Real Management Dynamics

Many companies pride themselves on offering opportunities for growth inside the company, preferring to promote from within if at all possible. It’s a good policy that encourages loyalty and reward for a job well done, but for the novice manager – recently awarded a senior role in the company he or she may have worked in for years – it comes with a few additional difficulties.

You may now be in charge of people you previously worked alongside as a coworker. Your new peers may well be other senior managers who used to manage you. If you are not given any advice or training to handle this transition, it can be a tough one to pull off.

If you start your new job with ‘all guns blazing’, for instance, you risk alienating your new team who struggle to accept this new stricter, more aggressive you. Especially considering you were drinking alongside them in the bar complaining about the boss as well only one week or month ago.

It won’t work if you try to...

“I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun” – John D. Rockefeller

There are a wide variety of difficult employees that you may face as you progress through your management career. Whether it’s dealing with a lazy employee, a toxic worker, an employee who is disrespectful or rude to you, absenteeism, people who request a pay rise or a member of staff with a potential substance abuse problem, and many more.

Dealing with personnel issues can be some of the toughest work you’ll ever have to do, so you want to be informed and up-to-date on the latest laws and management thinking. The step by step solutions we provide in the manage difficult employee course have been gained from years of my own personal management experience, plus ongoing discussions with those in very senior managerial roles, whom I have been fortunate enough to know.

In this section, I want to quickly discuss why some...

It’s a known fact that younger managers often find it difficult to manage older employees. According to the Chartered Management Institute, 60% of senior managers in the UK report that younger line managers struggle to gain the most out of knowledgeable older workers because they manage them poorly.

Uneasiness about age difference often prevents the two parties from forging productive working relationships. The issues could be on both sides. Research shows that ageism often occurs at line manager level. Think carefully about the choices and assumptions you’re making in regard to your older employees. Ask yourself: would I still think that way if they were younger? If not, I’m sorry to say it but you’re guilty of ageism.

Assuming older workers will want to retire at a certain age, for instance, or that they will struggle to learn new skills or won’t be ambitious near the end of their career can cause untold distress to the workers in question. It...

Managing employee misconduct is one of the most difficult tasks that a manager is required to handle. If you want to be successful in managing the employees on your team, then it is necessary to have a plan in place before the misconduct occurs so that you will know how to handle each situation. Following these guidelines will help you to stay consistent with all employees- and consistency in management helps you to create a positive working environment and maintain equality among the staff on your team. The last thing you want is to treat employees differently.

[Note: it is always best to seek out professional advice instead of simply relying on the information in this article, and the author will not be held responsible for anything that happens as a result of your actions. Everything stated here are the opinions of the author.]

In order to stay consistent with your management and effectively help the employees understand the expectations, it is necessary for your company to have...

Failure to handle difficult employees is possibly the biggest weakness of new and old managers alike. At heart, all managers want their team to get on, work productively together, do the job effectively and, ideally, be a pleasure to work with. What we don’t want is one or two ‘bad apples’ in the bunch who upset co-workers, interrupt productivity and efficiency, and, worse, ‘taint’ other easily-led workers with their grievance.

Nigel took over a small team at his new company who had been together for two years. He had been warned that their previous boss was ‘failing’, hence his replacement, and that his inability to lead properly had influenced the team negatively.

Most people were glad to welcome a new manager, especially one with Nigel’s experience. However, there was one employee who would never be happy no matter what he did. This ‘toxic’ employee quite clearly hated her job and wanted others to be as unhappy...

Knowing how to manage others starts by knowing how to manage yourself. Each of us starts with existing preferences, workstyles and aptitudes that may be different from the people we manage, and having a framework to help determine what the best approach is for a given team or individual can make what you already may know how to do that much faster and more efficient.

Leadership styles is a complex topic and there is no right or wrong style, no silver bullet. Each will have its advantages and disadvantages. And it is your job as a manger to recognise when and how to use each one.

First, lets look at the most common forms of leadership style categories that exist:

Dictatorial style

This is when a manager is operating like a dictator. They make all the decisions, how things are done, when things are done. And if you fail to follow them, you will be severely disciplined or punished. They do not allow others to question a decision they have made or their authority. Some more passive...

How to Mentor An Employee. You’re going to need to make a lot of decisions when you join the big or middle leagues of management; indeed, it’s no great stretch to say that it can often be overwhelming. Perhaps one of the very first things you’re going to want to decide is the not-so-insignificant matter of what type of boss you want to be.

Do you see yourself issuing orders for others to follow, secure in the knowledge that if they do things your way, it’s going to get done? Or perhaps you see yourself more in a paternal or maternal role, guiding your junior employees so that they reap the benefit of your experience. You could even be the sort of manager that prefers listening, offering suggestions and then letting your subordinates make the decisions.

Let me give you my take on this based on my personal experience and hopefully save you a little time while you ponder this question: if you can, try like Hell to avoid the former. Authoritarian bosses (do as I...

I once had a boss tell me that I should spend my time telling my employees what to do, rather than bother to lead and learn how to motivate my employees. Needless to say, I didn’t buy into that philosophy and it probably explains why he was a deeply unpopular manager.

His problem, and a common one for managers old and new, was that he didn’t get to know his team as individuals. In his case, he didn’t want to – he believed being ‘touchy feely’ hampered productivity – but all too often, managers are either too busy to spend time with their team or their own empathy skills are sadly lacking.

Why does it matter? Well, let me just say this: until you know your team as people with their own personalities and motivations, you are never going to be a truly effective boss. Ignoring an employee’s ‘human side’ is one of the quickest ways to undermine their efficiency, commitment and creativity.

Yes I know, you’ll...