Welcome Readers,

My name is Michelle Yvette and I am really excited to share some great management tips and techniques with you. First let me give you some general information regarding my background. I have more than 25 years of management experience which includes; lower, middle, and upper management. Of course every rung of management still must answer to a higher authority. Even as President of a company I was still responsible to the board of directors.

My goal is to offer you ideas and tips to help you become an even more valuable asset to your company and also a well respected manager to your employees.

Even with college these subtleties are often hard to nail because they come from hands on experience and often learning from our mistakes.

I hope this information is helpful to you and I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions.

I will be adding new tips, techniques or strategies so please check back often to see what is of interest to you.

I wish you all happy and satisfying careers.

Sincerely,

Michelle Yvette

Note: These are just suggestions. Please be sure to check with your company before implementing.

As a salary employee you can get the recognition you deserve. Try being at your desk (working) at least 15 minutes earlier than your regular start time. This is 65 hours a year that you will be donating to the company but the benefit of being seen as a dedicated employee will be well worth it.

Some employees choose to put in the extra 15 minutes at the end of the day however they do run a risk. It is very likely your employer may question if you are having trouble meeting your deadlines or handling your work load.

If you are not a salary employee you can still come in 15 minutes early and wait to punch in at your regular time.

Many managers find themselves overwhelmed in a mountain of paperwork or projects and wonder how they got there. If you find yourself in this situation then gather your projects and paperwork in neatly organized files. Ask YOUR manager for a meeting. Tell your manager you need help to manage your responsibilities in a way that meets his/her needs. This will give them a sense of reassurance that you take your responsibilities seriously.

Ask your manager what is priority and the deadlines. If you find conflicting deadlines on too many projects then ask your manager to reconsider the deadlines and priorities. Once this has been resolved you can then take a cleansing breath.

Now that your organized, when a new project or paperwork is put on your desk you can immediately ask the priority of the job and deadline. If it conflicts with what you are already working on then ask your manager to make a decision about where they would like this new assignment to fall within your other responsibilities.

Keep these notes in your planner or in a notebook. You can even put a sticky note on the project or paperwork with the priority and deadline and when you spoke to your manager concerning this. This is a wonderful way to respond to your manager when they ask where a certain assignment is at. It puts the responsibility back on them and you can very nicely ask if they would like to change the priority of the assignment and what it will take the place of.

This strategy takes the heat off of you, and keeps you organized and efficient.

Note; you can always ask your manager if they would like to delegate some of your assignments to someone else (if they see you have too much on your plate). However, be sure to keep the assignments that will put you in the spotlight and only give up the assignments that are mundane and without merit.

Do you have the authority to delegate? If the answer is yes, USE IT.

So many people look at delegating as being incompetent. This is the biggest myth ever construed and usually only in our own mind. Delegating requires excellent management skills; organizational, prioritizing, overseeing projects, staff development, multi tasking, time management, and the list goes on.

Now consider the positives of delegation;

• You are giving someone on your team the opportunity to shine. Someone on your team wants that opportunity and as their manager you should know who they are.
• You are clearing off your plate so you can devote time to the high priority assignments. Now you can be creative and turn in finished work of quality.

• You will hone your skills as an overseer of projects. Setting action plans, time lines and project meetings with the employees who volunteered to take on the extra responsibility.
• You will be seen as a mover and a shaker.
• You will have the opportunity to commend the employees on your team for stepping up. This is also a positive reflection on you as this is your team and you are responsible for their development.
• You will be recognized as someone who CAN organize, prioritize, manage your time, oversee projects, multi task and develop your team.
• You will stand out among your peers.

There is no downside to delegating as long as you are ensuring the delegated items are being completed in a timely fashion and at a quality level. It really is a win, win, win, situation!

Classes and seminars that train us to distinguish personality types are great. We have Type A's and Type B's,

the Steamroller and the Passive Aggressive just to name a few.

And of course I can't forget to mention the wonderful worksheets you use to actually figure out the personality type of your co-workers and supervisors. We all have time for that during our busy schedules, lol. But seriously I'm not knocking these resources, there are even some great books on the subject, and when you have time to really put forth the effort the lessons are valuable. Right now however I am suggesting a technique that takes far less time and uses a little thing called observation. Take a minute and think about the way your supervisor approaches you. Are they matter of fact, laid back, completely professional only laying out the facts and the bottom line or do they enjoy the conversational journey to provide the information that is needed? Once you have established how your supervisor conducts the business at hand you will then know how to approach them. It's pretty common knowledge that we approach things in the way we like to be approached.

If your supervisor is fact based and bottom line with You then you know you won't be going into a meeting to discuss a project by taking the scenic route to the bottom line. You will be prepared and organized with the facts and ready to answer any questions shot your way with fact based answers.

If your supervisor is more laid back then you will go into the meeting, still highly prepared, ready to spend more time talking about how you arrived at the bottom line and about the journey itself.

To sum this up you will use your power of observation to decide how your supervisor prefers to communicate.

"Is there anything I can help you with today?"

I think the first time that question was presented to me I was at a loss for words, initially, then when I recovered I remember thinking that I could actually use some help with a few things. So when I took the person up on their thoughtful offer they came through for me with flying colors. Wow, did that feel good.

After that I would come in first thing in the morning, prioritize my responsibilities and if I seen I had some extra time in the day I would then offer that question to my supervisor. I would let them know how much time I had and was there anything I could help them with. Not only did it feel good to be able to help someone but it put me in a position to further my education within the company.

By letting my supervisor know the time frame I had available to help out always assured that I would be successful with follow through. This is very important when you offer your help. You want to be able to deliver what you say and so be true to your word.

This small gesture will increase your value to your company not to mention increase your own feelings of accomplishment.

There are people we admire, each for specific things, figure out what you admire in individual people. Once you have thought it over ask yourself; do they have qualities that you would like to emulate, qualities that would improve your skills as a manager? If so, then work on those specific things, find out how it works for you best and if it improves your management skills. If so then adopt the behavior and make it a habit until you behave in the way you are looking for.

I had a manager that treated each person with dignity and respect and she received the same treatment from her employees. If she had to discuss a concern or an infraction it was always in private and never degrading. She always made sure to leave you with something positive about yourself so in turn you did not walk away feeling completely defeated.

The secret is; you are discussing your concern about the behavior displayed, not about the person. It should NEVER be personal.

I have been embarrassed by witnessing managers berate their staff in front of others. This is dehumanizing and should never happen. Even if this is common practice within your organization you do not have to follow suit. Set an example, maybe you are someones role model.

Give your employees clear direction, set them up to succeed. Be the first one to act, lead by example and they will follow.

Say "Thank You".

Know where your employees want to go. What are their goals and visions for themselves within the company. Give them direction, be a mentor.

Never jeopardise your ethics. Your ethics define who you are and define the leader that you will be. A good work ethic speaks volumes to your employees. It lets them know what they can expect from you and reinforces what you expect from them. A good work ethic also lets your employees know that you will be a fair person to work with. Do not cut corners, you need to be consistent at every level.

A very basic rule of thumb is never to ask your employees to do something you would not do. It doesn't hurt to roll up your sleeves on occasion and work side by side with your staff. They will see in you someone who does not think they are above them and also as someone who respects their contributions to the company. A great leader knows they are only as good as their front line and will never diminish their value.

Always be a positive role model for others. Even in the face of change try to find the positive. NEVER, NEVER bad mouth new ideas. Try the ideas first, with a smile, then if you find problems with the change (don't complain to your staff) find different ways to correct the problem then meet with your supervisor. Present the concerns in a constructive way that outlines the problems and poses solutions. Your supervisor will appreciate your being a positive role model in regards to the change and will be more willing to listen to your input and ideas. Be sure to let your supervisor know what you do like about the changes, remember to end with a positive note.

A great leader needs to have passion for what they are doing. If you do not have the passion then you will falter. All of the things above will sound like 'sucking up' to a person without the passion, but to someone with passion the above ideas are just part of being a great team, just common sense.

Do you share the vision and goals of your company? Are you vested in them? If you said no then you need to take a long look at what you are doing there, why would you stay? To lead others to greatness you must be vested in what you are doing. You must believe in it.

Be a calm leader. Chaos is stressful to all and as the leader you need to provide solutions to problems while maintaining a calm environment. If you panic so will they. If you panic you may be seen as someone unable to cope with adversity.