Managing People for the First Time

Overview

Almost everyone in all types of organisation – business, professional, governmental, academic – has to make the critical leap to managing people for the first time. In todays fast-paced business world, companies often don't have time to give new managers the training and guidance they need.

Written specifically for those faced with the daunting task of changing from following instructions to giving them for the first time, Julie Lewthwaite gives you all the tools and iinsights that you'll need to successfully navigate the next stage of your career.

By focussing on techniques to manage the relationship between employer and employee you will learn how to get the best from your team and succeed in your new role. This is the ultimate guide to ease you into your first management position and get your leadership career off to a flying start.

This book has been widely adopted in businesses and in particular the public sector. It is full of assessment exercises and checklists so you can track your progress.

This is a fully updated version of a highly successful title by the author of the best-selling Everything You Need for an NVQ in Management.

Content

1: Setting the scene

2: Learning to learn

• When are you going to learn?
• What’s in it for me?
• How do we do it?
• Feedback
• Developing confidence and motivation

3: Communication

• Building relationships
• Ego states
• Body language
• Communication as a two-way process
• What makes an effective listener?
• Effective listening techniques
• Turning blocks to advantage
• Sending your message
• The eight-stage process
• Formal interviews
• The interview structure
• Questions to gather information
• The nature of the information

4: Negotiation and working with conflict

• What is negotiation about?
• Types of power
• Tactics in negotiation
• Competitive negotiation
• Collaborative negotiation
• Communicating in difficult circumstances
• Functions of conflict
• Mapping conflict

5: Presentation

• Delivering your presentation
• One-way presentations: a summary
• Two-way presentations
• Turning all presentations into two-way presentations

6: Stress management

• Stress management strategies
• Causes of stress
• Managing stress
• Short-term strategies
• Medium-term strategies
• Health maintenance
• Long-term strategies

7: Time management

• Time personality
• Structuring your use of time
• Why your time goes where it does
• Information management
• Prioritization
• Organizing for time management

8: Recruitment and selection

• Basic principles
• Different approaches to the task
• Developing the framework
• Recruitment methods
• Selection as a two-way process
• Choosing your selection method

9: Developing people

• Why training and development?
• The developmental process
• Key performance analysis
• Blocks to development
• Delivering development
• Evaluation
• Strategic evaluation

10: Performance appraisal

• What use is appraisal anyway?
• Individual and team performance
• How often?
• Who will appraise?
• A structure for appraisal – how to appraise
• Dealing with performance
• What can go wrong?
• Creating links to performance

11: Motivation

• Motivation: people and organizations
• What does it mean?
• Forms of motivation

12: Delegation

• Why delegate?
• The causes of poor delegation
• The delegation process as a contract
• The job contract

13: Team building

• Why teams?
• The three role team
• What can go wrong?
• Roles
• Informal group processes
• Hidden agendas

14: Leadership

• The concept of leadership
• Roles of the leader

Reviews

‘The value of this book is that it makes a worthwhile attempt to help the first-time manager. Combining training material with a storyline involving real people makes it a lot more digestible than a textbook... I was 39 before I became a director of a new business, with almost no experience of managing other people or relationships… Lewthwaite’s book would have been extremely useful.’

People Management

‘There are books on managing people by the truckload, but little specifically for the first time manager... The whole range of management knowledge, theory and practice is contained in this easily absorbed text.’

Business Executive

‘For a first time employer, I believe her new book would be an invaluable tool for learning the skills and techniques needed to put together and develop a successful team. I wish I had read this a year ago when I started my business! It is a privilege to learn from someone so experienced and skillful in managing people.’

James Murray Wells, Managing Director, Glasses Direct

‘Leaves no stone unturned... All aspects of the art of management are explored... full of self-assessment checklists and bullet points.’

Accounting Technician