5 Questions Great Managers Ask (and they arent hard!)

However hard we try, we seem to make life more difficult for ourselves; more challenging; more complex. Yet it needn't be so. try out these five questions with a regularity; a discipline and you will reap rewards. You will certainly reap rewards.

  • What do my customers want?
    Getting inside the head of your customers is a recipe for success. Taking the role on of one of your customers or clients and seeing from their perspective helps structure a sound and growing business. Better still, ask them what they want, need, what irritates them and thank them for their insights. Take complaints as a real positive - for knowing what went wrong, gives you information you can correct and grow stronger on.

  • How do I get the best from my people?
    Enjoying the benefits of truly 'turned on' people in your business, makes a huge difference. Finding out what they need to be successful for you can be more challenging. But wait! Have you asked them what they need to do their best for you? Be sensitive and responsive to their needs. This simple step will provide you with all the people strategies that work. Many solutions will be very easy to do and can build belief and trust in you as a manager. The bigger challenges can be solved by using your people to have a positive and constructive input. It will be worthwhile - for everyone.

  • How can we make best use of our resources?
    What resources? People, goodwill, reputation, location. USP, and more... Well, make sure first of all that you understand what they are. Ask your customers and people what you represent to them - and then do more, much more of it. Then review those things that you can do less of, save resource costs on. Focusing on what you are best at and dropping things that don't create value for you can be very value-creating.

  • What wastes our time?
    It's a simple question, but with an easy answer. What value is created when I spend time on this activity? If your challenge is to make £100 an hour profit for your organisation, is what you are spending your time on doing just that? What things do you and your people do, which does not? Try stopping doing things, some of which you may have done for months and years, when little or no value is created and switch to more things that do. Stop some things and start others - simple as that.

  • What do we need to change?
    Constantly reviewing where you are in your business and making small course a djustments, like the autopilot of a jumbo jet, will maximise your performance. But whilst leading the cultural shift can develop autopilot-mode, the first steps are for managers to spot-check all they do manually. Doing this will encourage your people to start to do it themselves. Remember, the best time to review, review, review, is when you are successful. And then be very challenging and honest about yourselves. Build it in, make small but significant changes regularly, once you have evidence of drifting off course. That makes for a consistently healthy & growing organisation and reduces the need for cataclysmic change.

    Are you up for this refreshing challenge? What better way to start your new focus on your business, organisation or team?

    Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com.

    ...helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow...

    In The News:

    • pen paper and inkwell


    cat break through


    Knowledge Management - Leadership Behaviours Which Encourage Knowledge-Sharing

    The concept of knowledge management or knowledge sharing makes intellectual... Read More

    Five Habits of Highly Effective Conflict Resolvers

    Steven Covey had the right idea. There are discreet skills... Read More

    Lets Make Training More Interesting!

    Many HR managers believe that by sending their workers to... Read More

    Why People Resist Us

    There's a one-word reason most ideas never see the light... Read More

    Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Earn a Profit

    Most people treat meetings as a free resource that can... Read More

    Get Out Of The Stone Age: Give Leadership Talks

    160 years ago, the newly invented electric telegraph carried the... Read More

    How to use NLP for Business?

    What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?Neuro-Linguistic programme is nothing but the study... Read More

    Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Coworkers Collaborate to Complete Successful Initiative

    This short story, Coworkers Collaborate to Complete Successful Initiative, was... Read More

    How To Rebuild Trust

    Here are some quick thoughts on ways to turn things... Read More

    CEOs Role in Family Business

    I first met Roland (not his real name) in 1972.... Read More

    Is ISO 9001 2000 Right For My Business?

    Firstly you should decide your own reasoning behind considering ISO... Read More

    Plan for Business Success - 6 Reasons to Succession Plan

    Succession Planning provides many valuable assets to your business. Yet... Read More

    How To Jump Start Your Profits and Keep Your Profits Rolling

    There are so many ways to jump start your prifits... Read More

    Dialogue: the Four Dialogic Principles For Successful Communication

    "But you don't understand!" exclaimed the manager, "this new initiative... Read More

    Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Workplace Ethics: Reaching the Highest Standard

    This article relates to the Ethics in the Workplace competency,... Read More

    Be a Leader - The Importance of Going Home Early!

    How you run your business is, of course your business.... Read More

    DIVERSITY is a BIG word -- With A HUGE Business IMPACT

    Second thought! Just in case. YOU or someone you personally... Read More

    Knowledge Management - Capturing And Structuring Knowledge Into Reusable Assets

    Many organizations have an approach for identifying and recording lessons... Read More

    Operating on Perpetual Overload?

    Check Out Your E-HabitsAnother week has ended. And, despite moving... Read More

    Why Employees Are the Best Source of Cost-cutting Ideas

    Cost cutting has become a necessary and important reality in... Read More

    Managing Change in the Workplace

    Change is exhilarating. Change is terrifying. Change is badly needed... Read More

    New Job, New Culture: Do You Fit In?

    It seemed like a good decision at the time. A... Read More

    Faith is the LIFE-blood of Your ACTIONS before the Benefit -

    Nothing has changed. Your ancestors lived by faith. Some planted... Read More

    The Myth of the Management Team

    Every business has problems. That is why the average life... Read More

    The Do?s and Don?ts of Giving Feedback

    Being able to give effective feedback is not just a... Read More

    The Red Phone - Management Consulting in 30 Seconds or Less

    Modern business faces complex problems; management often calls upon highly-specialized... Read More

    IT Expenditure - Why Businesses Spend Huge Amounts on Ineffective IT Investments

    Another IT White Elephant!It seems that almost every day we... Read More

    Blame Culture Blues - How the Language of Blame Manifests Organisational Underperformance

    If you have ever worked within a large organisation then... Read More

    Leading Bad Actors To Be Good Performers

    A successful leader told me, "The biggest challenge I've had... Read More

    Getting the Most from Appraisals

    Does your organisation have one of those annual 'occasions' that... Read More

    The High, High Price of Distrust

    A paper manufacturer with over 300 employees once announced that... Read More

    Business Fit

    I have been an entrepreneur for over twenty years and... Read More

    If You Build It, Investors Will Come

    When you begin to write your business plan or a... Read More