Sometimes it's hard to explain to people what we do for a living. My father-in-law thinks we're a recruitment company, my dad thinks we're trainers, and my daughter thinks I just go to meetings. We do all of those things but it doesn't seem to encapsulate what we are really about. Funnily enough, I found a very good description of what we do on our Company's public liability policy statement. It says that we provide people management systems and policies for small to medium size business.
And we do. We provide systems and policies to help managers manage their people. We believe that by giving managers the right systems and tools they will have the confidence to lead their people to get their very best performance.
Even with the very best HR systems in place, leading people is always the hardest part of any manager's job. People issues are time consuming, stressful and take you away from your everyday job of running your business. Most managers will admit that regardless of how long you've been in the job, people are unpredictable and need lots of attention. Some say it gets easier with time (or age) and some say it never gets any easier.
Regardless of your business type, if you employ staff there will come a time when you will come across one of those uncomfortable situations with your people. Whether it's over performance, attitude or a personal issue - having the "conversation" is always difficult.
Don't just take my word for it. We have asked our favourite managers to talk about their most valuable learning experience. We hope that by sharing the experience of others you will gain an insight into different leadership styles and learn from the war stories of some really great managers. We hope you enjoy the read...
Brad Hume - Project Director (Aerospace Industry)
The best lesson I've learnt as a manager is that Leadership is not an easy thing to do. There are a lot of textbooks and training espousing the techniques and styles of well known Leaders. What a lot of these fail to get across is that Leadership is tough and requires constant vigilance. It takes courage to make decisions which can affect staff you have worked with for many years, it requires you to be consistent in your dealings with staff, and to model the behaviours that you expect of others. One of the most valuable takeaways is the knowledge that you will make mistakes and it is 'Ok' to admit them and fix it up. Staff respect Leaders who are willing to admit mistakes and it helps build a level of trust.
Michelle Zoetemeyer, Operations Manager (Heavy Industry)
How many managers have you had that seemed to go out of their way to make others around them look stupid, or who were always first to blame one of their team when things went wrong in the hope that this will somehow make them look more competent? Go on, admit it, you're thinking of someone right now, aren't you? That's alright, I don't need names to know that they exist. I have been fortunate to have had one myself, so I have a name imprinted on my brain right now also.
Sounds more like misfortune, I know, but I don't see it that way. Well, actually, at the time I thought I'd rather sit at my desk stapling my eyelids closed than work another day for this moron......but, luckily for me, in time (and not before high-tailing it out of there) I did begin to see things in a different light. As unpleasant as it was at the time, the experience was one of the best management lessons I have learned. Why? Because I knew exactly what a good manager wasn't.
We hear all too often what we need in order to be good managers, but not often enough about what we shouldn't be. Another manager of mine told me once that if you want to look good as a manager, you need to surround yourself with good people. I never understood the significance of his advice until I worked for a manager who thought the opposite. More importantly, it never really hit home until I became a manager myself. For those of you who have competent high-performing team members who you can count on, you'll know exactly where I'm coming from. Life becomes easy, stress levels reduce significantly, all of a sudden you feel like you can achieve anything, and you do! Put simply, good people makes good sense.
So, if it sounds that simple, why aren't more people doing it?
I believe that there are two main reasons why people aren't (you probably know many more). Firstly, good people are like numbats; there not as common as they sound. Finding good people takes time and effort and requires you to be clear about what you are looking for and what you need. In other words, you have to put a whole lot of effort in yourself. Secondly, having good people around you means that you actually have to let go of your ego and allow them the room to shine. As harsh as it might seem, it is not all about you. Put your hand up if you've ever thought that something was easier for you to do yourself than it was to show someone else how to do it. Or, if you ever wondered if you were the only person around here that knows how to fix this (I better stop with the questions; I can't type one-handed very well). If these thoughts are familiar to you then I suggest you have not yet got yourself totally surrounded, which really means you still have a whole bunch of work to do (in more ways than one).
Gavin Heydon, Major Projects (Civil/Industrial Construction Industry)
When you start working your way up the management tree you want people who work for you to be just like you, doing things your way, working to your priorities, staying back when required, formatting documents and spreadsheets in a certain way etc. After a while of being continually frustrated at your staff's performance and working a lot of additional hours to make up for their 'shortcomings' you realise that maybe, just maybe, the one that needs to change might be you. I learnt this lesson when my team and I were putting together a major project and two weeks before the deadline I came down with a horror flu and couldn't go to work for a week. Upon my return it was evident that the team did know what they were doing, in their own way, and that my way wasn't the only way. The project came in on time.
From that moment on I learnt that all people have something to offer and it is your job as a manager to identify their strengths and the things that motivate them. Getting work done through people is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.
Kylie Daniels, Area Manager (Banking and Finance)
An effective manager needs to form good management habits. As a manager, you can spend so much of your day putting out spot fires. Within the first year of my management role I found myself overwhelmed with how much my staff (who were managing staff of their own) needed me to 'help'. What I finally understood they needed was not for me to sweep in and 'fix it', but rather, to provide clear direction and support for them to find their own fix.
Geraldine, General Manager (Utilities Industry)
One of the things that gives me most satisfaction as a leader is helping and watching people grow and develop. It is an important leadership accountability and capability to be able to spot the talent in others, even when they may not see this in themselves. As a leader, your role is to challenge them to step outside their comfort zone to take on new challenges, engender self belief, provide guidance and support, offer a safety net if they occasionally stumble and encourage perseverance. Witnessing the delight that people take in their own success, large or small, provides enormous satisfaction and validation that you are making a positive difference to individuals and your organisation.
Chris Puslednik, Senior Project Manager, Rail Industry
The biggest thing that I have learnt since becoming a manager is that people are different and you need to treat them differently. Sounds pretty simple - you'd think that I already knew that before I got to be a Manager!
What I mean though, is that I grew up being told that I needed to treat other people the same way I liked to be treated. So that's what really underpinned the essence of my management approach.
But I very quickly learned that I needed to treat people, particularly those I was leading or managing, the way they liked to be treated. And this meant I really needed to know them and understand their preferences. Did giving them a big picture view about where we needed to head leave them excited and inspired about would could be OR nervous about the fact that they didn't have enough detail to be comfortable about planning for the future? Were they happy to wing it in a presentation to a client OR were they going to perform much better if I gave them plenty of time to develop a winning strategy? Did they thrive on very public recognition and appreciation when they nailed something at work OR would this be the source of near fatal embarassment? Well, I didn't know any of this up front - but I knew quick smart, it was my job to find out.
So here I am. I don't know everything about the people I work with. But I know a lot and I keep learning and insomuch make better judgements and have more effective interactions with my team all the time.
Brett Masterson, Area Manager (Retail Industry)
The best lesson I've learnt as a manager is that you need to know your stuff as far as OHS, HR issues and you're own people management skill goes. I've learnt in the past you can come unstuck very quickly if you don't know what you're on about. The thing they don't tell you when you become a manager is you need to have a good grasp of people principles and practices in your organisation, because you're the person your staff come looking to for all the employment stuff that concerns them - it becomes very embarrassing fairly quickly if you don't know yourself. My most rewarding moments as a manager are seeing the people underneath me better themselves and get promoted due to there own hard work and the effort I have put in to them as a manager in teaching and coaching them along the way.
The best lesson I've learnt as a manager is that Leadership is not an easy thing to do. There are a lot of textbooks and training espousing the techniques and styles of well known Leaders. What a lot of these fail to get across is that Leadership is tough and requires constant vigilance. It takes courage to make decisions which can affect staff you have worked with for many years, it requires you to be consistent in your dealings with staff, and to model the behaviours that you expect of others. One of the most valuable takeaways is the knowledge that you will make mistakes and it is 'Ok' to admit them and fix it up. Staff respect Leaders who are willing to admit mistakes and it helps build a level of trust.
Michelle Zoetemeyer, Operations Manager (Heavy Industry)
How many managers have you had that seemed to go out of their way to make others around them look stupid, or who were always first to blame one of their team when things went wrong in the hope that this will somehow make them look more competent? Go on, admit it, you're thinking of someone right now, aren't you? That's alright, I don't need names to know that they exist. I have been fortunate to have had one myself, so I have a name imprinted on my brain right now also.
Sounds more like misfortune, I know, but I don't see it that way. Well, actually, at the time I thought I'd rather sit at my desk stapling my eyelids closed than work another day for this moron......but, luckily for me, in time (and not before high-tailing it out of there) I did begin to see things in a different light. As unpleasant as it was at the time, the experience was one of the best management lessons I have learned. Why? Because I knew exactly what a good manager wasn't.
We hear all too often what we need in order to be good managers, but not often enough about what we shouldn't be. Another manager of mine told me once that if you want to look good as a manager, you need to surround yourself with good people. I never understood the significance of his advice until I worked for a manager who thought the opposite. More importantly, it never really hit home until I became a manager myself. For those of you who have competent high-performing team members who you can count on, you'll know exactly where I'm coming from. Life becomes easy, stress levels reduce significantly, all of a sudden you feel like you can achieve anything, and you do! Put simply, good people makes good sense.
So, if it sounds that simple, why aren't more people doing it?
I believe that there are two main reasons why people aren't (you probably know many more). Firstly, good people are like numbats; there not as common as they sound. Finding good people takes time and effort and requires you to be clear about what you are looking for and what you need. In other words, you have to put a whole lot of effort in yourself. Secondly, having good people around you means that you actually have to let go of your ego and allow them the room to shine. As harsh as it might seem, it is not all about you. Put your hand up if you've ever thought that something was easier for you to do yourself than it was to show someone else how to do it. Or, if you ever wondered if you were the only person around here that knows how to fix this (I better stop with the questions; I can't type one-handed very well). If these thoughts are familiar to you then I suggest you have not yet got yourself totally surrounded, which really means you still have a whole bunch of work to do (in more ways than one).
Gavin Heydon, Major Projects (Civil/Industrial Construction Industry)
When you start working your way up the management tree you want people who work for you to be just like you, doing things your way, working to your priorities, staying back when required, formatting documents and spreadsheets in a certain way etc. After a while of being continually frustrated at your staff's performance and working a lot of additional hours to make up for their 'shortcomings' you realise that maybe, just maybe, the one that needs to change might be you. I learnt this lesson when my team and I were putting together a major project and two weeks before the deadline I came down with a horror flu and couldn't go to work for a week. Upon my return it was evident that the team did know what they were doing, in their own way, and that my way wasn't the only way. The project came in on time.
From that moment on I learnt that all people have something to offer and it is your job as a manager to identify their strengths and the things that motivate them. Getting work done through people is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.
Kylie Daniels, Area Manager (Banking and Finance)
An effective manager needs to form good management habits. As a manager, you can spend so much of your day putting out spot fires. Within the first year of my management role I found myself overwhelmed with how much my staff (who were managing staff of their own) needed me to 'help'. What I finally understood they needed was not for me to sweep in and 'fix it', but rather, to provide clear direction and support for them to find their own fix.
Geraldine, General Manager (Utilities Industry)
One of the things that gives me most satisfaction as a leader is helping and watching people grow and develop. It is an important leadership accountability and capability to be able to spot the talent in others, even when they may not see this in themselves. As a leader, your role is to challenge them to step outside their comfort zone to take on new challenges, engender self belief, provide guidance and support, offer a safety net if they occasionally stumble and encourage perseverance. Witnessing the delight that people take in their own success, large or small, provides enormous satisfaction and validation that you are making a positive difference to individuals and your organisation.
Chris Puslednik, Senior Project Manager, Rail Industry
The biggest thing that I have learnt since becoming a manager is that people are different and you need to treat them differently. Sounds pretty simple - you'd think that I already knew that before I got to be a Manager!
What I mean though, is that I grew up being told that I needed to treat other people the same way I liked to be treated. So that's what really underpinned the essence of my management approach.
But I very quickly learned that I needed to treat people, particularly those I was leading or managing, the way they liked to be treated. And this meant I really needed to know them and understand their preferences. Did giving them a big picture view about where we needed to head leave them excited and inspired about would could be OR nervous about the fact that they didn't have enough detail to be comfortable about planning for the future? Were they happy to wing it in a presentation to a client OR were they going to perform much better if I gave them plenty of time to develop a winning strategy? Did they thrive on very public recognition and appreciation when they nailed something at work OR would this be the source of near fatal embarassment? Well, I didn't know any of this up front - but I knew quick smart, it was my job to find out.
So here I am. I don't know everything about the people I work with. But I know a lot and I keep learning and insomuch make better judgements and have more effective interactions with my team all the time.
Brett Masterson, Area Manager (Retail Industry)
The best lesson I've learnt as a manager is that you need to know your stuff as far as OHS, HR issues and you're own people management skill goes. I've learnt in the past you can come unstuck very quickly if you don't know what you're on about. The thing they don't tell you when you become a manager is you need to have a good grasp of people principles and practices in your organisation, because you're the person your staff come looking to for all the employment stuff that concerns them - it becomes very embarrassing fairly quickly if you don't know yourself. My most rewarding moments as a manager are seeing the people underneath me better themselves and get promoted due to there own hard work and the effort I have put in to them as a manager in teaching and coaching them along the way.
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