Essential Management skills

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Essential

Management Skills


Objectives

Understand how business professionals think

Learn how to implement and maintain effective processes and procedures

Gain understanding of the basics of financial management

Review your time management skills

Understand the importance of effective and appropriate delegation


Basic management skills and competencies


8 ‘Cs’ of business thinking

1. Customers

2. Competencies

3. Costs

4. Competition

5. Channels

6. Communications

7. Change

8. Cash


Managing your team as a business Identify and communicate:

Responsibilities

Deliverables

Expectations

Clear, well-written reports

Understanding and completion of business-focused activities

Meeting SLAs and OLAs

Professional development


Consider this

A good outsourcer tells their customers about the

value they provide for the money they require.

They are willing to be evaluated on their ability to

meet predetermined and agreed upon performance

measurements.

Your team/department must be willing and able to

do the same.


Processes and procedures

Processes and procedures define how we are supposed to be doing our work

Documenting and following them will:

Ensure a better-quality, consistent and efficient service

Create a resourceful environment - people are more productive

Build the confidence of support

Build the confidence of customers


Identifying, defining and developing

1. Is the process important for the business

goals?

2. Is there only one person who knows how

to perform a task?

3. Do many people perform a task, but one

way is preferred?

If you can answer “Yes” to any one of these

questions, you need to define your processes


Benefits By identifying, defining and developing

processes and procedures you will: Provide visibility into areas of quality, productivity,

cost and scheduling

Improve communication and understanding

Assist with the planning and execution of plans

Provide information on areas requiring improvement (through lessons learned)

Help facilitate the analysis and/or execution of organisation-wide processes

Provide a sound basis for training and skills assessment


Policy, process and procedure definitions

1. Policy. A set of ideas or a plan of what to do in particular situations that has been agreed officially

2. A process defines “what” needs to be done and which roles are involved

3. A procedure defines “how” to do the task and usually only applies to a single role


Should have…

Every IT Service Management team should have

documented standard processes and procedures to

cover their routine activities.

Every team should also have processes and

procedures to cover abnormal/unusual situations or

events.


Financial management

This requires basic understanding of:

The cost of providing IT services in your

organisation

The alignment and apportionment of IT

services costs to business processes

How your team provides value for money

Your team’s cost in helping the organisation

achieve its objectives


Financial management - the activities

The ABC of financial management

Accounting

Budgeting

Costing/charging


Return on Investment

Return on investment (ROI) is a method

that all businesses use to justify the

investments they are making

One formula for calculating ROI is:

value-cost / cost x 100


Budgeting terminology

These are everyday financial terms used

by all departments

Capital costs

Operating costs

Fixed costs

Variable costs

Direct costs

Indirect costs


Costing and charging

How costs of services are determined

Options available for charging for services

Value and benefits of charging for services


Charging options

Cost – the price we charge is the cost we incur

Cost plus – the cost we incur plus or minus x%

Going rate – the price we charge is comparable

to those of other internal teams or similar

organisations

Market rate – the price we charge matches that

charged by external suppliers

Fixed price – a set price agreed with the

customer for a set period of time


Writing a business case

A business case is a structured proposal

for business improvement that should be a

decision-making aid for your organisation’s

decision-makers

Its purpose is to provide sufficient

information to enable them to reach the

most appropriate decisions


Producing a business case

Identification of tangible benefits of your proposal

Identification of intangible benefits

Identification of quantifiable (tangible) savings over a specified period of time

ROI report - written in business language

Options and recommendations with associated benefits clearly documented

Business presentation to summarise and sell your proposal


Personal time management

You are at your most efficient the day

before you start your annual leave.

If you really want to, you can be this

well-organised every day.


Two questions

1.What would happen if we spent company

money with as little regard and as few

safeguards as we spend company time?

2.When was the last time you formally

reviewed how your time is spent?


The F words

The three F words are

Effective - having a definite or desired effect

Efficient - productive with minimum waste or

effort

Effortless - seemingly without effort; natural,

easy

Personal time management

How you apply these F Words to yourself

and your daily routine


Developing good personal time management

Identify your current habits

Identify your PAY

Identify your timewasters


Typical timewasters

Emails

Phone calls

Not saying ‘no’ enough

Meetings

Procrastination

Changing activity

Inefficient manager

Monitoring staff

Staff training and development

Long-term objectives

Deadlines

Unrealistic deadlines


Solutions

Diarise

Manage expectations

Urgent vs important

Organising your

activities

Prioritising

Validating

Clean and tidy

environment

Delegating

Quiet time

Report writing

Project management

approach


Delegation

One of the most important management skills

Delegation NOT abdication

NOTE: it is not a technique for freeing up your time


Good delegation

Saves time

Develops people

Grooms successors

Motivates people


Poor delegation causes

Frustration

Demotivation

Confusion

And will fail to achieve the

required task or purpose


Indispensable means un-promotable

Effective delegation is crucial for effective

succession

A manager’s key task is ultimately to

develop a successor


How to delegate properly

Delegation by results:

"Can you do...... for me, and get back with...... by half past..... Thank you.”

(Still requires planning, with clear and achievable targets and goals identified)

NOTE: The person delegated to must have the skills required for the task, or access to them


At all costs avoid soft options

e.g.

"as soon as you can"

"there's no great hurry"

"let me know when you have finished"

"do your best"

These do not help the person allocated the

task


Delegation and SMARTER

Any task delegated must be ‘SMARTER’

Specific

Measurable

Agreed

Realistic

Timescaled

Ethical

Recorded


Essential feedback

We need to know –

What customers (and colleagues) need from our team

Customer and colleague perceptions of the services currently received


The 9 steps of successful delegation

1. Define the task

2. Select the individual or team

3. Assess ability and training needs

4. Explain the reasons

5. State required results

6. Consider resources required

7. Agree deadlines

8. Support and communicate

9. Feedback on results


Levels of delegation

1. Instruction only

2. Investigation and analysis only

3. Analysis and decision a shared process

4. Greater freedom on analysis and decision-making

5. Analysis and recommendation – but decision made by boss

6. Trusted to assess the situation and options but boss controls timing

7. The delegated person begins to control the action

8. Delegated person decides and takes action – reports back to boss on outcome

9. Delegated person decides and takes action – not required to check back with boss

10. Delegated person is given strategic responsibility


Summary

Basic management skills and competencies

Definitions of policy, process and procedure

Implementing and maintaining effective processes and procedures

IT Financial management basics; the ABC of financial management; commonly used terminology

Personal time management The Eff words: Effective; Efficient; Effortless

Timewasters and time stealers

Delegation using SMARTER; 9 steps of successful delegation; levels of delegation


Thank you for watching

Leadership & Management

Essential Management skills