Do you delegate?

By Jacqui-HoganNo Comments
It's late in the evening and you are still in the office fixing problems. Or, you took your mobile phone on holiday, even though your partner said 'no work this time darling or I'll leave you / go on my own next time / drop your phone in the swimming pool (you choose)'. You may like to think that you are the only person who can sort out the end of month figures or code that little fix. You haven't shared the way to do things because, let’s face it; no one can do quite like you do. Sounds familiar? For most of your career, you are praised and rewarded for being a supreme expert. You work hard, accumulating experience, and become totally confident in your ability to solve problems. Over time, you find that you are being passed over for promotion because you are so good at what you do; no one can imagine you doing anything else. YOU need to delegate! To delegate...
Read More

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...
Read More

Mastering Meeting Management

By Jacqui-Hogan2 Comments
Mastering Meeting Management, is, for most of us, a chore. Most of us would really rather not have to have meetings, but they are hard to avoid. If, like me, you attend lots of meetings where you come away thinking 'what was that for?', then the following tips may help you to run your meetings more effectively. Be clear what the meeting is forMeetings are for sharing information and then making decisions based on that information. Nothing else. Limit attendee numbersDon't invite anyone (or attend) to a meeting if they aren't crucial to the purpose. The effectiveness of a meeting will drop off rapidly beyond about 6-8 attendees. Send out an agenda in advance of the meetingHow will people know how to prepare otherwise? Don't have AOB on your agendaIt just encourages the wafflers, the complainers and the unprepared. Put agenda items in order of importanceThat way you have a fighting chance of getting the most important stuff done. Set a time limit for the meetingThere is nothing...
Read More

Managing IT people is different

By Jacqui-Hogan1 Comment
Managing IT people is different Managing IT means recognising that IT people are different! Management is the art of getting the best from your team, without getting in the way of allowing them to use their skills to produce the best results. This is especially true if you are managing IT people. Before I became a manager, I used to be a Techie. I trained in the esoterics of software development until I could dash off the most perfect software code imaginable. My applications were works of art and in great demand. If you wanted your mini computer to go faster, I was your man (well, woman). I could even take a computer apart, explain what all the different bits did, then put it all back together and run a software demonstration. On the same computer. In front of a live audience. It wasn't until I became a manager, and became responsible for managing IT people, that I realised what a strange and unique bunch of...
Read More