There are lots of different styles with which you can manage people. So how do you know which is the right one? Well, the first thing you have to do is to diagnose the situation. And the two principal characteristics to consider in the situation are Firstly, how enthusiastic, how confident, excited, how energized? how motivated is this individual to do the task that I've set them? And the second is, how good are they at it?
Do they have the ability, the capability, the confidence, the competence to do well, but do they lag elements of the knowledge, the skills the experience they need? So once you've understood their capabilities, and their enthusiasm, the second step is to respond flexibly with one of a number of different styles built up from a balance of two types of behavior. One is directed behavior telling people what they need to be doing. And the second is supportive behavior, giving them not just guidance, but reassurance and confidence. Clearly, the more ability someone has, the less direction they need. And the more confidence enthusiasm they have, the less support they need.
So you build that kind of balance. Typically, when people start a new task for the first time, they have no ability whatsoever, they quite often feel quite confident about their abilities. So you can start by giving them a fair amount of direction but not a lot of support. I don't need it, I want you there. But, of course, you have to manage the risks by giving them small chunks of work to do and coming back and returning to support them. Once they succeed.
But as they get better, they'll start to think discover that it's quite difficult, don't make mistakes. So you have to increase the amount of support you have to give them in order to maintain their levels of confidence and enthusiasm. Gradually, they'll get better and better at it. And now when I still have their successes, they'll also have their failures, you need to continue to provide a measure of support, but the amount of guidance and direction you give them can start to reduce. Because if you reduce that, what you're saying is that I'm trusting you, and you can learn for yourself. Eventually, they'll get really good at it.
When they get really good at it. We need to provide them with much support and you certainly don't need to provide them with much guidance and direction. You can give them the task, leave them to it. So we've got fundamentally four types of behavior, one which has a high level of direction, but not a lot. To support another that has a high level of direction and a lot of support, and other that continues the level of support but withdraws the direction and one, which is fairly hands off minimal levels of support, minimal levels of direction. But remember, as a manager, you will always want a small amount of support and a small amount of direction.
They're just to show that you care, and they're taking responsibility. What am I for tips then? Firstly, pay careful attention and diagnose the situation, effectively, what level of capability and experience and knowledge Am I seeing and what level of enthusiasm and confidence motivation I see. Secondly, select the right balance of guidance and direction on one hand and support on the other. Thirdly, make sure that you've put in place mechanisms to manage the risk of someone During a task which they may not be 100% capable and competent to do. And my final tip is to make sure they understand why you're selecting the management style that you have selected.
If you're being fairly hands off offering very little support very little guidance, make sure they know that that's because you trust them, not because you're not interested. And likewise, if you're giving a lot of support, if you're giving a lot of guidance, make sure they understand that's because your assessment is that they needed not because you don't trust them. So there you have it. A range of styles of management havior tailored to the situations that you find