Management Training – Myth, Magic or Mayhem?
Copyright 2006 The National Learning Institute
Training courses! The most recent had been termed
“Management for Senior Officers†and had been a minor
disaster – all psychology and how to be nice to junior
officers. How to involve them, how to motivate them, how
to relate to them. Rebus had returned to his station and
tried it for one day, a day of involving, of motivating, of
relating. At the end of the day, a Detective Constable had
slapped a hand on Rebus’ back, smiling.
“Bloody hard work today, John. But I’ve enjoyed it.â€
“Take your hand off my f….ng back.†Rebus had snarled.
“And don’t call me John.â€
The DC’s mouth fell open. “But you said … “ he began, but
didn’t bother finishing. The brief holiday was over.
Rebus had tried being a manager. Tried it and loathed it.
If you are like Ian Rankin’s Inspector John Rebus (“Tooth
and Nailâ€, by Ian Rankin, St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 1996,
New York) who finds learning to be a manager difficult and
in fact loathes being a manager, or you love being a
manager, or you merely languish in being a manager, but in
any of these cases still find learning how to manage
difficult, then there’s some good news! Our difficulty
with learning how to be a manager is probably not to do
with “management†per se, but the way the learning is
presented to us and the different ways in which we all
like to learn. (Mind you, managing - being responsible for
the performance of others - is probably the second most
challenging task one can undertake, if you’ll agree with me
that “parenting†is probably the most challenging.)
If you’d like to make learning to be a manager a little
easier, then read on.
Each of us learns in a different way and at a different
pace, but researchers have found that in general terms, we
have a preference for learning through seeing, learning
through listening, or learning through moving, doing and
touching. To make it easy for us, Peter Honey and Alan
Mumford have identified four main learning style
preferences –
• Activists, who like to be involved in new experiences.
They are open minded and enthusiastic about new ideas but
get bored with implementation. They enjoy doing things and
tend to act first and consider the implications afterwards.
They like working with others but tend to hog the limelight.
• Reflectors, who like to stand back and look at a
situation from different perspectives. They like to collect
data and think about it carefully before coming to any
conclusions. They enjoy observing others and will listen to
others’ views before offering their own.
• Theorists, who adapt and integrate observations into
complex and logically sound theories. They think problems
through in a step by step way. They tend to be
perfectionists who like to fit things into a rational
scheme. They tend to be detached and analytical rather than
subjective or emotive in their thinking.
• Pragmatists, who are keen to try things out. They want
concepts that can be applied to their job. They tend to be
impatient with lengthy discussions and are practical and
down to earth.
Which is your preferred style of learning? Read the
descriptions over again, then make a mental note of the
description that best suits the way you prefer to learn.
You may find, that there are two styles that you can relate
to – that’s ok, you can take a bit of both (in my own case
for instance, I prefer the pragmatic approach, but at times
I also need to reflect to learn best).
Following are some tips on how to learn best about being a
manager, depending on your style.
Activists:
• Talk with your colleagues about how they have managed
difficult situations – invite them to lunch for a
discussion!
• Get involved in project teams – particularly at the start
of the project. Volunteer for the brainstorming or idea
generation segments, but not for implementation issues or
activities. It’s a good idea to take on the Chair’s role
so that you can direct others!
• Visit other organisations to see how they do things
(short visits only)
• Take part in business games
• If someone gives you a management book to read or
suggests you read a particular book, get someone else to
précis it for you and tell you about the “good partsâ€. If
it includes activities, go straight to these.
• Avoid conferences or training courses where you know
there will be a lot of theory presentations. If you have
to attend, make sure you ask a lot of questions to keep
yourself from being bored. Try taking a lot of notes or
drawing pictures during the “boring†presentation parts and
think about how the issues being raised could be used back
at work.
Reflectors:
• Take the time to watch people as they work – particularly
in groups and how they respond to one another.
• When you have just been through a difficult experience,
take some time off (an hour or two) to think about it.
Write down what went right, what went wrong and what you
would do differently next time.
• Keep a log of the management activities you undertake
over a one week period. Classify these activities under
“Leading†(setting the direction, giving the big picture to
your people) “Managing†(setting performance objectives for
people, following up on performance issues, and
implementing development initiatives for your team) and
“Operating†(doing the administrative tasks such as
budgeting, reporting). At the end of the week, spend a
couple of hours reviewing your log and decide where you
need to change your emphasis to improve your management.
• At least once a year, take a day or so off work and spend
your time reflecting on what has gone and what you need to
do over the coming 12 months to improve. Try to split your
reflection time between 20% reflecting on the past and 80%
focusing on what you are going to do in the coming 12
months.
Theorists:
• Undertake training courses and activities that are highly
structured. You will need to make sure that the training
is based on sound logic and reasoning and contains
interesting concepts.
• Because you are less likely to attend courses of an
“emotive†or “feeling†nature, go out of your way to do so,
keeping in mind the above point so that it won’t be too
painful for you!
• Seek out colleagues who have a similar learning style to
yours. Arrange to meet with them regularly. Make sure
that the meetings are well structured, have clear aims and
are based around a particular management challenge, concept
or theory. If there is an article or book on the topic,
ensure that both of you have read it first.
• Look for management development articles (The Harvard
Business Review is an excellent source). Send a copy of an
article to colleagues who think similarly to yourself – ask
them to read it and attach three or four questions that you
think are relevant to your workplace. Ask for their
feedback. If you really want to get into a management
topic in depth, the publication “Organizational Dynamicsâ€
is very good.
• Seek out interesting projects where the issues are
complex.
• Set yourself up as an “expert†in a particular field of
your work and encourage others to ask for your advice. Be
careful to see how the issue they raise relates to how you
might also improve your own management style.
Pragmatists:
• Find another manager whom you respect and who is
recognised as a good manager. Take a particular management
challenge or issue to him/her and ask them how they would
handle it.
• Look for training courses that have a particular
relevance to your industry and job. Make sure they include
plenty of feedback (such as 360 degree profiles, role plays
and active coaching from the trainer).
• Look for “management techniques†– e.g. principles,
concepts, techniques that will save you time.
• Look for management models. Ask some of your colleagues
(such as the Theorists) to show you how the “best
management concepts they know†work in practise.
• Avoid theory type training sessions, meetings and books.
If you buy a management book, make sure it has very short
chapters (one page is ideal!) with lots of “How toâ€. You
will probably enjoy books such as The One Minute Manager.
• Look for training videos that show you “How toâ€, but do
not dwell on theory.
• Get a trusted colleague to sit in on some of your
management meetings and give you some feedback on their
effectiveness. Make sure to ask him/her how they would run
them if they were you.
Does management training have to be painful? My own belief
is that the old saying of “no pain, no gain†should not
apply to learning about how to be a better manager.
Management training should be interesting, fun and exciting
and it can only be that way for you if it is designed to
suit your particular learning style.
I hope that some of the above tips on learning about
management have been useful – mix and match to suit your
own preferred style of learning. I would hate to think
that we might all end up like John Rebus, loathing being a
manager simply because we do not have the right
opportunities to learn!
I’m always interested to hear your stories about managing,
so if you have any, please drop me a line via
www.nationallearning.com.au or if you would like some more
information about any of the above or perhaps some free
tips or advice, you can contact me or get these at
www.nationallearininginstitute.com
Good luck with learning to be a manager.
—————————————————-
Bob Selden was once a manager. Since then he has worked
hard to try and help others to improve their management
skills. As Managing Director of the National Learning
Institute, he now spends a lot of time designing and
helping to design management development processes for
organisations and consultants. If you are a manager, Bob
would love to hear from you – he gives his advice freely to
any manager who is prepared to ask the difficult questions.
You can contact Bob via http://www.nationallearning.com.au/
