the 3 Page MBA
Lessons from an original mentor or How to be a successful manager
INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP
Be on constant alert for opportunities for your business. Devise new methods that prove you are and remain the low cost producer in your industry.
Be sure you have determined the information necessary to make a judgment - obtain that information, evaluate that information into a judgment and ACT.
CASH ASSET MANAGEMENT AWARENESS
IT'S ALL IN THE NUMBERS. Utilize signs such as the slope of your performance curves, examination of unusual peaks and valleys in these performance curves to institute evaluation, judgment and action. Enact corrective measures as performance falls short of predetermined goals. Perform.
DEVELOP PEOPLE & TEAM MOLDING
Day-to-day assessment of people working in the business. Set up a program to recognize and promote the producers in your organization. If you do this it will have an effect across the business. You'll find that even the non-producers begin to take notice and stir around a little. Be completely honest and direct in you assessments of your staff. Maintain a respectful distance to your staff's personnel problems to assure a point of appeal for your staff.
The successful manager has molded a team that is flexible, capable and willing to take on the business's objectives as one integral unit with individual parts -- one of which is theirs. The major responsibility is the team performance however.
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
In all employee relationships be honest in what you tell them. Develop a personal style that promotes a willingness to listen but communicates that there are limits too. After a decision is reached that affects the employees, plan how you are going to approach them, be ready for all answers to questions they may have, rehearse with your staff -- listen to what you are saying. Make it professional, direct, honest and firm.
PLANNING - LONG & SHORT
Extremely important, your goal setting and understanding is the foundation of allocation of funds and resources. Spend a lot of time understanding the long and short-range planning numbers and their interaction with each other. Verbalize these numbers and make sure the business plan is understood at all levels where action is expected to help achieve the given numbers. Plan each and every move - seek out the potential alternatives and reactions to plans - evaluate and decide and then act.
PRIORITY SETTING
Deciding the most important items on which to work. Don't let yourself get distracted on unimportant little things.
TAKING ACTION
The quality of your decision making and their timeliness are extremely important. Just as what to do is paramount, when to do it is an equal partner. You must have the ability to be impatient at times. The successful manager has a recognition of the importance of time.
ARTICULATE
The successful manager has to be able to give a clear and effective presentation of problems and opportunities with a declaration of the alternatives and a proposed solution to his supervisors.
DRIVE & COMMITMENT
The successful manager must have a commitment to the short-long range objectives of the business together with the necessary drive to carry out those objectives. The commitment extends to presenting the business as a concerned citizen in the community in which it is located.
FLEXIBLE
The manager I have in mind must have a great deal of flexibility in dealings with people, goals, management and the community.
SELF-DISCIPLINE & CONSISTENCY
The successful manager must be able to be under control at all times, be consistent in all dealings and be aware of all that goes on around him.
LOYALTY
The successful manager must be loyal to the principles set forth by your manager. This loyalty includes the voicing of your opinion on subjects affecting the manager's business. Also knowing when opinion ends and action starts is an extremely important attribute.
