
Managers make three mistakes when they try to run businesses. They do too much, they don't trust their people and they don't have enough skills. Here we explore an easy 3-step process to get your business back on track and get a life.
Managers work in increasingly challenging circumstances and workload seems to ever increase. There are opportunities to use the capabilities of each and every one of those who work with them. Yet many managers struggle on, carrying the burden until finally, that straw comes along which breaks the camel's (aka manager's) back.
So what happens? Well, managers choose not to give tasks away, for several reasons.
There is a knowledge gap.
There is a confidence gap.
There is a skills gap.
Learning that management is about having a clear 'Whats' about the organisations vision and goals and then enabling individual and team capacity to come up with creative and delivering 'Hows', is hard for some managers. They are the ones who complain that there is too much to do; that senior management demands are unreasonable. Giving work up is vital. There is now no knowledge gap.
Management is about letting go of some of the stuff to be done, trusting your people, once given clear criteria and goals and getting on with the true role, developing others, designing growth possibilites and being pro-active and not a fire-fighter. Slowly, they get it more and more right. Their results are better and better. There is now no confidence gap.
Providing all the training sessions in the world, won't make a jot of difference if the manager is not ready for learning and development. Sometimes, hand-holding works, with the support of a mentor or an off-line coach. They learn in a safe place and get better. There now no skills gap.
Gradually, the knowledge, confidence and skills combine to generate a better manager, team and business performance. Organizations can take the lead in helping managers get this right. It is worth it.
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 a>
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AP - Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.
Reuters - U.S. employers probably cut the most jobs in at least 34 years last month as the global economic crisis gathered pace and moves by policy makers took time to filter through to struggling companies.
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Reuters - Financial giant Citigroup Inc will support a proposal in Congress to rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Thursday.
Reuters - A legislative committee on Thursday recommended the impeachment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, citing widespread abuse of power including allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is urgently overhauling the $700 billion financial rescue package to broaden its scope beyond Wall Street, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
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AFP - Israel carried out new deadly air raids on the Gaza Strip on Friday as the UN Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire to end the two-week-old conflict in the Palestinian enclave.
AFP - European states deprived of Russian gas amid freezing weather were Friday hoping for a resumption of deliveries after the European Union claimed a breakthrough in the crisis between Moscow and Kiev.
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