7 Shocking Truths and Yet Most Don't Know Them

Through discussions with people in my How to Be a Better Manager courses, I realized that many people, despite working for over 3 decades, have grossly mis-understood the 7 common concepts in management.  As a result of this wrong view, they do things the wrong way and wondered why they have lousy results.  Now you have the chance to know these 7 truths and not be thrown around.  The 7 most common mis-understood concepts are:

1.  Teamwork
Many people thought that if the staff get along well with little conflicts, teamwork is good.  Some people even think that if they go for offsite teambuilding training, teamwork will be improved automatically. There are even those who think that as long as there is harmony, teamwork is excellent.

Nothing can be further from the truth. Teamwork is defined as nothing but Together Everyone Achieve More, with Achievement as the main criteria.  So if the team get along well but the performance is mediocre, there is simply no teamwork!  On the other hand, if the people quarrel but together can beat the competition, teamwork is good! 

2. Delegation
Many people think that if I delegate the work to you, it is your responsibility to get it done right.  Also, many people do not do anything other than delegating the work.  For example, they do not teach and guide people how to do the work.  Most importantly, they do not give people sufficient authority to the person to do the job well.  So in reality, they are not delegating but simply abdicating! 

Truth is that delegation is about delegating the task but the responsibility stays with you.  Also, you have to consider if the person that you delegated the task to is competent and has the time to do the task.  If not, there is simply no delegation as the task will be thrown back to you later!

3.  Customer Service
Customer Service is not about niceties or doing everything to please the customer.  It is also not about over-servicing until the business makes a loss.  Services that are way beyond your core business are not considered customer service but entertainment service.  

Successful companies will tell you that customer service is nothing but solving customer's problems and make them feel good with a profit.  It is about service from the heart and not serve from head to toe. 

4. Communication
Communication is not about public speaking, talking well and having good voice.  True communication is the response you get, and many a times silence could be the best form of communication.  The ultimate in communication is about connection, whereby people are not just convinced but also connected to you. It is beyond impressive or elegance. 

5. Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing are never about selling more and more goods and services to people.  Sales and marketing is never about selling but about buying.  It is about creating the conditions for customers to buy by themselves.  The best salespeople don't sell, they simply plant the seeds and nurture the plant and attract customers to buy the plant.  

6. Finance and Accounting
Many people think that bean counters are just people who churn out reports and squeeze every cent to maximise profits for the company.  True finance and accounting is about creating sustainable growth and delivering healthy profits to not just the shareholders, but also other stakeholders like customers, suppliers, government, employees and society at large.  

7. Management
This is the most mis-understood concept.  Management is never about managing people but managing time, resources and energy.  People can never be managed but their energy can be managed.  You manage people's energy by inspiring and motivating them to greater heights and make people better than themselves. 

By Andy Ng of Asia Trainers, details at here. Related articles in management include:

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