I’ve recently been working with a group of managers who are finding it difficult to encourage their staff to evaluate their working processes in order to generate ideas for improvement (asking the question ‘what improvements can you think of’ was getting them nowhere fast).
My view is that it’s useful for staff to have a more [...]

Over the last 15 years I have worked with hundreds of managers, including team leaders and supervisors, in organizations of all shapes and sizes. Many of those managers were, by their own admission, reluctant to manage.

As I’m sure you know, there are many definitions of the term ‘management’. Here are three I’ve just found following a Google search:
“The process of getting activities completed efficiently with and through other people”
“The process of planning, leading, organizing and controlling people within a group in order to achieve goals”
“The activity of getting things done [...]

I’ve recently been working with Sara, a small business owner, helping her to develop a more focussed and structured approach to managing her staff’s performance.
Here she talks about her experience of working with me, the impact it has had on her staff’s performance and, importantly, the impact it has had on her confidence and wellbeing.
Over [...]

Managers often tell me that they focus most of their managerial attention on the “numbers” part of their staff’s performance. They set objectives for producing the right amount of work on time, meeting a deadline, achieving the % increase in sales or the £ of savings. They monitor the numbers and, sometimes, they give feedback [...]

So frequently the managers I work with seem to feel the need to gain permission to undertake probably the most important part of their role – managing their staff’s performance. They clearly know there are expectations of them as managers but they don’t feel they have somehow earned the right to manage.
Here’s an example:
“I don’t [...]