Jennifer Richardson reports.
As you climb the career ladder, management is likely to become an increasingly important – and arguably difficult – part of anybody’s job. And many pharmacists gain this responsibility very early in their careers, as branch managers. But how much do you really understand about what good management means, and how to practise it?
If the answer is ‘less than I’d like’, then you’re probably in the majority rather than the minority. Think about the reasons people are usually promoted – performance, potential, loyalty, their relationship with bosses, natural progression – ie not their management skills.
Yet one of the things that can most influence whether or not you enjoy the day-to-day reality of your job is the quality of the management you work under. Indeed, says talent management consultant Shona Kelso, the reason most people leave jobs is because of their relationships with their managers.
As with anything, you can improve your management skills with practice as you gain experience – but there are some critical foundations on which to base your progress, as well as common pitfalls to avoid.
The manager’s role
The first step is to understand the role of a manager. Managers manage people and teams, projects, workloads and resources.
Ms Kelso defines the role as “achieving results through others”, which includes:
• setting a strategy
• communicating this strategy to the team
• optimising the performance of staff against this strategy through motivation and support.
Three common sins of management to avoid, are:
• not communicating
• not delegating
• not providing support.
Communication
Don’t be fooled: great communication is not just (or even mostly) about what you say. In fact, one of the most widely quoted models of communication – that of Professor Albert Mehrabian – found that of meaning conveyed in spoken communication:
• just 7 per cent is in the words used
• 38 per cent is paralinguistic (sounds that are not words such as um, strength, pitch, stress and use of silence)
• 55 per cent is in body language.
Whole books have been devoted to the complexities of body language. Nonetheless, you can take simple steps to improve communication with staff by showing that you listen to them through: eye contact; signs of attention such as nodding and smiling; and avoiding distracted behaviours such as fiddling, yawning, slouching or gazing around.
In fact, says Ms Kelso: “Listening is one of the best ways of developing rapport.” And a way to facilitate it is through questions – a “key part of active listening that clarifies your understanding, establishes rapport and demonstrates to the other person that you are listening”.
The LISTEN tool gives a practical approach:
• Look and be interested
• Inquire by asking questions, and clarify meaning
• Stay on target and listen to the point
• Test your understanding
• Evaluate the message, identify the speaker’s purpose and analyse what is said
• Neutralise your feelings.
Delegation
Again, don’t be hoodwinked by your prior preconception of the word’s meaning. “Delegation is not abdication,” says Ms Kelso, “it is about developing other people – not reducing your own workload!”
Good delegation is, she says, down to three things: choosing the right tasks to delegate, identifying the right people to delegate to and delegating in an effective way.
What to delegate?
If you can answer yes to at least some of the following questions about a particular task, you may be in a good position to delegate it:
• Is this a task I should delegate? (Tasks critical for long-term success such as recruiting new team members may genuinely need your full attention)
• Is there someone else who has or can be given the necessary information or expertise to complete the task?
• Does the task provide an opportunity to develop another person’s skills?
• Is this a task that will recur in a similar form in the future?
• Do you have enough time to delegate the task effectively? (Time must be available for training, questions, tracking progress and rework if necessary)
Who to delegate to
The factors to consider here are:
• The knowledge and expertise the individual already has, and what time and resources you have to provide training.
• The individual’s working style, eg independence, and career goals.
• The individual’s current workload and whether subsequent reshuffling of responsibilities will be required.
How to delegate
The steps to follow are:
• Define the task, including major objectives and sub-objectives.
• Specify the resources available or that need to be obtained.
• Set a schedule, with review points as well as final deadlines.
• Describe procedures that need to be followed.
• Specify the delegate’s level of authority and to whom they report.
In summary, says Ms Kelso: “At first sight, delegating can feel like more hassle than it’s worth. However, by delegating effectively you can hugely expand the amount of work you can deliver.
“When you arrange the workload so you are working on the tasks that are highest priority for you and other people are working on meaningful and challenging assignments, you have a recipe for success.”
Support
There are several models of providing good leadership support, including situational leadership, which has been discussed in detail on this page (C+D, May 8, p30 or http://tinyurl.com/CandDleadership).
So, as a final note, how do you know if you’re getting management right? Well, aside from there being no mass exodus of those who work under you, Ms Kelso concludes: “Good managers create good managers.”
Jennifer Richardson attended a management training course delivered by Shona Kelso MA FCIPD (shona@kelso8.co.uk) through UBM