Management is more than just staffing or making sure tasks are completed. It’s certainly about that, but there is so much more to it than that. For starters management is really about getting the most out of your people. Employees need to be challenged and motivated. They need to get results because you need to get them results. It’s shame that not every employee is their best version of themselves or that not all employees want to come in and work hard. However, if you are smart with your employees you can get them to be productive for you, and more than you ever thought they would.
Employees are resistant to change and in the fast paced world of business things are changing all the time. When employees hear about new policies, or if they hear about new practices, there instinct is often to reject the policy and go with they way they have been doing it. Your job as a manager isn’t to enforce policy, but rather to educate your people on the policy. It’s important that you make them understand why a policy was put into place and that it isn’t to make their life harder, or more complicated. If you can explain to your employees why it’s in place then you have a better shot at getting them to follow it.
The other part of management is to make sure that you are motivating your staff to get the most out of them. Some are motivated by a sense of pride while others are motivated by cash incentives. It’s trying to figure out just how your employees view their jobs and then attempting to appeal to that part of them. It might mean taking the cash driven employee and putting them in sales, while taking the pride driven person and putting them in accounting. You have to know your territory in order to manage effectively so pay close attention.