time and attendance
outline
The inability by individuals, teams and organisations to manage time, attendance and their work costs millions. Every manager should pay attention to this, especially when it becomes a problem. If you don't, it does.
Setting and managing custom and practice is important: if a lax culture is allowed to develop, managing time and attendance will grow into a major problem which becomes increasingly difficult to resolve.
It is far easier to set clear boundaries at the outset and relax them when necessary or appropriate than to set no boundaries and then try to impose them on unwilling people when it becomes necessary and unavoidable. This applies particularly in teams.
Self-discipline usually develops as a result of external discipline imposed. Some people have a greater capacity for self-discipline than others. It is an unhappy fact of life that some will try and get away with whatever they can. Clear rules and boundaries will help to keep everyone operating to an accepted norm and standards. If time and attendance is managed by clear, well-understood rules and guidelines, and efficient processes, then time is freed to deal with more important things.
aim
To enable you to confidently manage time and attendance
objectives
- To understand what is required of you in managing time and attendance
- To understand company requirements regarding time and attendance
- To be able to formulate a time and attendance plan
- To identify possible, or actual, problems and their solutions
outcomes
- Ability to make an appropriate plan for yourself and your team
- Understanding and ability to clearly explain company and organisation requirements
- You will develop strategies, tactics and contingencies for dealing with difficulty, unwillingness and resistance
the disciplinary process
outline
Increasingly at work managers and all other employees are measured on their output. This does not necessarily mean that they are being effectively measured on their performance.
People being people, there are occasions when individuals either do not do the right thing, do the right thing in the wrong way, or over-step the mark in some way. Often this can be addressed through performance management, but there are occasions when difficulties must be tackled through the disciplinary process. Many managers shy away from this. They will do virtually anything to avoid the anticipated conflict inherent in initiating the disciplinary process.
Used in a planned and controlled way, the disciplinary process can be key to maintaining order and responsibility in a team; can help to control those who are pushing the boundaries in unproductive or harmful ways; can help the development of an individual by showing them that a particular kind of behaviour is not going to work and, in extreme cases, can start the process of getting rid of someone who compromises the overall effectiveness of the team.
aim
To ensure that you are able to effectively use a disciplinary process
objectives
- To understand your company's disciplinary process and how it works
- To have the confidence and judgement to use it appropriately and effectively
- To be able to plan, record, manage and terminate what might be a difficult meeting/process
- To understand the problems that can arise and be able to deal with them
outcomes
- Understanding of your organisation's disciplinary process
- Confidence of when and how to use it
- Ability to plan for, and deal with, any problems which arise.
- You will not give yourself excuses for not using the disciplinary process when it is necessary
succession planning
outline
One of the biggest benefits in developing those who work for you is that you are almost guaranteed to have one or more people ready, when the time comes, to step into your shoes. This frightens some managers, so they don't bother to develop their people: they would rather stand out as competent in relation to a bunch of incompetents than shine as a competent, confident developer of people surrounded by achievers.
Too few organisations these days are able to look to their own employees for the next generation of skilled people. Having to look outside for good, skilled people is an indictment of your ability to recruit, induct, train, coach, mentor and develop individuals and imbue them with the motivation and loyalty to want to work for you. Properly assessing and developing the individuals who work for you, using their capability and potential, is by far the simplest, easiest, most effective and cheapest way of finding your new deputies, team leaders and managers. Why would you even consider not doing it?
People who already work for you are a known quantity, they understand the culture of the company and they do not have to prove themselves in the same way as someone new to the company.
aim
To enable you to be able to identify, develop and groom individuals in your team for promotion
objectives
- To understand how to identify possible candidates for promotion by recognising potential and capability through competence and performance
- To be able to develop them through coaching, mentoring, delegating
- To monitor these individuals behaviourally ie by what they do and say
- To use feedback and Performance Management and Appraisal to control their development
outcomes
- Clear understanding of the importance of continually observing and assessing individual performance
- Ability to identify those with competent performance who have development potential
- Willingness to use succession planning to improve your performance as a manger
- Skills to use formal and informal appraisals with extensive use of behavioural feedback to manage this process
performance management and appraisal
outline
Increased competition, busy-ness and pressure at work means that performance is often not managed and assessed effectively and productively.
To get the best out of individuals and teams it is necessary to plan how best to deploy and develop their skills and abilities, as well as continually managing and reviewing their performance. For teams thisr esults in higher motivation, consistently good results and a better atmosphere in which to work. For individuals it will result in professional and personal development, increased commitment and consistently-improving performance.
Performance management and appraisal enables the manager to know what the team is capable of, what is going on at any particular time, better awareness and understanding of problems arising and what to do to solve them. It ensures a thorough knowledge of individuals and anything which might be needed to ensure their continued commitment and high-level performance.
aim
To enable you to manage and appraise individual and team performance rigorously
objectives
- To understand what results from good performance management and appraisal
- To analyse what is required to manage performance and be able to do it
- To have a blueprint for formal and informal appraisal
- To enable you to use performance appraisal as a developmental tool
outcomes
- Understanding of what performance management is and how to do it
- Ability to plan and structure an effective appraisal session
- The necessary skills to do formal and informal appraisals
- The skills to use PM&A to build involvement and contribution
- Understanding how PM&A helps individuals take responsibility for their own performance
matrix management
outline
'No man can serve two masters and be a servant to both.' (Matthew ch.6 v.24). Matrix management seeks to disprove this by attempting to have individuals taking responsibility for different aspects of their job by reporting to different managers and formalising this in the reporting chain.
At its simplest, matrix management implies that a manager can build good relationships with individuals who do not report directly to him/her and get results from them even though they may have no sanction in the formal reporting chain. This is not always easy, especially since the formal manager may see what you are doing as cutting across their authority.
In attempting successful matrix management your personal management style is key to success.
aim
To understand and be able to work with matrix management
objectives
- To understand matrix management as a concept
- To analyse the fundamentals of building good, professional working relationships quickly
- To examine the difficulties and what can go wrong
- To understand how your personal management style will work, or not, in matrix management
- To identify what you might need to tune to get better results
outcomes
- A clear understanding of matrix management
- Anticipation of problems and making plans to deal with them
- Planning how and with whom to build relationships
- Ability to clearly quantify the minimum result required
- Ability to use contingency planning to negotiate obstacles
managing reward and bonus schemes
outline
Many individuals will perform better than their basic job description if they are rewarded appropriately for their extra energy. If everyone gets the reward, whatever the performance, then it will come to be seen as a right not as a reward. The expectation of rights leads to complacency and laziness. Reward and bonus schemes exist to recognise performance beyond the norm. If a bonus becomes expected for normal performance then that performance will suffer.
Reward and bonus schemes are intimately linked with performance management and appraisal and should be approached as a method of developing individual and team performance.
Properly structured and managed, reward and bonus schemes lead to higher motivation, better team-working and increased commitment.
aim
To be able to rigorously manage reward and bonus schemes
objectives
- To understand what the purpose of a reward and bonus scheme is
- To understand and be able to quantify the qualification criteria
- To be able to explain this at the outset to team-members
- To be able to clearly explain degrees of success, and failure to qualify, to team members
outcomes
- Ability to set appropriate levels of qualification for your team
- Understand how to explain clearly what the qualification and measurement procedure will be
- Ability to use reward and bonus schemes to manage success and failure in your team
management styles
outline
Individual management style does not usually develop according to what works best. Managers are not sufficiently flexible, objective and pragmatic to be able to analyse individuals and situations dispassionately enough to make best decisions at the time. Management style is frequently driven by pressure and stress. When these are at high levels managers habitually revert to their usual style, whether it is effective or not.
Many managers are largely unaware of their personal management style, unclear about its strengths and weaknesses, ignorant of its impact on others and unable to vary it much according to the requirements of different situations and individuals. A small improvement in any of these areas will have an exponential effect on your ability and results as a manager.
Constant awareness of your management style, the ability to tune it to the situation you are in and to the differing motivation, commitment, skills, attitude, needs, moods, strengths and weaknesses of the individuals you are managing, results in individuals who strive to do their best, teams which are effective and successful performance.
aim
To understand your own Management Style and how to alter this as and when necessary
objectives
- To understand your own Management Style, when it works well for you and when it doesn't
- To understand alternative Management Styles
- To identify what kind of different situations require different management styles
- To understand how different individuals respond differently at different times to different treatment
- To be able to deliberately choose an appropriate management style at times of stress and pressure
outcomes
- A clear understanding of your own management style
- The ability to use your natural management style, with other styles as appropriate, to achieve results
- An understanding of the practical relevance of this to your required performance as a manager
- Ability to use a blend of management styles to get the best possible results in different situations with different individuals
- Ability to do all of the above in a conscious, rational manner
