5 A Day from ACAS

[Ruthierhyme]

5 A Day from ACAS is a new management article to help leaders with some fundamentals ..

Five-a-day management fundamentals to help raise UK productivity

The full "Five-a-day Management Fundamentals" are:

Managing work now and in the future

• Gains, develops and communicates clear objectives
• Develops action plans
• Monitors work and workloads regularly
• Sees projects/work streams through to delivery
• Looks collaboratively for ways of improving work processes
• Ensures work cover, manages rosters/workloads and discusses these with staff, deals with absence fairly
• Maintains effective working relations with senior managers

Managing the team

• Keeps team members informed on what is happening in the organisation.
• Holds regular team meetings with time for questions, discussion and views to be expressed
• Encourages every member of the team to participate
• Allocates and delegates work evenly among the team in line with their level of responsibility and experience
• Allows the team to take some responsibility for work, work allocation and problem solving
• Solves team problems quickly and effectively if need be by taking the issue up to senior management while keeping people informed
• Takes part in the work of the team and joins in
• Mixes with the team in work and at rest times
• Protects the team from excessive work demands, knows when and how to say 'no'
• Understands health and safety issues and the importance of well-being at work
• Helps new team members to assimilate, prepares for team members to move on inside or outside the organisation

Managing the individual

• Takes part and takes care in selection and induction to welcome and support the individual
• Sets challenging yet achievable job and performance expectations/targets
• Gives autonomy to let the person get on with the work
• Often reviews performance and gives regular constructive feedback
• Rewards good performance quickly from 'thank you', 'well done' to small gifts or prizes
• Takes appropriate action where there is evidence of poor/unsatisfactory performance, giving opportunities for improvement
• Takes the formal appraisal process seriously showing preparation and time allocation giving priority to development and the future
• Provides coaching and guidance on a regular basis, and is patient
• Shows concern, and takes action, when there are signs of stress, listening in confidence when help is requested or needed
• Shows interest in colleagues and their lives

Managing conflict and difficult situations

• Deals with possible conflicts early on, informally where possible
• Acts as a mediator if appropriate showing impartiality and listening to each side
• Talks through grievances and problems as soon as they are raised, before formal procedures are used.
• Knows when to ask for advice and help, using HR as a resource and when to pass the matter on to another manager
• Ensures the formal disciplinary and grievance procedure is used when necessary
• Seeks evidence from all sides before making a decision
• Works constructively with employee representatives
• Looks for causes behind the symptoms
• Focuses on the future

Managing yourself

• Understands own stress and ways of dealing with it
• Develops, as far as possible, an open relationship with the boss
• Learns from experience especially 'near misses'
• Looks for support and advice from other line managers and provides support to them
• Keeps on top of work loads and communications
• Knows what is going on in the organisation, keeps in touch and takes part in discussions.
• Is aware of own strengths and weaknesses and develops self confidence by dealing with issues
• Has a strong interest in personal development and learning.
• Believes in the values of integrity and professionalism and expects it from others
• Seeks to be a role model and a leader
• Has a sense of humour and can show 'the human side'

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Another great resource is - The Model Workplace handbook

These are fab statements, oddly familiar if record keeping .. that could be used for self development, appraisals, reflection, assessment, criteria, observations, attainment, goals ..