Manager's Minute 

When you've only got a minute for management you haven't got a minute to waste.

Management is an "OnGoing" and "Never Ending" process it's not something that you do in spurts, or when the need arises. If you only do it in spurts you might find that soon you are an "Ex Spurt", and if you wait until the need arises you might find that it arises as a crisis.

So the whole idea behind these mails is to create an ongoing and never ending training program to help you Spurt ahead in your career and Rise to the occasion.

At the moment we are going through the 6 primary needs of anyone who is being managed. Last week it was the first need "Let me know what is expected of me"

This week we'll deal with the 2^nd need. "Give me an opportunity to perform"

Remember that the art of management is getting things done, and to get things done you need to know what needs to be done, how it must be done, by when it must be done and who must do it.

------------------------------------------

The Cry of The Managed

2. Give me an opportunity to perform

The best way to grow your team members/colleagues/employees, is to give them work to do., Once you've made sure that they know what's expected of them, and you've made sure that the resources needed to do the work is available and accessible, get out of the way and let them get on with it.

There is nothing more frustrating than having someone do the work that they've just asked you to do, before you've even had an opportunity to attempt it.

This makes you lose confidence as you feel that you are not trusted or that you are seen to be incompetent.

Not letting others get on with the work that you delegate or that which is their responsibility is often a sign of an immature and or uncertain manager. There is a saying "If you want the job done properly better do it yourself" and while there is some truth in this there is also some arrogance and a lot of stupidity.

The arrogance? Well, what makes you think that you've got the corner on the "smarts" market? And, just an innocent question, were you born knowing how to do this, or did you learn? If you learned it, did you learn it by yourself or did someone else help you? If someone helped you to become smarter, shouldn't you pass the favour on?

The Stupidity? Well. Can you really do everything yourself? Do you like working 18 hour days? Do you like feeling overwhelmed? No. I didn't think so. If you took the time to let others get on with what they are doing and you get on with what you should be doing I'm sure that you would find that you had a whole lot more time.

Ah but! I hear you cry. What if they get it wrong? It's important that it gets done right. Sure it is. But with proper instructions and management you can minimise the risk, we'll talk about that next week. But the risk that you run if you don't let them do it is that it might not get done at all.

So this week look for ways to grow your team. Give them an opportunity to perform.

------------------------------------------

That's it for today, I look forward to your comments and experiences related to this message. Mail them to me at johan@motivate.co.za

PS: Please pass this message on to any of your business colleagues you feel may benefit from it.

To live your best life be true to the YOU, that you want to be.

Live with passion. Change your life from making a living to making a difference.

Live up to the reputation that you want to have.