New Managers

Answers to your questions

Some recent questions:

1. How can I best give instructions and support?

It's worth giving yourself time at the start of the day with your staff to decide what needs doing. This can be done informally in a chatty way, or more formally if that is what works best for the staff. Remember that it's what works for them that matters. It can be useful to ask the staff what they plan to do today, and what they need from you to be able to do it well.

2. How can I best manage my own workload while being responsible for others?

This is often a kind of balancing act. Yor work may be separate from your staff's or it may be linked. Once again it's useful to start the day with a pause for thought.

As a manager you need to be flexible and adapt your timetable to emergencies as well as plan for your overall outcomes. The important thing is to be able to manage an emergency without being thrown off your main direction and purpose: so when something unexpected has come up and you've dealt with it, give yourself time to reassess what you'll do for the rest of the day.

3. How do I keep my focus on overall outcomes as well as on the day-to-day details?

It's important to manage your time in such a way that you manage long-term goals as well as dealing with the urgent things that come up. You will have your own ways of managing your time: review the basic principles of time management to see what you can improve in the way you're working.

4. What's the best way to deal with potential conflicts? (to be answered shortly)

5. How do I maintain credibility and respect, especially when I'm not an expert in some of my staff's specialities? (to be answered shortly)

6. I'm worried about managing poor performance? What are the key ideas for that? (to be answered shortly)

7. Will I be able to work effectively with different kinds of people and diversity in general? (to be answered shortly)

If you have any questions you'd like answered, please fill in the form on this page.