Introducing Management: A Practical Guide (Practical Guide Series) - Softcover

Introducing Management: A Practical Guide is a management book that will show you not only how to be a good manager, but how to become a great manager. This management book will reveal many important concepts and managerial skills, so that you learn what you need to know in order to become a highly capable and successful manager.
 
Within this management book you'll discover important ideas, strategies and managerial techniques, which can be applied to the opportunities and challenges that you face as a manager.  Whether you're a newly appointed manager, an experienced manager or an aspiring manager, this management book will reveal many important areas of good management that you need to know in to order to be an effective and successful manager.
 
A decade of experience in training managers at all levels has led us to realize that what is taught in a classroom, or covered in a typical management textbook, can sound great in theory but doesn't always translate to the real world. For example, many managers will have been taught about the importance of setting SMART objectives (ones that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) to focus their team on the things that matter. Yet how much use are perfectly-worded objectives if team members don't actually look at them until just before their annual appraisal, at which point they have to conjure up as much evidence as possible to show that they really have been focused on them all year?
 
Introducing Management: A Practical Guide is therefore grounded in reality, covering not only how to perform management activities appropriately but, crucially, how to make them work for managers like you, who have to manage in the real world. It shares very practical (and easily applied) solutions to issues that managers and their team face on a day-to-day basis.
 
In this management book you'll discover how to set yourself up to succeed as an effective manager:

• How to manage in the real world
• The pitfalls to avoid as a manager
• The most important aspects of management for you to focus on developing
• How essential communication is to being a good manager
• The key principles for effective communication
• How to manage the priority of your workload and that of your team
• How to manage the hiring process and make sure you're successfully bringing in what are the most important assets to your company, your people
• Understand your boundaries of responsibility, including what a manager is responsible for addressing and what they aren't
• The four key styles you can use you as a manager to influence others
• How to gain win-win scenarios and manage conflict
• How to motivate people by managing according to their values

You'll discover in this management book how to be a manager that is able to get the best out of your people:

• How to motivate people without needing to spend money
• The basic factors that have to be fulfilled to enable people to even focus on their work
• Know when and how to give feedback that is effective
• How to understand poor performance and manage these people to turn them into achievers
• The progression opportunities you can offer to individuals that motivates them
• How to create an empowered environment and the warning sides that you should not empower somebody
• The importance of the psychological contract with your people and how to avoid breaking it
• Techniques that enable you to provide negative feedback in a positive way, so that you motivate somebody rather than demoralize them
• Why goal-setting frequently doesn't work and how to set objectives that really motivate people
• The key steps to take to make an induction successful and help new joiners hit the ground running
• How to treat people fairly through work and reward so that they remain motivated
• How to treat people kindly when they have personal issues and the ways to keep them motivated and focused on their work
• The difference between stress and pressure and how to manage them
• How to manage people's expectations when it comes to promotions

You'll also discover in this management book how to be a good manager that is able to get the best out of your team:

• How managers can make a really positive difference to members of their team
• How to manage the work distribution amongst your team and achieve great outcomes
• How to align the goals of your team with those of the organization
• How to support change management in your team so that they see it as positive and sustain it
• How to assess whether your team is at risk from work-related stress
• How to identify the strengths of your people and leverage them by bringing them together as a team
• The different types of training your team should undergo and how to get buy-in from your people to grasp the opportunity

In preparing this practical guide to management we've interviewed many managers and employees, seeking to answer questions about what makes for a good manager and what makes for a bad manager. In addition to interviewing managers and employees, we've also surveyed them. This forms the basis of Chapter A: 'Assessment' and gives you the opportunity to measure and calibrate your own management capability. Since each question in the survey relates to an individual chapter in the book, you can use your survey results to prioritize which chapters to read first in order to identify areas for growth. You can then repeat the survey, say in three months' time, and use it as a way to measure your progress.
 
By employing the winning techniques and strategies in this management book, which we've identified will lead you to become a great manager, you'll be on your way to developing yourself into a stand-out, highly capable and successful manager.
 
Nothing gives us greater pleasure than hearing how readers of Introducing Management: A Practical Guide are benefiting and becoming even better managers. We invite you to submit your management success stories to us, whether they're large or small, so that we can hear how our readers are improving their management skills.
 

Introducing Management: A Practical Guide uses expert insights, real-life case studies and proven techniques to improve your management skills. It's full of practical exercises and activities to make you a better manager - right now.
 
UNDERSTAND YOURSELF and get the best out of others
 
MANAGE POOR PERFORMERS to create an effective team
 
EMPOWER YOUR EMPLOYEES and focus on your real duties
 
MOTIVATE YOUR TEAM to go the extra mile
 
Alison Price specializes in management development. She is founder of The Success Agents, a chartered occupational psychologist and a university lecturer in business psychology. David Price has led award-winning teams, has qualifications in management and coaching, and is a member of the Chartered Management Institute.