that we can be flexible about policies and things as there are fewer people involved in the decision-making. That said, it also means that we have fewer people to spread around,= so we also have to plan carefully so that whole teams are not decimated with t= oo many key people on leave at the same time.
On average most employees get about 14 days leave, with about 7 days for sick leave (sick leave needs to be supported by a medical certificate to count under the 7 days, otherwise it will go under the 14 da= ys of leave).
As a manager, one of your key responsibilities is to b= alance the needs of your projects and deliverables, against the needs of your individual team members’ needs to take time off, recoup their energie= s, and just have a life. You need also to plan against contingency of the team being struck down by flu at critical times.
We also give managers the discretion to give a “free” day off to their staff if they have someone working particularly hard on projects, and on a sustained basis taking on a load be= yond the usual daily amount. We don’t do this if they had to work late bec= ause they needed to spend time learning, or due to inefficiencies on their own part or happen to like to work late. It is a to= ken of appreciation to folks who have contributed a bit extra, and also did it = at a cost to their own rest and well being.
It is important for you and your staff to understand t= hat it is not an hour for hour reimbursement of time, and it is not owed to the individuals. But you may consider that someone may need a days’ rest = to recuperate after a tough UAT, or they were pulling in a lot of hours in the chilly Bangi rooms, and need rest to avoid coming down with a bad cold. So = do, using your discretion, give out some unrecorded time off to your team if you feel they earned it.
We also need to have in mind that as makers of policy,= we need to make decisions that are universally fair. It might be ok to let one team member take vacation at the last minute, but you should also make it c= lear that generally you prefer to be given enough notice to plan ahead. Discoura= ge the tendency of people leave things to the last minute by making it clear t= hat leave is granted on a first come first served basis. And the last one gets = to stay to do the work.
Also you might find that if you give one person an unrecorded leave day, the rest of the team might just expect the same. This could really mess up resourcing and should be discouraged. We have started to notice that it is not the managers giving t= his out nowadays, but the individuals demanding it. One thing is if the managers are just not noticing that their team is working hard, the other thing howe= ver, is that people think that they can expect to get an hour for every one they work past 6pm.
There is no golden rule. Every situation will have its= own specifics. The only thing you= can do is to apply common sense to each instance and to consult other managers.=
You should also communicate clearly to your team how y= ou decide on these issues so that they are clear when they want leave etc, that they first have to come to you (not Rita, Hsien or Doris) and it should als= o be cleared with any PMs they may have to work with. If they think they will be working late, they should let you know, so that you have that foreknowledge should you later need to make a decision about giving them some time off. E= ach employee should learn that if they want benefits, they should go through the right channels and not unnecessarily burden the administrative people by bypassing their own line managers.
= One of the ways to = lessen the burden of people on vacation, MC or people leaving the company is to properly handoff all projects to other team members who will be working.<= /span>
Handing off is critical if we are to maintain steady deliverables.<= /span>
While we are open to people working fr= om home, we would prefer to say that this is an exception rather than a rule. = It is also a privilege, not a right.=
Working from home or at odd hours is generally discouraged except for special circumstances. As a rule, it shoul= d be for people who have a specific task that needs an uninterrupted spell of ti= me to get completed – and somehow this cannot be done in the office. The manager granting this time off should see a specific deliverable from that = time out. Also we tend to prefer to grant this privilege to senior staff that has earned our trust in terms of their ability to deliver, and have shown themselves to be responsible enough to be contactable.=
If someone is ill then they should see= a doctor, get an MC, sleep it off – as a rule it doesn’t make sen= se that they are ill and will then work from home, as though somehow being at = home makes them less sick.
Everybody needs to be contactable and everybody needs to be an active participant in the office. When team members work from home, it becomes more difficult to manage them and assure that co= mmunication flows are seamless.=
Also, most people in the_company work in teams. Now we have much of the team located in KL for a lot of time= . It is getting rare that we get people in the same room all at the same time, a= nd sometimes it is essential that we can call quick meetings to sort out issue= s, and have discussions to make a quick response to an emergency or time-criti= cal situation.
Also, everyone needs to be clear on scheduling. If one of your team members will be working from home, it shoul= d be clear to everyone what is happening and where the person will be.
We strongly recommend that all managers communicate this to their teams. As we mentioned before, setting a preceden= t by letting some people do this could land you in a mire of having your entire = team wanting those same privileges.
In this industry 12-hour days are quite normal. This is true for deve= lopers and infrastructure people just as it is true for sales and marketing people. IT is very fast-paced= and ruthless industry.<= /p>
However, though you want to push your = team, you also want to watch out for burnout. People should have opportunities to take time out, and perhaps should also be assigned different types of proje= cts to alleviate boredom, stress and just give a breather.=
Managers must set an example themselve= s, as it is difficult expect commitment without displaying the same. It is hard to expect an 18-hour commitment to a UAT if you are not willing to put in the = same time yourself to the project. Also you should check on your team from time = to time – if you know they are putting in the time, even if you are not = on the project yourself, it makes a difference to your ability to assess what = they are doing during the long hours. It is a time to see if they are working efficiently, see how their morale is doing, and if you can give some relief= by helping them when they are stuck<= /span>
Much of this is a judgment call, and a= lso depends much on the productivity of each of your team members and the proje= ct lifecycles.
This is critical. We are a small organization there is little excuse for miscommunication. We need to keep each other informed at all times because = as a small organization everything we do trends to affect everyone else.<= /span>
So as you grant leave or let staff wor= k from home etc, you should be mindful of the impact that decision has on other managers. They may have a critical project that needs your team member on t= ap at all times, and they cannot afford the wasted minutes taken up to track him/her down.
Use the managers’ meetings; send email, read the progress reports and just walk over to the other managers’ desk to let them know what you are doing. If an important client is involved, you should check with them that it is ok, just in case = they have plans, which could have been in the offing just for those very vacation days you are planning off. It will save a lot o= f grief, flak, etc
The role of the manager is also to protect staff from all the crap that happens= in work so that they can just focus on doing their job. At the same time you h= ave your own job to do so don’t<= /span> go crazy over it.
If your team member gets flak for doing = what you told him, then you take the consequences of your own decision-making and deal with the person complaining to him.=
Most often, what happens is that members= of your team get loaded with work from other managers, shareholders etc which = are slowing them down, making them work long hours etc. Of course, the other managers and shareholders should have let you know. BUT, in case they don’t, you must teach your own team to communicate these extra tasks = to you so that you are aware of what shit has been dumped on them.
Sometimes someone who has not thought th= e task through dumps it on your team member. Often, the difficulty created for your team member is that they don’t know how to prioritize their tasks and this can create a lot of stress. Throw the ball back at the other manager to let them explain their job should be more important (or less as the case may be). This will often help out the priorities dilemma, and may also save the team member some late nights if they eventually learn that not all the proj= ects were due yesterday.=
You must be able to forecast your resourcing<= /span> needs into the next 6 months to 1 year. It takes about 1 month to hire anyo= ne and then it usually takes 3 weeks before that person starts work. So you ne= ed to always be at least two months ahead of the game in terms of knowing what resources you will need. <= /span>
Watch out for knee jerk reactions. Just because someone just left doesn’t mean you need to hire someone straightaway. Take time to reconsider the needs of your team, and what would suit it best in the long run. If your team seems under-resourced, it could = be a case of better planning, redistribution of work or reassessment of deadlines and priorities rather than a quick hire. Remember also that hiring someone,= can take up more of your time initially – first the screening of resumes, interviews etc, and then after the hire, training, managing them and getting them used to our processes.
You also need to plan your budget. Many managers will only have to worry about staff expenses (don’t forget t= hat for every hire, you don’t just need to consider salary but also office space, a desk and chair, and a PC etc…also training costs, bonuses (w= hen we can afford it), staff perks (extra days off) and also the impact on your= and your team’s time. =
A
budget is an organization’s plan for a forthcoming period, expressed =
in
money terms.
There
is, however, little point in an organization simply preparing a budget for =
the
sake of preparing a budget. A
beautifully laid out sales budget filed in the file and never looked again =
is
worthless. The organization s=
hould
gain from both the actual preparation process and from the budget once it h=
as
been prepared.
Therefore, budgets should not be prepared in isolation and then filed away; they actually have= a number of very important functions in an organization.=