Establishes clear directions; sets stretching goals and assigns responsibilities that bring out the best work from people; establishes a good work plan, and distributes the workload appropriately.
Share a time when it was critical that you provide clear instructions, direction, or vision to an individual or group. What was the situation and to whom were you communicating? How did you ensure that your communications were clear and understood by the individual or group?
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Describe a time when you used formal goals or objectives to inspire others to achieve their best. Which goals related to their normal jobs and which were “stretch” assignments? What additional actions did you take to inspire others to achieve?
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Sometimes, distributing the workload among multiple people can be challenging. Describe a situation in which you were skillful in crafting a work plan that distributed the workload appropriately. How did you determine the distribution? To what extent did you have to adjust your initial plan? What were the results?
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Explain how you have communicated with others about their work plans. Please share one or two examples related to a specific person(s).
Learning on your own: These self-development remedies will help you build your skill(s).
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Do an inventory of your personal strengths and weaknesses: Get input from others about what they appreciate about you or would like to see you change. Ask for opinions on what you do and don’t do well.
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Do an inventory of common management techniques and practices: Get input from others about how well you match up with the best techniques.
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Do a communication check on yourself: Assess how well and how consistently you inform, listen, explain, and get back to people.
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Do a delegation check: Assess if you delegate and empower others appropriately. Periodically ask others to give you a list of things you do that could be done equally well by others.
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Adapt your style, if necessary, to deal with others: Steer clear of tactics or actions that devalue others, play favorites, or demonstrate prejudice or unnecessary emotion. Manage to spend time with others.
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Be organized and make plans: Lay out work and tasks clearly, setting realistic goals and objectives to guide others.
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Share the credit: Celebrate successes with others, and use the word “we” more than “I.”
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Confront problems directly and quickly: Deal with things before they fester.
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Relate to other people: Get work done through others rather than doing it all yourself.
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Study models: Seek out one or two people who others view as successful, and study them. Incorporate their best behaviors into your own.
Learning from develop-in-place assignments: These part-time develop-in-place assignments will help you build your skill(s).
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Assign a project to a group with a tight deadline.
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Temporarily manage a group opposed to an unpopular change or project.
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Temporarily manage a group of low-competence people in a task they couldn’t do themselves.
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Assemble a temporary group of diverse people to accomplish a difficult task.
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Build a multifunctional team to tackle a common problem.
Learning more from your plan: These additional remedies will help make this development plan more effective for you.
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Learning to learn better:
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Examine why you judge people the way you do. List the people you like or dislike and why. Discern what you have in common with them.
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Learning from experience, feedback, and other people:
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Learn from those in authority. Distance yourself from your feelings, and analyze what they do and do not do well. Choose to imitate the successful behavior.
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Learn from interviewing others. Ask what, how, and why they do what they do, where they learned it, and how they keep it current and relative.
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Learn by observing others. Objectively study what these people do.
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Get feedback from your direct reports. Set a positive tone, and don’t retaliate if you don’t agree.
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Learn from limited staff. Look for ways to bring out the best in others who may lack skills or experience. Motivate by being a positive force, even in negative situations, and by giving feedback. Recognize when it is time to stop trying something, and start over.
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Learning from courses:
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Take a supervisory course. Review the common practices of effective supervision.
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Take a course designed to offer feedback, such as how to develop negotiating skills or influence people.
