Management Mastery

Department Climate is essentially how the staff interact and treat one another as well as how they interact with clients and others outside of the department. 

A positive, respectful climate is essential to the successful functioning of your area. A negative working environment can handicap any department.

Ideally, you want to create or reinforce a climate where staff treat each other with dignity and respect, listen actively, ask productive questions, communicate constructively with candor and openness, and where staff feel support and have a strong connection to their work.

Everyone has clients -- that is who your department serves whether they are outside of your company or inside. Your first meeting with your client or clients after you move into your manager role is critical for setting the tone of your ongoing relationship with that client. In this episode we discuss the mood and tone you want to strive to set with your client. Even if you have been working with them before your promotion, as with everyone else, they will see you differently in your new role and you need to take advantage of the change to build or reinforce a positive, productive relationship with the client. We tell you have to do that.

The first meeting with your new boss can be one of the most important meetings you have. Even if you have worked with the person in the past, you are both in new roles vis a vis each other and this is the beginning of that new relationship. So it is important to start it off right. The first thing to remember is that it is the boss's meeting and you need to let them take the lead in terms of what is discussed and how the conversation flows. Nevertheless, you also want to be prepared by doing as much research as you can on both the boss and the department you will now be leading. You want to have a list of questions about such things as the boss's goals for the department, the relationship of the department to its clients, its strengths and weaknesses and any information about the prior leader of the department in terms of management style, etc. You also want to have as much information as you can on these issues so that you are able,if the opportunity arises, to show that you have done your preparation for the meeting. However, it is important that you only ask these questions and show this preparation, if and when the opportunity comes up. Above all, you must let the new boss set the tone and agenda for the first meeting and be prepared to come away with none of your questions answered if that is how the meeting goes. You will have other opportunities.

Listening is probably one of the most important skills a manager can have and most people feel they are good listeners. However, many are not. In this episode we discuss techniques for good listening and why they are important.

Everyone has clients. It is critical, no matter what your function, that you clearly understand who your clients are, what your clients need from your department and how to best meet those client needs. Clients can be in the company (e.g., other departments, company employees, etc.) or outside (i.e., those who buy your company's products or services). What is important is that you have a clear idea of who they are and how your department is meant to serve their needs. It is also important that you build an on-going relationship with your client(s) so that you are constantly aware of their needs and how well your department is or is not meeting them.

We discuss how to develop connections with coworkers and team members which is the all-important first step in developing successful and mutually rewarding personal relationships at work. We discuss the challenges in building such connections and relationships with one's staff. We also discuss ways of doing a self-evaluation of your efforts at building and maintaining workplace relationships at all levels.

This episode covers the importance of building and maintaining close, positive relationships with everyone a manager interacts with in the workplace. Good workplace relationships are key to anyone's success.

Balancing the competing demands of being a manager and having a healthy personal life requires discipline and planning.  We discuss why both are critical for success in both areas of one's life.

Almost every new manager suffers from at least one -- if not all -- of these concerns: 1) A lack of self-confidence -- that they really aren't qualified for the job; 2) A fear of the unknown challenges the new position may throw at them; and, 3) A fear of making mistakes.  We discuss each of these and present tips and advice on how to manage or overcome each of them.

The first meeting with your new staff gives you an opportunity to introduce yourself to the group and for you to get an introduction to them.  You will also get a sense of how they interact as a group.  At the meeting you can give an overview of your management style and your immediate objectives for the department.  In addition, you want to try to get honest feedback as to the perceived strengths and weaknesses, as the staff see them, as well as what they see as their recent accomplishments.