What is a manager?

By Jacqui-HoganNo Comments
Remarkably, over the past few days I have been asked no fewer than five times, “what is a manager?” Help is at hand! What is management? Before we can ask ‘what is a manager’, we need to ask ‘what is management’. The dictionary definition is “the control or administration of an organisation or group of staff.” In practice, it includes one or more of these: Coordinating internal and/or external resources to produce a complex deliverable Helping people to work together to effectively deliver stuff Helping people work together towards a common organisational goal A check on consistency of approach and expenditure, usually through agreed processes Developing individuals skills in a way that enhances their contribution both now and in the future Resolving conflicts and poor performance issues A helpful relationship based upon mutual trust and respect How much of each of these your organisation has (or needs) depends upon things such as size, age, sector, complexity of deliverables and culture. Benefits to an organisation of having managers Managers do the process of...
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Better Business Management

By Jacqui-Hogan1 Comment
When was the last time you took a step back to think about what you want to do to make your business more successful? Here are are few simple, but essential, tips: Define clear Goals As far as possible, define the goals in terms that can be measured. Then, as changes are proposed (and they will be!), you have a set of well understood and defined criteria against which to measure the impact and relevance of changes. And there will be changes! More>> Review your business plan You do have a Business Plan, don’t you? A good business plan will save you time, money and possibly even your business. But you need to look at it regularly, and update it as business conditions change. If you haven’t reviewed it in the last year, take some time to do it now. More> Innovate Are you stuck for ideas to take your business forward? If you’ve got staff, they can be a fabulous source of new ideas to improve...
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