Essential management skills
April 17, 2009
We all know that with the current economic difficulties, all organisations are tightening the belt and as I’ve said before, one of the first budgets to be cut for HR can often be the training budget. At the same time, managers are leading organisations through possibly the most difficult times a lot of them will have experienced, so their knowledge and skills are crucial elements in the continuing success, or even survival, of the company. Whilst it may not be appropriate for HR to go cap in hand to the board asking for money to purchase management training, it is extremely important to recognise the management skills that are needed to pull the company through the dark times, and HR needs to help managers develop, maintain and use these skills and techniques:
Delegation
A lot of employees may have changed their roles due to changing organisational needs. In many places, mass redundancies will have led to the expansion of survivors’ roles and a lot of people may be experiencing stress and anxiety at the possibility of having to carry out tasks they do not know how to do. Good delegation is key. Aspects of good delegation include explaining a task in detail and step-by-step, using questioning to ensure the person taking on the task has understood, following up any requests with an email to re-iterate what has to be done (giving clear instructions and timescales for completion) and using positive reinforcement when the person does a good job. At the moment in my organisation we are developing ‘how to’ guides for all tasks carried out, which will be used in training new starters and to delegate tasks to people who have not done them before.
Communication
At the moment, what is needed most of all in organisations is good, clear, honest communication. You only have to watch the news any day of the week to know that many companies and therefore jobs are at risk, and if your company is one of them, probably the worst thing you can do is try to hide this fact, because rumours will happen regardless of how secret the company’s information is kept, and in difficult times a lot of managers will show the staff that there is something to worry about in their behaviour, which leads onto the next point.
Staff engagement
Managers, more than ever, have an important task of finding out what will engage their staff and making it happen. Clear communication and a general air of positivity are two good things to start with. If the management team promote an atmosphere of doom and gloom, then no clever HR interventions will eradicate it. Managers need to focus on solutions rather than problems, and keep reinforcing positive actions and good work instead of continually highlighting faults. That is not to say that problems and issues should be ignored, but that the way this is communicated could make the difference between a member of staff who is engaged with what they have to achieve, even if they are dealing with a massive issue, and one who is close to despair and is therefore no more use in the office than they would be sat at home watching daytime TV!
HR has such an important job in a recession, and sometimes it’s important to get back to basics in terms of what you have to deliver to the organisation. No amount of theories, tools and strategy models can replace the day to day support, advice and encouragement HR can give management, which is a vital element in making sure organisations are equipped to survive and even prosper in the economic downturn.
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