How to manage a team?
13 September 2013
Read by 2817 persons
Management is a complex and inexact science... There is no point in applying ready-made recipes, each company is different. To successfully manage a team, listening and dialogue are the first essential steps.
Having responsibilities, managing a team, making decisions, setting objectives...
These are the ambitions of many young people entering the job market, particularly in sectors such as distribution. However, being a manager is not something that can be improvised. The manager has a sense of performance for himself and his team. And nothing is more difficult than managing a team. How to position oneself in the face of company demands? What pitfalls should be avoided? Are there any recipes? Should one question oneself?
Very strong pressure on the manager's shoulders
The position may be a dream, but it involves a lot of responsibilities. With a difficult economic situation, exploding costs and stagnant demand, companies are struggling to achieve their objectives. As a result, they are putting increasing pressure on the shoulders of managers (objectives and performance to be met). Because it is he who "makes the machine turn". The demands are therefore increasingly high, the tasks requested are increasingly numerous. It is therefore necessary to be strong, which is not given to everyone. Furthermore, the manager must be able to pass on this pressure to his team and ensure that everyone is moving in the same direction. An increasingly difficult challenge today.
Increasingly broad responsibilities
Today, the manager has increasingly broad responsibilities. But time remains the same. These professionals are therefore increasingly overwhelmed and stressed. The manager often finds himself alone facing his challenges. Requests are constant, hence the importance of knowing how to delegate. But delegating responsibilities implies a very good knowledge of the company's methods and its teams.
Listen and communicate
Whether you are a young manager or an old hand, the problem is the same. Before deciding, judging, modifying practices, you must know how to listen. There is no point in arriving all guns blazing, full of certainties. There is no miracle recipe: each company has its own culture, its own methods, its habits...
It is useless to apply a ready-made model or to try to replicate methods that have worked in the past. The objective is to start from scratch and to immerse oneself in the culture of the company and the team with which one works. The analysis of the situation is paramount. Dialogue with one's team is just as important. Indeed, managing a team means taking into account psychological profiles, histories, and experiences. The practice is all the more difficult if the manager is younger than the members of his team. Dialogue and listening are essential. It is necessary to be considerate, avoid confrontations, in short, to favor a gentle approach at first.
Give yourself the means to succeed
The manager isolated in his ivory tower belongs to the past.
Managing a team is, as we have said, listening to the company but also to the world. Curiosity is a nice flaw when one claims to manage men and women. It is therefore necessary to constantly listen to what is happening in one's sector but also in the world. General culture is important in this profession.
At the same time, the manager must have access to all the tools necessary for his work (Internet, communication tools, etc.). Otherwise, it will be difficult, even impossible, for him to carry out his missions.
O. Chicheportiche
6 questions to... Olivier Dardelin
specialist in sales training for Dardelin Conseils
How should a manager approach his function?
The answer can be summed up in one sentence: be quiet and listen. There are no ready-made recipes and it is impossible to apply a model. There is no one style that stands out from another. The temptation is sometimes great to apply methods that have proven themselves, but yesterday's successes do not guarantee tomorrow's successes. Initially, even if a manager already has considerable experience, it is necessary to analyze the situation carefully. When you change context, you change working methods and therefore management methods. You have to analyze and adapt.
Concretely, how do you do this analysis?
You need to ask yourself different questions: who are the teams, what is their seniority, what are the working methods, what is the company culture, how is it organized, what are the skill levels? It is necessary to take a month's time to do this work properly, because management is a complex science. It should be remembered that pressure is now increasingly strong on the shoulders of managers, regardless of the company or sector. So you need to be well prepared.
Are young managers aware of these difficulties?
Not really. In fact, university training, grandes écoles, and curricula provide many models but do not teach how to manage concretely. There is a real lie: you are not a manager at 25. You are in the process of becoming one. It takes several years to acquire a certain experience. But this is not the message conveyed in schools. It's not because you have a driving license that you know how to drive. It's exactly the same thing in management. Schools teach a lot of theory and little practice, hence a gap with reality. For some, it can be a cold shower, even for the most qualified.
In the face of pressure from management, should you know how to delegate?
Yes, but again, this is something that is learned. What to delegate and to whom? It often takes years of practice before you know how to delegate properly. It's not given to the youngest.
Should you question yourself personally?
No one really changes, you can evolve by optimizing your strengths, for example. The main thing is to listen to everything. This is the key to success in team management functions. It's not about questioning yourself, but about curiosity!
In two words, how would you define a good manager?
It's someone who has a sense of performance for himself and for his team.
Lemarchedutravail.fr
Posted online on September 13, 2013.
Having responsibilities, managing a team, making decisions, setting objectives...
These are the ambitions of many young people entering the job market, particularly in sectors such as distribution. However, being a manager is not something that can be improvised. The manager has a sense of performance for himself and his team. And nothing is more difficult than managing a team. How to position oneself in the face of company demands? What pitfalls should be avoided? Are there any recipes? Should one question oneself?
Very strong pressure on the manager's shoulders
The position may be a dream, but it involves a lot of responsibilities. With a difficult economic situation, exploding costs and stagnant demand, companies are struggling to achieve their objectives. As a result, they are putting increasing pressure on the shoulders of managers (objectives and performance to be met). Because it is he who "makes the machine turn". The demands are therefore increasingly high, the tasks requested are increasingly numerous. It is therefore necessary to be strong, which is not given to everyone. Furthermore, the manager must be able to pass on this pressure to his team and ensure that everyone is moving in the same direction. An increasingly difficult challenge today.
Increasingly broad responsibilities
Today, the manager has increasingly broad responsibilities. But time remains the same. These professionals are therefore increasingly overwhelmed and stressed. The manager often finds himself alone facing his challenges. Requests are constant, hence the importance of knowing how to delegate. But delegating responsibilities implies a very good knowledge of the company's methods and its teams.
Listen and communicate
Whether you are a young manager or an old hand, the problem is the same. Before deciding, judging, modifying practices, you must know how to listen. There is no point in arriving all guns blazing, full of certainties. There is no miracle recipe: each company has its own culture, its own methods, its habits...
It is useless to apply a ready-made model or to try to replicate methods that have worked in the past. The objective is to start from scratch and to immerse oneself in the culture of the company and the team with which one works. The analysis of the situation is paramount. Dialogue with one's team is just as important. Indeed, managing a team means taking into account psychological profiles, histories, and experiences. The practice is all the more difficult if the manager is younger than the members of his team. Dialogue and listening are essential. It is necessary to be considerate, avoid confrontations, in short, to favor a gentle approach at first.
Give yourself the means to succeed
The manager isolated in his ivory tower belongs to the past.
Managing a team is, as we have said, listening to the company but also to the world. Curiosity is a nice flaw when one claims to manage men and women. It is therefore necessary to constantly listen to what is happening in one's sector but also in the world. General culture is important in this profession.
At the same time, the manager must have access to all the tools necessary for his work (Internet, communication tools, etc.). Otherwise, it will be difficult, even impossible, for him to carry out his missions.
O. Chicheportiche
6 questions to... Olivier Dardelin
specialist in sales training for Dardelin Conseils
How should a manager approach his function?
The answer can be summed up in one sentence: be quiet and listen. There are no ready-made recipes and it is impossible to apply a model. There is no one style that stands out from another. The temptation is sometimes great to apply methods that have proven themselves, but yesterday's successes do not guarantee tomorrow's successes. Initially, even if a manager already has considerable experience, it is necessary to analyze the situation carefully. When you change context, you change working methods and therefore management methods. You have to analyze and adapt.
Concretely, how do you do this analysis?
You need to ask yourself different questions: who are the teams, what is their seniority, what are the working methods, what is the company culture, how is it organized, what are the skill levels? It is necessary to take a month's time to do this work properly, because management is a complex science. It should be remembered that pressure is now increasingly strong on the shoulders of managers, regardless of the company or sector. So you need to be well prepared.
Are young managers aware of these difficulties?
Not really. In fact, university training, grandes écoles, and curricula provide many models but do not teach how to manage concretely. There is a real lie: you are not a manager at 25. You are in the process of becoming one. It takes several years to acquire a certain experience. But this is not the message conveyed in schools. It's not because you have a driving license that you know how to drive. It's exactly the same thing in management. Schools teach a lot of theory and little practice, hence a gap with reality. For some, it can be a cold shower, even for the most qualified.
In the face of pressure from management, should you know how to delegate?
Yes, but again, this is something that is learned. What to delegate and to whom? It often takes years of practice before you know how to delegate properly. It's not given to the youngest.
Should you question yourself personally?
No one really changes, you can evolve by optimizing your strengths, for example. The main thing is to listen to everything. This is the key to success in team management functions. It's not about questioning yourself, but about curiosity!
In two words, how would you define a good manager?
It's someone who has a sense of performance for himself and for his team.
Lemarchedutravail.fr
Posted online on September 13, 2013.
