Exercising control on your team: How to strike a balance?

As a manager, you have to wear multiple hats often. You can find yourself making strategic decisions on a day with the same ease with which you resolve conflicts another day. Your input is needed at multiple places, and it might be common to find yourself stretched too thin across the team. Therefore, you need to identify the parts you can control and the parts you do not need to. Out of the latter, you can delegate some to your team members and create a system of regular checks and balances. Otherwise, you can create designs that work independently.  In both cases, you will need to begin by identifying your optimum span of control. Your optimum span of control is the number of people and tasks you can manage effectively. It is the ideal amount of authority and responsibility that you should hold. Beyond this limit, the quality of management will suffer. The optimum span of control does not have a fixed criterion. The concept is subjective; therefore, your optimum span of control will depend on factors unique to you and your team. To figure this out, you can look at the 6 factors to consider for creating an optimal span of control for managers.  Once you have understood your capacities, you will need to figure out exactly how much you should manage. We know that managers have to do a lot in their teams – from coordinating to ensuring the welfare of all the stakeholders – but they cannot be practically involved in every task. The number of functions will be simply overwhelming. Moreover, the team and members need autonomy and responsibility too. They cannot function in line with clear-cut directions always. Innovation and creativity are built out of the box. Therefore, managers need to establish a balance between controlling and inspiring their teams. 

You will sometimes have to jump straight into business and direct operations minutely. However, controlling too much can be damaging! Therefore, sometimes, you need to take a light breath and let things flow. Your team will work with your implicit directions when you find ways to inspire them. A “controlling” manager brings several harms to the team. When you are in the middle of choosing between control and inspiration, you need to understand the causes and effects of both. Managers usually drift towards a strict approach when they cannot trust their team members fully. Due to the lack of trust, they fear that the employees will make mistakes. The habit of exercising authority can make one a micromanager, too, especially when they are hypercritical and set unrealistic expectations for the team. In such a scenario, micromanaging is detrimental to the team’s performance. Here are 5 reasons managers avoid micromanagement at all costs. You will find helpful tips too!

Just exercising control as a manager is neither wrong nor right. It typically depends on numerous factors. Too much control is micromanagement, which has its harms. But too much freedom to move is a sure-shot way to chaos. When teams receive only inspiration from their managers without vision and direction, they quickly go astray. Therefore, exercising control is definitely not the evil you need to fight. All you need to do is find an appropriate balance that gives your team adequate space to grow and direction to move forward. Although we paint a negative picture of control generally, it can be good sometimes. Micromanagement, which refers to extremely close supervision of employees, can be a productivity enhancer when used sporadically. Despite all the drawbacks, hand holding, usually a micromanaged approach, is a great way to get new employees started at work. There are a few other scenarios where micromanagement can be an excellent tool for managers. Read here to see some specific situations where managers can use micromanagement. 

In the end, your management style is a question of your contingencies. Either you can change them or make your way through them. You must figure out the best combination of inspiration and control that serves your team’s purpose. Remember that neither approach is always good nor bad. You will keep moving forward as long as you analyze and pick the best options possible. Be cautious not to fall into the pitfall of either overdose, and you will steer your team skillfully through highs and lows smartly.  

Trying to build Ownership in your team?

Taking Ownership of anything means that you consider it your own. It is trivial as a definition. But, when you start peeling the onion of “Ownership at work,” different layers come out. From an employee’s perspective, It’s about feeling like you have a say in what goes on and being able to make a real impact on your work. From a manager’s perspective, the team members often just don’t do what they are told to do. They apply themselves and go above and beyond what is said and written. Managers often struggle to create Ownership in their team members. Sometimes they stumble upon a naturally driven person in their team, and they think “ownership” comes naturally in an individual and can’t be built at scale in others. It is not valid. There is a lot that managers control how their teams take ownership of their work. One of the secrets to building ownership is building Accountability. Some may read Accountability as a synonym for Ownership. But it is much deeper than that. Building accountability is the start of building ownership. If you want to build accountability in your team, then read here. Just take a step back and read one of the above lines. “From an employee’s perspective, It’s about feeling like you have a say in what goes on and being able to make a real impact on your work.” Do you see the need from the employee’s perspective? It is the second step to building ownership in your teams. If you want your team members to go above and beyond what is said, you must take their input and involve them in decision-making. Often managers take data points subtly and seldom involve their teams in making decisions. In these situations, this is what your team thinks, “If you want to tell me what to do, then I will do what you want me to do.” Isn’t it? The secret to this starts from learning how to take and work with multiple perspectives in your team. There is no doubt that you will be able to consider everything your team says. But when you take multiple perspectives, they feel heard and part of the process. You can learn more about becoming good at taking multiple perspectives here. In everyday work, things will go wrong. Your team members will make mistakes when they are on this journey of making decisions in their span of control. What matters is how do you react as a manager in such situations. How do you manage your emotions and deal with failure? The way you respond will undoubtedly contribute to how your team takes Ownership. An outburst would dent any confidence they would have gained to take Ownership. At the same time, a calm demeanor with a coaching attitude will help them learn from their mistakes next time. Managing own and team’s emotions is a critical skill that managers can deploy in multiple situations. If you are interested in mastering it, then read here. Building ownership in your team is a journey. It will take time and patience. But the results are rewarding. Don’t forget that what you expect from your team, you must be a role model for it yourself. But that is another topic that we will cover in the future. PS: We would love to hear from you. If you have any feedback (good or bad) about our newsletter, send it to me. If you liked reading this edition, then don’t forget to like and share it with your colleagues and network 🙂

From Struggles to Success: How to Empower Team Members with New Skills

Last time we chatted about assembling a team of exceptional individuals, didn’t we? But being a manager involves more than just having fantastic team members. Today let’s explore another aspect that can help you achieve remarkable results. 💪📰

When you have an incredible team working together, their abilities and skills complement one another. However, there may still be some gaps hiding in the mix. Your team may get a lot of things right but can get stuck at a few critical points. The key lies in identifying and filling those skill gaps to ensure your team members don’t get stuck in bottlenecks. 🔍🧩

Let’s check in on our dream team!

Let’s consider a marketing team in a small e-commerce company as an example. The team comprises four members: Sarah, Lisa, Michael, and Annie. Each team member has a specific role in digital marketing, content creation, social media management, or data analysis.

Sarah and Lisa consistently hit their targets and produced top-notch work. Their manager is happy with their performance and mentions that in the feedback as well. However, Michael and Annie often struggle to meet deadlines and deliver satisfactory results. Upon a closer look, their manager understood that Michael lacks data analysis skills, while Annie faces challenges in content creation. 🎯📊🖋️

Identifying Gaps in the Team

So, what does their manager, Mark, do in this situation? Well, they conduct a skill gap analysis to dig deeper and understand the root of the problem. This analysis helps them pinpoint the areas that need improvement and provides insights into suitable training methods. In addition to understanding what training the team would need, it helped Mark ensure their team was not just using old ideas. 📝✅

Guiding Growth as a Manager

But let’s be honest, managing learning alongside work can be quite challenging, especially when it involves creative aspects and requires a free mind – as was the case with Michael and Annie. While they started learning, their team continued working. It quickly went to chaos – with a mix of study materials and task lists flying everywhere.

Moreover, taking time away from work can demotivate many team members. It singles their needs out. In such cases, the manager needs to ensure that the team member understands the need for those initiatives and gets proper encouragement. 😅💼

To do this, Mark gave Michael and Annie’s tasks related to their new learnings. Taking this further, Mark ensured that they received proper feedback from their instructors as well. Feedback is not just about saying well done but instead allowing Mark and the trainers to develop a path that suits Michael and Annie’s needs. It helped them correct mistakes, encouraged them to learn more, and provided guidance in a new area.

Giving Learning it’s due!

Additionally, Mark devised an intriguing solution: a learning sabbatical for Michael and Annie. It allows them to take a break from their daily routines and focus on personal development through activities like traveling, attending courses or workshops, or pursuing hobbies. Not just learning, a sabbatical lets team members rejuvenate and get back to their work with a new zeal. A learning sabbatical adds a fresh perspective and renewed energy that creative professionals often need. 🌴✈️💡

Great managers like Mark make a lasting impact on their teams through effective initiatives. Sometimes, they think outside the box and come up with unique solutions to help their team members grow. And other times, they create trouble out of cups! 🌟 (see the other Mark and the mark he creates below 👇)

Resources for you:

Risely is bringing to you an amazing opportunity to learn the secrets of effective behavioral interviewing from experts next week with the webinar on 3 Tips for Spotting High-Performers in Your Interviews. Here’s your last chance to book your seats.

Unveiling the Secrets of Building a dream team

Are you on a mission to build an extraordinary team that achieves remarkable impact? You know, the kind of team where each member is willing to go above and beyond with their efforts. It can sometimes be challenging to identify those high-performing individuals who can truly drive transformation at a rapid pace. But don’t worry! This week’s Risely newsletter has got your back.

So, what’s the secret to building such a team? Well, it lies in two simple steps: talent development and acquiring top talent. Let’s dive into each of them and discover how they can help you build an exceptional team.

Step 1: Develop your In-house talent 🌱

Talent development is all about nurturing the growth of your existing team members. It focuses on enhancing their skills, knowledge, abilities, and behaviors to boost performance, foster innovation, and contribute to long-term success. The key is to recognize the potential for development in your team members and create opportunities for their growth.

Start by identifying each team member’s unique strengths and areas for improvement. Encourage the creation of individual development plans tailored to their specific needs. Foster a culture of continuous learning by providing access to resources, training programs, and workshops.

Remember, growth looks different for each individual. Some might thrive in a structured learning environment, while others might prefer hands-on experiences. Hold their hand as they navigate their growth journey, providing support, guidance, and regular feedback.

Step 2: Acquire Top Talent ✨

In addition to developing your in-house talent, bringing in top talent is crucial for achieving exceptional results. Hiring high-performers can bridge any skill gaps and infuse fresh perspectives and ideas into your team. But how can you identify these exceptional individuals during the hiring process?

Traditional interview questions often yield cookie-cutter answers that don’t truly reveal a candidate’s potential. To dig deeper, consider leveraging behavioral interviewing techniques. Instead of hypothetical scenarios, ask candidates to share specific examples from their past experiences. This allows you to assess their behavior, decision-making skills, adaptability, and problem-solving abilities.

Look for candidates who demonstrate consistency in their performance, a growth mindset, adaptability across different situations, and a proactive approach to overcoming challenges. Pay attention to how they handle difficult situations, how they learn from failures, and how they collaborate with others. These indicators can help you identify high-performers who will thrive in your team.

Exciting News! 📢

Curious to learn more about behavioral interviewing and other effective ways to spot high-performers during interviews? We’ve got you covered! Join us on July 12th at 8 PM PST for an insightful webinar titled “3 Tips for Spotting High-Performers in Your Interviews.” Our industry experts will share their wisdom, and the best part? It’s absolutely free! Secure your spot now and gain valuable insights to elevate your hiring process.

How to create a culture that gives life to your team?

Have you ever found yourself perplexed by certain team members who seem to be trapped in a perpetual rut, despite your best efforts? 🤔 Perhaps you’ve experienced recurring instances of missed deadlines and a lack of synergy between teammates. It’s as if these issues have become deeply embedded within your team’s culture. 😕

Organizational culture encompasses a wide array of shared values, beliefs, practices, and behaviors that define an organization and influence how its members interact, both internally and externally. It encompasses everything from decision-making processes to the way team members dress and communicate. 💼💬

An organization’s culture is shaped by a variety of factors, including its historical roots, leadership style, mission and vision statements, and industry norms. When fostered effectively, a strong hashtag#organizationalculture creates a sense of community among employees, boosts hashtag#engagement and hashtag#productivity, and helps achieve hashtag#organizationalgoals. 🌱✨

Conversely, a stagnant or toxic organizational culture can lead to high turnover rates, low morale, and subpar performance. So, what are the telltale signs of a stagnant culture?

🚫 Resistance to change and innovation

😕 Low employee engagement and motivation

🔇 Lack of collaboration and ineffective communication

💼 Limited investment in learning and development opportunities

⛔️ Hierarchical and autocratic leadership style

Recognizing these signs is vital for managers, as it allows them to address and rectify elements that perpetuate negative habits within the team culture. However, it’s important to note that changing organizational culture cannot be a mandate; it requires a movement from all team members rather than a top-down mandate. 💪🤝

While the process begins with the manager formulating a clear vision for the team, its success hinges on the active participation and commitment of every team member. Managers can lead by example, setting positive precedents, defining expectations, and engaging the entire workforce. 💡👥

For instance, if a manager aims to foster a culture that values a healthy work-life balance, they can start by exemplifying this balance themselves. Taking breaks when needed, maintaining boundaries between personal and professional life, and effectively contributing to both aspects send a powerful message to the team. A manager who leads the way in demonstrating positive behaviors can effectively spearhead organizational culture change. 🌞⚖️

However, managers may also face pressures and limitations. In such cases, designating change agents from within the team can provide a way forward. It allows managers and team leaders to engage more individuals, fostering a sense of ownership and collective direction for cultural transformation. 🙌🚀

Creating a sense of belonging and closeness through engagement programs and initiatives is key to effective culture building. In the constantly evolving landscape of work, organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of employee engagement in cultivating a healthy company culture. Managers are exploring new trends and innovative approaches in employee engagement to create an engaged and motivated workforce. 🌟🌍

It’s important for managers and leaders to remember that changing company culture is not a one-time fix; it is an ongoing journey that requires continuous effort and active participation from everyone involved. As you progress on your professional journey, remain vigilant for signs that change is just around the corner. By fostering a dynamic and thriving teamculture, you can unlock the full potential of your team and drive meaningful success. 🌈🚀

How taking Multiple Perspectives helps build common ground?

Managers have a tough job because they have to listen to a lot of different opinions from every corner. Everyone wants the manager to listen to them and do what they want. This can be a big problem for managers. In this edition of The Top newsletter, we will talk about how managers can balance these multiple perspectives. Coordinating across different stakeholders is one of the critical functions of a manager. In doing so, they have to have often conversations on the same issues with seemingly different people, who unsurprisingly have differing opinions too. It becomes challenging when the team members and upper management view things in entirely opposite directions. So how do you, as a manager, make them match?

The key lies in understanding their perspectives. Then, as the idiom goes, step into their shoes and walk a mile! When managers recognize their teams well, they can make decisions with more surety and bring about a higher level of collaboration. It helps build trust and creates excellent interpersonal relationships. The first step to getting this right is active listening.  Active listening is the process of listening with complete attention and engagement toward the person speaking to you. Focus on their words and what they say and do not say through nonverbal cues to get the message right. A great way to make active listening effective is by asking questions.  For instance, if a team member is talking about an issue they are repeatedly facing, you can ask them to elaborate with an example like – “Could you give me an example of how this process works in practice?” Of course, that’s one of the many ways to use questions to understand others better. You can also use active listening questions in one-on-one catch-ups and brainstorming sessions to better understand your team members’ perspectives.  Jump here for 20+ active listening questions that make managers better listeners! 

Besides being a good listener, it also helps to know where your team members are coming from. Understanding your team members personally will help you cultivate a solid interpersonal relationship, where you can see things from their point of view much more easily. However, questions to know your team members can also deviate into awkward small talk! Hence, it’s best to think of a few ahead of time and start knowing your team well.  Suppose you have a new team member, Samantha, who joined the marketing team as a junior copywriter. She is excited to start her new job, but she quickly realizes that the team has a very fast-paced work environment, and everyone seems to have their way of doing things. Samantha struggles to keep up with the workload and the team’s expectations, and she also feels a bit intimidated by her more experienced colleagues. While a manager may note that Samantha is relatively underperforming and avoids socialization, a great manager will resolve the issue. The first step of which is understanding the situation as Samantha sees it. A manager can ask, “What sort of work culture do you thrive in?” or “What training or development opportunities do you think would benefit you?” 

Asking questions is a great way to understand who your team members are and learn more about them. It is especially beneficial for new managers and new team members.  Don’t be like Jules. Ask away all your questions and encourage your team to ask questions. 😂 Check out more interesting questions to know your team better here.  Listening correctly and understanding the people you are communicating with form the basis of effectively getting multiple perspectives as a team manager. But the journey does not end there. With these insights, managers need to work to create a common ground where all can cooperate, thus fulfilling their core role of being the ultimate coordinator.  Managers need to ensure that they are open to new ideas and even challenges and simultaneously create a space of openness and freedom to speak one’s minds. When multiple #perspectives come on board, the richness of ideas makes innovation and creativity like none other! Doing wonders in a managerial role might be hard work, yet the result justifies the effort. #Managers who can understand and incorporate multiple perspectives in their processes, such as #decisionmaking and #goalsetting, can create balanced #teams. Moreover, their personal brand is an effective one. If this journey throws in some challenges, Risely – your co-pilot for all people #management challenges – is here.  #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #managerdevelopment

Are You Tired of Feeling Overwhelmed at Work? Master Time Management for Better Balance

Are you reading this newsletter while heading to work early in the morning and wondering when you will finally get the opportunity to take a few minutes to yourself? If yes, this week’s edition of The Top newsletter is just for you.  Work-life balance is important for every manager to give their best at work. It refers to dividing one’s time smartly between personal and professional lives. However, in this fast-paced world, maintaining one becomes challenging for managers and leaders alike. It happens more so in managers who frequently do their team’s work and take on additional burdens to maintain productivity.  Balancing the time spent on personal and professional endeavors gives managers the freedom to cater to all aspects of their life and not feel bound to either solely. As a result, they can create a healthy routine for themselves and inspire their teams to do the same. The improved habits reduce stress, save managers from the troubles of burnout, and give them the space to recharge before coming back to work. The example of a manager also inspires team members to do the same. 

However, it remains hard to find despite comprehensive discussions on work-life balance. Strong time management habits are key to a good work-life balance. If a manager’s time management habits are poor, they would be prone to fatigue and overwhelming work. On the other hand, effective time management practices, such as prioritizing and delegating tasks, setting goals, and utilizing tools, can save managers from these headaches.  The challenge arrives due to some typical problems that every manager faces in the course of their work. It can be a disruptive work environment where chatty colleagues occupy nearby nooks, or construction noises envelop the background. If not, a manager’s habit of checking emails can hold them in front of their screen too long too!  Seemingly mundane issues can turn into significant time management problems that hold you back. The first step to cutting their hold on you lies in identifying these issues.

Another common trouble that makes time management ineffective is the absence of a goal. Goals make the job easy always – they set the destination and milestones and guide you as you define the route. Without goals, you are headed into an abyss. And that’s what happens when managers do not set time management goals.  Time management goals define what you want to accomplish by strengthening your time management habits. For instance, a manager, let’s name them Alex, can set up the below goal: “I want to reduce the time I spend in meetings by half over the next month.”  This goal will then guide them to take actions that realize their objectives. For example, Alex might decide to block an hour for essential meetings. For some other tasks, they can delegate the jobs to their team members who are prepared to take up more responsibility.  We have listed a few more such ideas in our blog on time management for managers here. 

As they feel that meetings are taking the larger part of their productive day, Alex begins by identifying the causes and devising plans to overcome those challenges. Do you know what is preventing you from achieving good time management? If you are confused, Risely can help drive it away with a free time management self-assessment for managers.  The free time management self-assessment for managers helps you understand whether you are investing your time or just spending it being busy. It identifies the unproductive time management habits that keep managers stuck under tall piles of work. In totality, it unlocks your path to effective time management.  #Managers need to understand the critical role of #timemanagement in ensuring a good #worklifebalance that brings ease in life. It not only simplifies personal schedules but declutters team project timelines big time. There lies the key to becoming an effective manager who stays on top of work and always updates themselves with the latest trends.  #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #managerdevelopment

A long task list bogging you down?

Are you all too familiar with long task lists? If yes, you might wonder how to beat the pile of jobs staring at you. In today’s edition of The Top newsletter, we will figure out the secret to unraveling the road to accomplishing all you need to do.  The first step in ensuring that you avoid getting stuck on endless to-do lists lies in effective time management, which calls for prioritization and routines. If you head into the office without any idea of what you will do, you will be sure to spend the first hour wondering where to get started. As you keep sledding along the day, the confusion only increases. Ultimately, it can leave you feeling drained and allow procrastination to set in. It harms your productivity and significantly hurts your team’s workflow, creating a lose-lose situation for everyone. 

So, what’s the way out? Prioritizing tasks effectively is the keystone to managing your time at work. It is the process of ranking tasks in the order they need to be pursued. It helps managers finish critical tasks on time and keep chaos at bay. Moreover, by smartly prioritizing tasks, managers can identify the scope for delegation and save time for strategically vital jobs. The clarity and reduced stress are added advantages as well.  The fundamentals of good prioritization are recognition of importance and urgency. After having a look at your task list, you need to denote the level of importance and urgency attached to each task. The most important and urgent ones go to the top and become the most prioritized ones—the rest fall in descending order of both features. Further, you can identify the competencies needed to complete the tasks. Then, if your team can handle it, you can delegate it to them. 

Effective prioritization for teams is critical to ensuring that managers constantly stay on top of deadlines. The difference between teams prioritizing tasks and those heading straight into the wilderness can be seen prominently in their performance. While the first one runs on an organized cadence towards its goals, the other can find itself attempting to do everything everywhere all at once, miserably.  Your prioritization skills, as a manager, play a crucial role in ensuring that your team does not resemble the latter. You can test your prioritization skills for free with Risely’s self-assessment for managers. The prioritization skills self-assessment helps managers correctly sync their team’s priorities by identifying the loopholes that weaken prioritization frameworks. In addition, a thorough analysis is an excellent aid for managers struggling to keep up with work.  In addition to prioritization, the other important feature in completing tasks is setting and meeting deadlines. Once you have the list of top-priority items you need to deal with, you need to determine a timeline for them. Setting a deadline for finishing work is an essential step in this. While defining deadlines is simple enough, meeting them is where the arduous task lies.  The key to consistently meeting deadlines is setting them effectively for your team. For instance, ask your team to submit reports of tasks as soon as they are completed. Unsurprisingly, it may not work as they do not have the time to do it. But, if you provide them a day to submit a report after a task, they can do it much more quickly and efficiently. 

In this manner, managers should remember that the deadlines are realistic. The team members should not feel that deadlines are imposed on them. Instead, team members’ active involvement in setting deadlines will be more fruitful when they know what is being asked of them. Deadlines should arrive as conclusions to defined procedures. Putting deadlines without homework, such as providing resources and designing roadmaps, is setting your team up for failure.  In our detailed blog, you can read more about meeting deadlines and setting them effectively as a manager.  A manager regularly beats stress and ambitiously moves toward their goals to reach new heights. However, there’s more to unleashing productivity in the workplace. It requires clarity on what you want and how you will achieve it. Smartly managing time and tasks are two critical aspects of getting things done like a boss with your team. Stay with us as we discover more about efficient management in the coming weeks! 

Stop Firefighting and Start Problem-solving

Remarkable success comes from the remarkable skills of a manager – which keep them going in the face of changes and challenges. Most prominently, a manager’s conceptual skills stick by their side and let them sail. In today’s iteration of The Top newsletter, we will discuss the problem-solving abilities of managers.  When we talk about problem-solving skills, we generally refer to the ability to identify and solve problems faced by their teams quickly. Managers with sharp problem-solving skills can develop innovative solutions to complex problems. 

Problem-solving skills encompass a wide range of activities. However, the process of effective problem-solving begins with identifying and anticipating problems. In addition to picking the symptoms, savvy managers also plan for contingencies where their team can get stuck. Afterward, they move to the solution part – figuring out the team’s alternatives.  Once the best one has been devised, they prepare an action plan, ensuring that the most urgent and necessary items are ticked off first. Then, while acting on the solution, the manager delegates work effectively, making the best use of available skills and resources, creating efficient solutions for their teams. More often than not, the problem-solving skills of managers come to save the day when teams find themselves stuck amidst scenarios they never thought of. However, developing problem-solving skills takes a lot of work. Not only is it hard to identify the needs, but it is also further challenging to accurately identify the need for skill development until it’s entirely too late! 

Hence, every competent manager needs to focus on growing their problem-solving skills at work. To do so, the first step would be to understand their existing repertoire of skills. Risely helps you do that with a quick problem-solving self-assessment for managers, which you can start now.  The free problem-solving self-assessment for managers is an effective tool for understanding their strengths and weaknesses and working on the issues that hinder their professional growth. In addition, it helps you lay out a roadmap for developing your problem-solving skills.  In addition to evaluating their skills, managers must ensure that their efforts are well-spent. And how do you do just that? By providing that, you are getting the most value from problem-solving interventions. Take, for instance, brainstorming sessions with your teams. They are easy to transform into chaotic messes and end without pointing towards any conclusion at all. With everyone blabbering their points without thought, a brainstorming session fails to provide solutions to burning issues. The job of an intelligent manager is to add a method to this madness.  A manager can develop a sequential process to use brainstorming effectively. Otherwise, you can list a few questions to tackle during the meeting. The idea is to take charge of the process and get the most out of it for effective problem-solving. You can read more about getting great results from brainstorming sessions here.  That was just one way to do things better. If you are looking for more helpful tips, templates, and frameworks to give you a breather from hectic days, look no further! Risely offers a free problem-solving toolkit for managers – equipped with expert-curated learnings and tidbits from the experience of numerous managers. It holds your hand through the problem-solving process with a step-wise plan and sets you on the right path. Grab your free copy here. 

Problem-solving skills are one of the most vital skills a manager can have, but not the only one. Conceptual skills in management aid critical thinking that helps managers get the big picture right. The other important conceptual skills managers need to focus on our decision-making, logical thinking, and persuasion. In totality, they are the elements that help overcome abstract problems. You can read more about the necessary conceptual skills of managers here.  The new year 2023 reinforces the focus on the personal development of managers with fresh vigor. Along with a shift away from conventional modes of thinking, it brings in novel methods that let the managers take charge of their learning process. The AI-based leadership coaching platform Risely brings these contemporary interventions to the doorstep of managers and leaders with its one-of-a-kind features. So sign up today to start learning! 

Risely is Live on Product Hunt. But what makes Risely stand apart?

People management challenges bug managers day in and out! Risely is designed to help up-and-coming managers navigate these challenges with ease. In our previous edition, we talked about the steps that lead to Risely. Today, we want to talk about the steps we climbed to reach the present.  Building Risely from the ground up began with chit-chat around challenges that hamper managerial effectiveness. After interacting with numerous managers, it became clear that something was missing. While many solutions were available, each of them left us seeking more.  But before that, we are Live on Product Hunt. You have been a great audience. If you like what we are doing, support us on our Product Hunt Launch. Go to our page and leave encouraging words for our team Typically when we think of leadership development, our thoughts fly straight to seminar halls filled with executives – yes, our average leadership development training session. Ostensibly filled with insights but unequipped to make them work. On the other hand, the costs and time-consuming nature kept many managers at bay. Self-help provides some sense of relief with its independence. But, the same feature leaves many mentees astray.  So, what’s the way out? We discovered it with Risely. Filling all the gaps and overcoming limitations were essential parts of the process that resulted in this product. Through this journey, we created features that set Risely a class apart from the rest. 

• Letting the leader in you shine: Risely guides you very simply. It does not pester you and does not mold your journey. Instead, it lets you take charge of your professional journey. With Risely, you can customize your learning journey to suit your unique needs and challenges. It gives you the freedom to choose the challenges that you are facing in real life and shares interventions accordingly, giving you relief from the boredom of tricks that are repeated in hall rooms but fail replication in meeting rooms. 
• Collaborate with your team: Problems do not show up in precise sets. Often, they challenge our notions and press us to go out of our way. The best way to deal with such issues is to work with your team because your challenges are not just yours. Risely lets you add your team members so that you can work together for mutual learning. Not only that, our emphasis on feedback goes a long way. Risely’s unique features enable assessments managers and team members can take to understand where they diverge.  
• Leaving boredom behind: Taking classes is never fun, especially after you have graduated long back. The team behind Risely knows this and takes you away from the monotony. Instead, we guide you with regular nudges that do not distract you from your schedule. All you need to do is take a few minutes every day to practice and enable precision in your leadership skills. 
• Know yourself better: Many leadership development programs talk about established leaders, and rightly so. But what about you? Risely focuses on the leader inside you. It identifies your strengths and skills for your success. With the assessments and resources, you can assess how well you are performing and what’s keeping you behind. Picking blindspots and finding accurate interventions to fill those gaps is where we guide you. 

While the team designed Risely for managers and leaders worldwide, it was a learning experience for us too! Collaborating to develop the features that will suit a vast coterie of managers helped us understand ourselves better. From understanding the problems to seeing them pan out in real life, it was a continuous learning process for all of us. As a result, not only did we learn a lot about effective management, but we also recognized that the impact of these learnings would stay with us to guide us in our careers.  After this journey spanning many months, we are proud to launch Risely on Product Hunt today. We look forward to helping management professionals make efficiency a habit that allows them to stride toward success. In tune with this, we are offering a 50% lifetime discount on all plans. You can start your Risely journey with a 14-day free trial and use the coupon “RISELYONPH” at checkout to continue learning. We are most eager to take you with us as we move forward. Join us today to achieve more in your professional journey.  In addition to the interactive features that help managers take the lead over others, Risely continues to support them with well-researched and simplified content in its knowledge bank – be it blogs or newsletters. Stay tuned with us to learn more about management and leadership over the coming weeks! 

How do layoffs impact managers, and what can they do about it?

2022 has seen an increasing number of #layoffs across the board. One thing that is on everyone’s minds right now is layoffs. While the term sends shivers down employees’ spines, it equally signals troubles for managers. Layoffs have an economical, functional, and human cost that all the affected parties have to bear – more often than not asymmetrically. As a team faces a layoff, there are several concerns that a manager has to face suddenly. Not only do they have to prepare for the changes, but they are also the ones who become the face of them.  Layoffs typically refer to the mass termination of employees. Generally, companies resort to layoffs as they run out of options to sustain the current paradigm of their functioning. Company decisions such as product downsizing, cost-cutting measures, and plant closings, which require them to reduce workforce size, are often the reason behind layoffs. As we are noticing a trend of layoffs swarming industries ranging from tech to HR, it becomes imperative to prepare #managers for navigating such situations. 

One of the main challenges for managers during a layoff is handling separation from their teams. They are letting go of an incredible team member for reasons they cannot control. Resultantly, managing exits can be tricky. Moreover, industry norms do not set a good picture of practices adopted during a layoff. Nonetheless, the managers can include initiatives like having an exit conversation with their former employees to ease the situation.  An exit conversation allows managers and employees to understand the reasons for the dissociation. It helps employees better understand and can lead to a positive perspective for moving forward. Additionally, it provides you feedback on your team, creating an opening into the minds of your team.  A good exit conversation hinges on good communication, which includes picking the right questions. Understanding the delicacy and care required to conduct an exit conversation easily is crucial for managers. Risely’s free exit conversation toolkit can help you understand this better. It is equipped with sample questions and a do’s and don’ts checklist to boost your preparation. 

Layoffs leave a long-lasting impact on teams too. They are forced to adjust rapidly to novel circumstances when their colleagues leave. In addition, most team members have to take up extra responsibilities for which they might not be prepared. Apart from the functional stress, a recent layoff significantly impacts a team’s mental health and sense of safety. An atmosphere of insecurity regarding jobs and a lack of trust can prevail, as everyone is scared of losing their job.  In such a situation, regrouping a team becomes an essential task for a manager. They need to ensure that their team is prepared to overcome the challenge together and does not fragment in the face of adversity. Engaging your team again after a layoff begins with communication. Explaining the situation and understanding their perspective is critical to reinvigorating the team.  You can read about a few things managers can do to regroup their teams after a layoff in this blog.  In our conversations surrounding layoffs, we direct most of our attention toward the employees and starve our managers of the same. However, it is also vital to consider layoffs’ impact on managers and leaders. Often, they are not the ones engineering the layoffs but instead the ones implementing them. As a result, they face tremendous pressure that can impact them mentally, even pushing them to the extent of an existential crisis.  An existential crisis creates an internal struggle within a person. It can cause them to question the meaning and purpose of their actions and life. They can end up stuck in a loop of hopelessness and insecurity that drives down their spirits. It impacts their productivity and severely harms all aspects of their lives, including those outside the scope of professional interactions.  If you feel that an existential crisis might be lingering around the corner, you need to identify the causes and work around them. Our blog on existential crises for managers can be a good starting point to start the process. It identifies the types and triggers of existential problems that managers typically face.  As we continue to move in an uncertain world, it is imperative to take care of our mental and physical health. Moreover, constant upgrading to rise more in your personal and professional journeys is vital. You can make a better bet at succeeding by preparing yourself for the ongoing and upcoming challenges!  #leaders #leadershipdevelopment #managerdevelopment

Risely is now live. Find out what it is and the backstory.

We didn’t reach your inbox last week. Did you miss us? We were busy shipping out the very first version of Risely. And the good news is that we are live now. Today, I want to share the back story behind Risely and why we designed it. In my 17 years of career, I have worked with several managers and been a manager to many. Some of these experiences have been so enriching as a professional. I constantly reflect back to the very job and the manager I worked with. I count working under Deepak Gupta as the best experience I have had in my entire career. Thank you for everything, Deepak! Some other experiences could have been better than that. But so is life, no? But when I started managing teams, my only reference point was my previous managers. Which were great, BTW 😎 But, I always yearned for more in team situations I hadn’t faced before. I found myself making mistakes that impacted my and my team’s performance. I could always go back to Deepak and other managers I had access to discuss how to handle those situations, but it was always tricky. In the last five years, we have worked with 200+ managers, and one thing became clear, managers are pivotal for any organization. Managers must ensure that the team performs optimally and meets or exceeds the management’s expectations. The team and manager’s working relationship impacts the end performance of the team. But often, #managers are unaware of their blindspots and have little idea where things go wrong. They deal with different challenges with different people on the team. Bad working relationships impact the careers, health, and well-being of everyone involved. I was interacting with a manager I was coaching in late 2021. It was our monthly catch-up, and we discussed a few situations he faced. We were about to end the call when he said, “Ashish, I wish this kind of discussion happens in real-time when I am in the middle of the day working with my team.” That’s when it hit me, and I returned to my early days as a manager. You need help and support in real time when you are in the thick of things. This is why we designed Risely. So, what is Risely? You can think of Risley as your co-pilot for your people management issues. As a manager, you might face different challenges with different team members. Stuff like: 1) your team member is not performing as per expectations 2) you have to do frequent follow-ups with your team member 3) you find yourself doing a lot of firefighting 4) your team members find themselves in conflict situations. 5) or 30 other similar challenges. You know them. You are living them, aren’t you? If you don’t address it, you and your team will not be able to perform at the optimal level. As a result, you will not deliver on your objectives as a team. Your mental and physical well-being will be compromised. You will spend more time on your job that you could instead spend on yourself or with your family. Solving these challenges is vital for your professional and personal growth and well-being. But the question is, where can you go to solve them? There are many asynchronous learning modes, such as 1-1 coaching, training sessions, seminars, books, etc. But they all have limitations, and none are synchronous or adaptable to your daily activity and challenges. So how does Risely help you? It is simple. You create an account and feed in a few details about your profile. You then go and set up your challenges. You can configure blanket challenges you face with your team, or you can customize the challenges to every individual in your team. That’s it. Risley will create your customer Learn Journey for the next three months. Once activated, Risely will send you practical and actionable tips daily at the time of your choosing. From time to time, Risely will also send you detailed toolkits for the core manager and leadership skills. How do you know if you are improving or not? Well, first of all, you will see that as your start implementing the suggested changes, you will see a marked improvement in your working relationship with your team member in question. If you like numbers, you can take self-assessments for the relevant skills in your Learn Journey. You can also invite feedback from your team on those relevant skills if you like. Risely will guide you till you become a pro in all the core and advance people management skills. 😎 Please give it a spin here. You can try Risely for free for the first 14 days. What I am most interested in is your feedback. We are running an exciting launch offer. 🥳🥳 When you are ready to purchase a subscription, you can use the offer code “LAUNCHOFFER” to get a 50% off on all plans. We are extending an additional 20% discount for a limited time. You can use another coupon, “SPECIALOFFER” to avail of that. 🎉🎉 PS: You can use your team’s learning and development budget. Could you check with your manager or HR about its availability? As is customary, I will not leave you without a Dilbert to put a smile on your face. 🙂

Your time is precious. Do you think you’re using it wisely?

Are you a manager? If the answer is yes, you are indeed reading this with a slight tinge of guilt over the thousands of tasks that await completion. So, what’s the solution here? Certainly, tricks that make mountains of tasks vanish are not known yet. But, we have something similar – effective time management. It may not make the tasks disappear, but it dramatically cuts down the mountains.  Effective time management is using your time and energy in the best manner possible to achieve your goals. It is a critical skill for managers because they always need to be on top of their goals. It allows you to organize your activities so that you find time for all your responsibilities and allow yourself some rest too! All in all, effective time management is about taking charge of your time.

So, how do you think you could take charge of your time? Setting SMART goals and deadlines is one way to do it. Smart goals arise from pragmatism and ambition; while they offer challenges that keep you going, they are achievable and measurable. Managers can use this to make the best use of their time and talent. Not only that, but it is also a great way to keep your teams moving.  Continue reading here out more about SMART goals for managers and leaders.  The value of time management needs no repetition. In addition to building effective habits that seamlessly promote productivity, time management is critical to developing a healthy work-life balance. Maintaining a work-life balance that is actually symmetrical is another challenge in itself, especially for managers and leaders. While flexibility and high performance are great benefits, it also allows managers to take time off work.  Taking time off might seem like a considerable challenge to many professionals who cannot but imagine the pile of tasks awaiting them on return. But, if you manage your time effectively with the help of well-designed schedules and deadlines, you can do that and more. Taking time off work will also present a healthy example for your team members. It will help the employees see that there is a life outside work, which is not only worth living but enjoying. Setting examples of a wholesome attitude towards life that enables personal and professional aspects will help you become a relatable manager with your employees.

Time management needs to be your mantra if you are in the quest for work-life balance. You can achieve balance only when you concentrate on tasks fully. In order to do so, you need to minimize distractions, plan ahead, and track your progress on a daily basis toward those goals. Do you know if your time management skills are up to the task? Check now with Risely’s free time management skills assessment.  The free time management assessment rates the effectiveness of your time management skills. It shows exactly how strong they are and what they are doing for you so far. With this, you can identify the areas you need to work on. Moreover, it will also help you remove ineffective practices. For instance, your planning period might need to be shorter. You can try shortening it to see if you get better results the next time. Similarly, it will show what works – the ideas and habits you must enforce vigorously. By drawing inferences from these results, you can craft the proper intervention for your time management strategy and make it smart, just like you!  The journey of improvement, however, continues after this discovery. Once you know what to do, the next question lies in how. But worry not because Risely has got you covered. You need to download the free Time Management Toolkit to build the roadmap that enables efficient time management for managers and leaders. 

Not only does it clarify the intent of time management, but it also comes equipped with several valuable resources. The toolkit provides templates for a self-audit and task prioritization framework, which can bring you on top of your game. Moreover, you can use these tools with your teams to teach strong time management practices across the whole team and get manifold benefits. When you start doing all this, you can also use the toolkit’s weekly planner!  With equipment in hand and goals in mind – what are you waiting for? The right time to start time management is now. Take charge of your time now with the first step of the assessment. As you progress, share the insights with your team and unlock the highest performance standards. 

Decision-Making: A skill you can’t live without as a manager

Manager – AKA the most responsible person in the team. Isn’t it? A manager carries a load of numerous responsibilities on their back. While it may be hard to define their job precisely, a few essential duties are central to the role of a manager, including coordinating functions and generating efficiency. Their role requires them to be effective at many different tasks, which need mastery of multiple skills. In today’s iteration of The Top newsletter, we will discuss one such central skill of a manager – decision-making.  #Managers and #leaders are responsible figures in the workplace. Undoubtedly, this responsibility arrives due to their proven expertise and long experience, enabling them to carry out their jobs effectively. Among their key goals is leading their teams to ensure they reach their full potential. 

Besides, managers are also responsible for ensuring that their team members are motivated and engaged at their jobs. In this journey, they also have to focus on personal and professional development avenues for all of them. Building successful teams is not just about making changes with the existing team members; it includes other responsibilities, such as hiring the right people and organizing the workflow.  We can see that the responsibilities of a manager do not follow a set template. Different tasks require them to take up different roles, where one skill may shine over the rest. As such, we can understand that leadership is a function of the situation, i.e., leadership is situational. It means that managers adapt to circumstances as and when they change.  Instead of adopting a fixed demeanor, a manager who practices situational leadership molds their leadership style as per need. For instance, if they are handling a new team member who, although high on motivation and willing to learn, lacks experience and experience, then they can adopt a coaching leadership style. It will allow them to guide the new employee into their role and help them achieve their full potential.  Situational leadership can bring many benefits to the team itself. However, there are many facets within this one leadership style too. You can read more about it here. 

So far, we have understood that effective leadership requires a manager to change their style a lot. Such an adaptable method – called situational leadership style – can be effectively used only when the manager focuses on some critical skills, including decision-making. Decision-making is particularly important for picking the right leadership approach with your teams, as it becomes the basis of all your further actions. Hence, you should strive to build top-notch decision-making skills to succeed as a manager.  Managers who are influential decision-makers typically develop frameworks to increase the speed and quality of their process. They also attempt to create a balance of objective data and intuitions to arrive at logically and emotionally sound decisions. A lot is dependent on a good decision. It provides a critical foundation for the team’s growth and development. Not only that, managers who are good decision-makers are often more efficient and successful than their peers. Are your decisions helping you stand out? Check now with this free decision-making self-assessment.  Risely’s free decision-making self-assessment helps managers and leaders accurately assess their decision-making abilities. After taking this assessment, you can identify the weaknesses in your decision-making process that have reduced your efficiency. Not only that, but it also helps you refine so that you can climb ladders of personal and professional growth effortlessly. 

The difference brought by sound decision-making skills in the manager’s effectiveness is crucial. It not only helps them make better decisions, but it also helps them in laying the foundation for achieving their vision progressively. Hence, although the skills of a manager grow, everyone, including their team and organization, shares the benefits.  In this way, the growth of a manager always becomes a catalyst for change in their team. They can pull their teams through hurdles by developing the skills critical for their personal and professional rise. Therefore, the skill development of a manager is vital for all stakeholders.  Decision-making is one of many skills that managers need to focus on. Apart from this, they should also develop the habit of active listening, improve their ability with constructive feedback, and conduct great one-on-one meetings with their teams to effectively carry out all their responsibilities.  #leadership #leadershipevelopment #managerdevelopment #managereffectiveness #decisionmakingskills