Weekly Management Tips

This list of tips is intended to help you focus on the key issues that are important to your success as a manager. (If you would like to contribute a tip to this list, email it to me.)

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This Week's Management Tip

#67: You have to make a difference. The group you manage has to be more effective, more productive with you there than they would be if you were not. If they are as productive without you, there is no business sense in keeping you on the payroll.

From The File Drawer (management tips from previous weeks)

#66: Anyone can steer the ship in calm waters. What will set you apart in your career is how you perform during the tough times. Don't become complacent and relax just because things are going well. Plan ahead for the downturn.

#65: Don't Limit Yourself. The difference between leaders and managers is that leaders do not set limits on themselves. There are enough people trying to limit what you can do. Don't be one of them.

#64: Leaders create change. If you lead, you will cause changes. Be prepared for them and their impact on people within, and outside, your group. If you are not making changes, you are not leading.

#63: Practice what you preach. To lead, you have to lead by example. Don't expect your people to work unpaid overtime if you leave early every day. Don't book youself into a four star hotel on business trips and expect your employees to stay in the motel off the freeway.

#62: You Can't Listen With Your Mouth Open. Your associates, your employees, your suppliers, your customers all have something of value in what they have to say. Listen to the people around you. You will never learn what it is if you drown them out by talking all the time. Remember, the only thing that can come out of your mouth is something you already know. Shut up and learn.

#61: Change Or Die. Your business must change to survive. As much as we wish it would, nothing stays the same. Some industries change faster than others. Some markets are more fixed. To stay in business, you need to watch both and change as they do, or before.

#60: Appearance Does Matter. It may be a sad commentary on our superficial society, but appearance does matter. Whether it's the packaging on your product, the first impression you make when calling on a new client, or your company's web site people notice how things look. They care about how things look and make judgements about you and/or your product based on appearance.

#59: Get your people involved. It's a lot easier to get employees to stand behind a company decision if they have the opportunity to participate in the discussion. Management still has to make the decision. but if they have had the opportunity to make their point of view known employees are more apt to stand behind the ultimate decision, even if they don't agree with it.

#58: People Aren't Mushrooms. Mushrooms grow very well when kept in the dark and fed horse manure. People, on the other hand, function better when they are kept in the loop and given straight info.

#57: The Best Product Doesn't Always Win. Just having a better product is not enough. You have to let your customers know about it and why it's better. Then you have to convince them it is better.

#56: Dare to Dream You can't move forward if you are always looking back. You can't find new solutions if you believe 'it can't be done'. Have the courage of your convictions and go after it.

#55: Train Your Supervisors The key to your business success is the productivity of your employees. The key to employee productivity is their perception of their immediate supervisor. Invest in training your supervisors and managers. It will pay off.

#54: Don't Spray The Apes. This week's tip is too long to post here, but too good to not share. Click here to read how to avoid organizational paralysis.

#53: "Early to Bed, Early to Rise... Work Like a Dog, and Advertise." With apologies to Poor Richard's Almanac, this adage reminds us just how important advertising is to the success of any business. Hard work isn't enough. Customers have to know your product or service is available.

#52: Work On Your Weaknesses First. In any position or job you find yourself, there will be things you do well, some you do okay, and some you don't do so well. To improve yourself, and increase your value, work first to improve in those areas that are your weakest.

#51: Know Your GPM. In engineering, gpm is gallons per minute, a design criterion. In Management GPM is an acronym for Goals, Plans, and Metrics. To achieve your goals, you must first determine what your Goals are. Then you have to develop a Plan that gets you to your goal. Finally you need Metrics (measurements) to know if you are moving toward your goal according to your plan

#50: Set an example. "One of the most significant parts of a manger's job is for them to become a positive role model that can pull a team together and deliver the level of service expected from their customers." (This tip is from Eileen Sparrow)

#49: Focus your energies. There are a lot of demands on your time, but your time and energy are limited. Focus on what is important to you and do that first. It is better to do a few key things well than to do lots of things, but none of them well.

#48: Listen to your employees. It doesn't make any sense to spend all that time and effort to find and hire the best people if you are just going to ignore their input. (Thanks to Donah Oliver, Website Manager at Wall Data, Inc.)

#47: Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Goals you set for yourself, or others, should be Specific, Measurable, Achieveable, Realistic, and Time-based.

#46: Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.

More Management Tips

• 1998 Weekly Management Tips (2nd Half)
• 1998 Weekly Management Tips (1st Half)
• 1997 Weekly Management Tips

If you have any comments, or would like to submit a tip, contact: management.guide@about.com

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