Back to Basics Management

What has been very interesting over the past six months is seeing how managers in the variety of organisations we work with have responded to the current economic crisis.

The consistent theme we've noticed is that proactive managers are a returning to the basics; focusing on customers, communicating with staff, setting clear goals, managing expenditure levels and placing emphasis on quality.

Our latest management video describes the six basic skills which managers must focus upon in uncertain times:

1. Communicate and delegate properly ensuring that all employees feel a sense of responsibility for tasks, are given appropriate levels of authority to complete those tasks and are held accountable for outcomes
2. Analyse the Current Situation of your team or organisation
   
3. Set Quality Goals which have been developed
4. Motivate Your Team by creating a sense of challenge and rewarding efforts - not inherent ability
5. Handle Change by responding to alarm with action rather than despair
6. Manage Projects by conducting a thorough planning phase rather than responding to problems as they arise during implementation

When the outlook is bleak, resources are scarce and uncertainty is rife, managers will truly have their mettle tested. Can your organisation's leaders cut it?