Michael Heath - Management

By demonstrating high performance behaviour, you’ll be challenging your employees to raise their game. You don’t have to say, “Be more like me”. They’ll soon pick up the message.

Demonstrate excellence and professionalism at all times.

It doesn’t take long for people to spot a fraud. You’ve probably already spotted one or two at work yourself and already know how important it is to be authentic and honest with employees. But how do you build the real trust between manager and staff?

What your team wants from you is consistent behaviour. They need to see an underlying logic to your decision making. They need to feel that you are always fair – even if they don’t like a decision.

This consistency always comes from a stable character. But what is character? Character is usually a combination of the qualities that make up an individual. Some qualities can be attributes such as ‘determined’, ‘persevering’ or ‘enthusiastic’. Other qualities are more to do with your moral code: ‘honesty’, ‘integrity’, ‘fairness’.

case studyA recently promoted manager called me to ask for advice. “The trouble is I don’t do small talk, Michael. I know that managers should, but it’s just not what I’m good at.” “Then let them know” I suggested. “Sit them down and tell them what your strengths are. Then tell them what you don’t do.

They’ll understand.” And they did. I also think they appreciated her honesty. She started off being truthful from the start. She avoided pretending to show a quality that she didn’t really have. But she showed a great quality that she did have: always wanting to be honest with her team.

Now do the following exercise:

1 Identify your character traits.Take a sheet of paper and write all of the qualities you believe you have. Try to identify at least 10 to 15 traits.

2 Agree the traits.Show these traits to someone who knows you well. A partner, friend or colleague who will give an honest opinion.

3 Mentally ‘sign up’ to these character traits.Make a pact with yourself that this is the ‘real you’ and the behaviour you will always try to demonstrate.

4 Keep these traits with you.Put the list in a discreet place where you can quickly find it.

5 Use this list of character traits for your tough decisions.Next time you have a tough thing to do, make sure that it reflects the character traits you signed up to.

Your employees may question your decisions but should never have cause to question your character.

Managers seldom talk about their ‘image’ but let’s be clear: you have one. The way you dress provides visual clues to the sort of person you are. Casual dress may be cool, but smart casual is coolest of all. Think about it. You don’t deliver thousand-dollar messages in one-dollar suits.

Perhaps you think I might be overestimating the impact of your appearance? Then let me point you to the election race between Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy in 1960. People still say the reason JFK won was because Nixon hadn’t bothered to shave. The people in makeup couldn’t hide his 5 o’clock shadow. You don’t win trust looking like a gangster.

one minute wonderLook around for someone else in your organization who always manages their image well. How do they do it? What are the ways that they make sure they look the part? What can you learn from them and introduce as part of your own appearance?

“Most things are judged by their jackets”

Baltasar Gracián y Morales, 17th-century Spanish writer

■ So what does smart dress do?It neutralizes people’s opinion of you. Instead of concentrating on your ill-fitting trousers or joke tie they concentrate on you and your message. When you dress professionally, then people assume you are a professional. You look the part.

■ Image doesn’t stop with clothes.Looking well groomed equally sends positive messages out about you. It tells people you care about the small stuff and that detail matters. So if you travel in a car, make sure it’s tidy. When you open your briefcase, don’t lift the lid on a mass of papers and clutter. If your cell phone or mobile rings, don’t have a ringtone that’s so awful people make remarks about it.

■ Last of all, what about your desk?You must make sure that you look like you have everything under control. Remember, a manager’s job is often about managing detail. An untidy desk sends out the wrong messages to your staff and colleagues.

All managers sell. We sell ideas, opinions and concepts. But, as any salesperson will tell you, people buy people. How you look either helps – or gets in the way of – that process.

Like it or not, people are going to judge you on your appearance.

Being the boss doesn’t mean being bossy. It means dealing with difficult situations fairly and skilfully. Aggression may get quick results, but you soon lose respect and loyalty. Asserting yourself is different. It’s about getting your point across but keeping people with you. Being strong – but always being fair.

■ You are going to have to deal with conflict.It’s part of what we managers do. But you can still say what you want to say and keep the respect others have for you. How? By making sure that you show respect to others.

■ There’s a big difference between aggressive and assertive managers.Aggressive managers make their point – but in a way that ignores the rights and feelings of the person they are talking to. The

case studyTwo colleagues, Dev and Suki, argued and ended up not speaking to each other. Both complained separately to the manager and demanded that she deal with the situation. Unfortunately, the manager decided that they were “two adults and should sort it out between themselves”.

But over the next few months the situation just got worse. What was the result? Not only did both Dev and Suki eventually leave, but two other colleagues left as well, fed up with the bad atmosphere! Because the manager was afraid to deal properly with the situation, things got much worse.

“He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty” Lao Tzu, Taoist philosopher of ancient China

person then feels hurt and resents the manager. Worst of all, they may even show this through sabotage and non-co-operation. An assertive manager can make the same point – but makes sure that they respect the rights of who they are speaking to.

Let me show you. I could have a disagreement and say, “You don’t know what you’re talking about”. Notice how this not only passes judgement on the message, it passes judgement on the person as well. How much better this might be if I said, “I’d like to talk about where we disagree”. This time I’m concentrating on the facts, not the person. This is why assertive people are so strong – they have a need to get at the truth, but make sure they don’t make enemies when they do so.

Dealing assertively with conflict is an important skill every successful manager must master.

People used to worry about keeping their desk tidy. Now it’s also about keeping the computer desktop tidy. Then there are the interruptions, the telephone, the meetings…Follow these nine tips to get rid of the time robbers in your life.

1 Be clear about what you want to achieve.Do the one minute wonder exercise opposite.