Management & Leadership Skills for New Managers

I attended this 2 day workshop on October 14 & 15. Both days were a whirlwind of information and techniques presented by Cherie Scott of Professional Training Dynamics. Cherie is an energetic speaker who demonstrates her techniques by acting out various scenarios which are often suggested by the audience. Some of the many points I want to remember:

A manager's job is to inspire, encourage, protect egos, and develop staff.

Right & wrong has nothing to do with leadership. Would you rather prove a person wrong and then have to deal with his/her lack of cooperation? Or would you rather acknowledge your differences and develop a compromise that gains the other person's cooperation?

You can't motivate anyone; you can only provide a motivational environment.

Principle of Substitution: When people are bored, they create conflict just to have something to do, or they make up something to talk about. If you don't fill the void, they will.

Acknowledge a person's concerns, but don't try to change the way s/he feels; that invalidates his/her feelings.

Encourage complainers to bring solutions to you along with their concerns.

Put a problem employee in charge of the behavior you want them to improve; have him/her lead a training session on it with other staff.