A recent survey by The Chartered Management Institute identified that, for those individuals who had invested in professionalising their skills:
- 93% had developed greater self-awareness which allowed them to connect more effectively with co-workers
- 86% had heightened self-confidence
- By making significant “better decisions” they delivered, on average, £362,176 in added value to their organisations
But what does investing in professional management mean?
Professional management, or professional managers, covers many areas of people’s working lives. One such important area is stress, as a motivator and a detriment.
Too much stress can lead to a cataclysmic drop off in performance needing weeks if not months of recovery time. We also know that without enough stimulation, or background stress, performance suffers and motivation dips. It’s a fine balancing act to ensure that performance is optimised without risking overwhelming. As people are often an organisation’s most valuable asset, professional managers need to understand what drives this and which interventions to be apply.
Professional managers set goals and objectives to manage that balance. In setting goals that are achievable with the resource, skills and talent that exists, they also support the development of a company culture with employees’ values.
When goals are set which can be delivered entirely within the control of a given individual, as long as they are sufficiently challenging, stress levels should remain low and objectives should be met. More often than not an objective requires team co-operation or enablement from another. In these cases, the objective may initially heighten stress but as the individual accepts and starts to act on the need for support, realising that it is coming, goals and objectives should be met without undue stress.
However, once it becomes clear that the goal cannot be met either alone or with others, problems start to arise. This is when it’s necessary to look at alternative options or to re-set goals and objectives. Decisions need to be made if the individual is to avoid the dreaded realm of overwhelmed.
These will range from recognising the impossibility of the situation and retreating from the environment, compromising on values to achieve the desired outcome, or struggling on attempting to succeed but knowing that failure is inevitable and recurring. Clearly, neither the second or third options are acceptable, and the first is only acceptable if there is a fundamental mismatch between the individual and the organisation, at both a capability and values level.
This is where professional management needs to step in. The professional manager will look to how individuals and teams can be supported, joined and enabled for success. No-one goes to work with the aim of doing a bad job. The professional manager will facilitate access to people or tools that can help. They will allow sacred cows to be challenged and support new ways of working.
Investing in professional management is to create more “Win Win” situations for both the employee and the company. And where this isn’t possible, to say “No Deal”.
To put your people first, come and talk to us today.