SOFT SKILLS

For a new project manager

Have you just been promoted to a leadership position? Pallavi Jha offers a few effective tips on team handling

Many companies are growing quickly nowadays, and they have to manage a lean workforce. Increasingly, young people are promoted to managerial positions without any training. Many top executives believe that if you do a job well, you can supervise others doing it. They don’t realise how different the skill sets are. So what should you do to be successful if you are a young, new manager?

You are being asked to become a leader, to take responsibility for others, and to make decisions that may affect many people. And while your job may have unique components that may require supervisory training in the future, there are basic leadership skills that can get you off to a good start.

The basics of leadership

Leadership is not an accident, it is not something people are born with. Dale Carnegie did a great deal of research into history’s great leaders, and found that their leadership styles are nearly identical. In addition, they all took their position extremely seriously; they recognised that leadership has unique challenges and they worked hard to meet them.

Need to plan

Perhaps the biggest difference between your former job and today’s is the need to plan. I’m sure you’ve already discovered that you must plan the day’s work so that your team is more efficient. However, you also need to define a vision for your department and communicate that vision to every employee. Take stock of the current situation in terms of that vision, then decide which specific areas can be improved upon. To achieve this improvement, you’ll need to set goals and plan the steps towards reaching them. This will include budgeting time, money and people. The result is your project plan for the short-term and the long-term.

Track results, revise plans

With your plan in place, it’s important to measure your progress towards meeting your goals. Use both quantitative methods that will show productivity changes, as well as less formal methods such as employee feedback. Be sure to track budget performance, and numbers such as employee turnover or absenteeism. After giving any new tactics a reasonable amount of time for success, don’t be afraid to revise them if they’re not working well.

Stay focused

Your job is to manage your team or department, not become friends with your employees, or do their jobs if they can’t. I assume you have a job description, but I would encourage you to sit down with your immediate boss and find out exactly what expectations he has from you. Go through the job description line by line. Prioritise the tasks and find out what any vague wording really means. This is the time to ask questions, to point out any areas that you feel aren’t really under your control.

Involve team members

Chances are your older subordinates have seen it all. They will be able to tell you what is a potential problem and what isn’t. If you’re asked to solve a problem, go to them for advice before you try to come up with anything on your own.

Avoid massive changes

New managers frequently want to come in and totally redesign processes and systems to show how smart they are. There may be some tweaking necessary, but for the first few months I suggest you keep things the way they are. Chances are that the systems and processes have developed over time, and have good reasons for being in place. If there are major areas you could change right away, you’ll still look like a more thoughtful manager if you go through the process of asking for advice and getting input from others and then proposing the change in a reasonable timeframe.

Be a good communicator

Employees respect a manager who tells them what they did wrong without blaming them. You’ll go far with your employees if you admit a mistake you made before you talk to them about the mistakes they made. Employees also look for a leader who knows when to pass on important company information, when to go to the next level with a problem, when to crack down on the rumour mill. Remember, your job is to facilitate the work of your employees. Communication is the best way to do that.

The author is managing director, Dale Carnegie Training India. She may be contacted at pallavi_jha@dalecarnegie.com