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Cracking the Management Code: The 5 Keys that Money Cannot Buy

For decades, businesses have been trying to discover the formula for the 'perfect' manager.  There are tons of books, blog posts and editorial articles out there, and even training courses on how to be a better manager.  While I cannot claim to have unlocked the secret theory of management, discussions with bosses and managers since 1987 revealed the following 5 traits of a 'perfect' manager:

1. Know How to Be Tough
Many managers are know to be tough to themselves, tough to their customers and sub-contractors and even tough to their families but soft on their team members. The reason is the lack of people working due to the tight labour market and the ban on foreign workers in many industries.  As a result, managers are too pleasing and let the subordinates climb over their heads. 

On the other hand, there are some managers that are too tough that they become abusive, aggressive and hated by people.  Such managers end up with zero staff and have to work till midnight.

The middle path is the right path: Tough on the Problem but Soft on the People.  This means that the manager must engage his team and love them. Yet when there is a problem he can be tough.  As a result, he is feared but highly respected by people. 

2.   Collaboration
I've met many managers that are very confident, but being confident does not give you the right to be a jerk.  Successful managers collaborate together and support one another.  A little bit of friendly competition is fine, but not office politics that kill people. One easy way to see if your manager is collaborative now is to see how he helps other departments achieve their goals.

3. Understanding of Human Psychology
To understand people is to know why the behave in a certain way and know how to influence them to your thinking without forcing them.  One way to tell if your manager understands human psychology is to ask him to organize training session to get all the staff to come back on Saturday (assuming Saturday is not a working day).

4. Know How to Sell
Selling is about persuading and influencing people and not just about selling products and services.  Negotiation itself is selling. If a manager cannot sell his ideas, how is he going to work?  Whenever we use force to get people to agree to us, people will use more force to defend their position.  Thus it's good that managers go for sales training to help them improve their managerial skills.

5. Research Skill
The ability to research and come up with solutions that people have not thought of before is a vital skill but seldom taught in schools.  Managers are supposed to be the expert and know how to answer tough questions, but if they don't do their homework they will look like an idiot or a conman. 

By Andy Ng, Chief Trainer Coach with Asia Trainers, details of courses are at here.  If you too want to get the best out of your career, come for our best-selling management course since 2006 How to Be a Better Manager. It is on 4 Mondays 2 pm to 5.30 pm on 6/4, 13/4, 20/4 and 27/4. This course covers the modules on Leadership, People Management, Team-building and Communication.  Details are at here (note: limited in-house training is available, subject to a minimum of 5 pax. Call 6225-1784 Idah or text to Andy at 82014347.   

THE MANAGER AS CHALLENGER (new)
Your Key to be a High Performing Manager
Date   :  7 May 2015 Friday,  2 to 5.30 pm
Venue : The Plaza 02-346 7500A Beach Rd   
Fee: $298 each, $199 each for 2 & above, $149 each for 4 & above, $199 each for 8 & above
Forget about the manager being a leader or change leader. A manager must be a challenger for him to be effective. Yet we see many managers afraid of challenges. The buck stops here. A manager is hired to tackle challenges, if not, why have him in the first place.

Firstly the manager must challenge himself, his team and his organization to do better. To challenge people, the manager does 3 Ts well: Teach, Take Control and Touch Hearts. 

Whether you are a new or experienced manager, come for this newest course taken from Damien Dixon best selling book "The Challenger"

Note: PIC 60% grant is available for this course. You can also use the Quarterly Training Credit (QTC) to offset 25% of the course fees. Call 6225-1784 for details
Power-packed Contents Include:
  1. Reason why most managers are not effective and what to do about it
  2. The Manager as Challenger: an old but forgotten concept
  3. The 3 Tools of a Challenger: Teach, Take Control and Touch Hearts
  4. How to Teach for Insights
  5. What to do when you counsel your team
  6. Five ways to Take Control of all Situations: Bigger Role, Delegate, Audit, Outcome Driven and Dominate all situations
  7. What to do when you are being challenged by your team?
  8. How to Set Targets that Challenges People Beyond
  9. The 10 Proven ways to Touch Hearts without Tears
  10. Using the Power of 5 Love Languages to communicate better
  11. The Samsung Way to Uplift 150,000 people overnight
  12. How Steve Jobs pushed people with Limitless concept
  13. The Ultimate of a Challenger: Realize our dreams
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