Management Mastery

Major changes can be upsetting in any organization, no matter what kind of change it is. The manager’s responsibility in such cases is to communicate clearly and effectively about the change as much as possible in order to keep rumors and unnecessary anxieties at a minimum. We’ll discuss several of the pitfalls in this kind of situation and how managers can avoid falling into them in this episode of Management Mastery.

Power dynamics are essentially the ways in which influence and control are manifested among individuals or groups and how they impact or controls relationships and interactions.  Power Dynamics include both formal authority as well as informal influence, They exist in both the workplace as well as in social settings.  We will examine power dynamics over the next few episodes as they are a critical factor in being successful as both a manager and a member of a team.  We will start by talking about how to identify them and understand how they operate in a group.

Do you know your boss’s goals and specific objectives? If you answered “Yes” to that question you’re ahead of a number of your colleagues. If you answered “No” then you have an opportunity to make up ground. We’ll discuss some ways to do that in this episode.

The minute you get promoted, you will no longer be the same person to your boss, your colleagues or your new staff.  In this encore episode of Management Mastery, we cover these changes and how to deal with them.

When overseeing a project in their department, the manager must continuously evaluate progress and make the decision when to wind down the project.  We covered, in a previous episode of Management Mastery, the manager’s role in monitoring the progress of a project.  In this episode, we cover the steps important to the successful winding down and conclusion of any project. 

We’ve discussed defining the problem a project is meant to address, selecting the team for the project and conducting the initial team meeting.  Ideally, once the project is underway, the manager’s role becomes one of monitoring the team’s progress to ensuring its success.  The project needs to be managed through a clear, efficient, operational structure if it’s to be successful..  That’s the topic for this week’s episode.

After understanding the project and choosing the best staff to achieve success, we now move to the important initial meeting with staff.  This meeting, if handled well, will dramatically increase your odds of having a successful project.

While it’s easy to say, “A project is only as successful as the people behind it,” it also requires time and attention to get the process of selecting the team right.  Finding the right balance between technical skills, social skills, and interpersonal fit are all important considerations.  Selecting the best team for a project is the subject of this week’s episode

Managing a project is a complex process influenced by a range of factors that can make it challenging, both on a personal and an organizational level.  We’ll look at managing and overseeing a project in this episode beginning with defining the problem.  In future episodes we’ll examine setting up a project team, monitoring team progress, making course corrections as a project progresses, ongoing evaluation of team management and the manager’s role before, during, and after the project.

The ability to make decisions Is one of a manager’s most important skills.  Making a good decision involves having a clear focus on your priorities and then choosing between two or more options.  Doing it well shows business acumen, confidence, leadership and, sometimes, even courage.  Doing it poorly creates doubt in the minds of your management, as well as your staff, about your leadership skills and abilities.