Training management

Management situations – case studies

Theory is often very different from practice. Between contradictory injunctions, rapid change and a lack of resources, managers can sometimes find themselves at a loss… Let’s take a closer look at some real-life situations.

1st managerial situation: the most competent member of your team is overworked

Delegation – situation 1: You need to entrust part of your work to a member of your team. But the only one who has the skills to do it, and do it well, is already your main point of support and is overloaded with work. He can’t take on any more.

This is a recurring situation: you’re working extremely hard and you’re sorry to say that you can’t count on the other members of your team as much as you’d like.

How would you propose to manage this situation? Take 3 minutes to think about it before looking at the answer…

Solutions Training Management – Delegation management situation

Context analysis :

• The situation has gradually evolved towards this trend. Your confidence may have been shaken by some tricky delegation experiences. In fact, you have tended to rely on effective, committed staff with a proven capacity for learning and autonomy.
• At the same time, by relying a little more on these valued employees, the skills gap may have widened even further with the other members of the team.
• When you don’t choose your team, but are appointed to a management position with an existing team, this is a fairly common situation and reaction. There’s no need to castigate yourself, it’s a classic reaction when you want to achieve your objectives and you’re under a bit of pressure. Taking the easy way out is reassuring, but it’s a very human trap!

Operational management solutions for emergency delegations

• A solution to deal with the emergency : reassign tasks from the most competent member of staff to other members of the team, ensuring that they receive appropriate support.
• A long-term solution : Implement a skills development plan for all employees by first taking stock of their skills and competencies.
• The training booklet on delegation will be a great help in setting up a skills development plan for your entire team, to ensure that delegation is successful and not too time-consuming. Delegation is an investment in the future, so let’s face it, it takes a bit of time in the short term. But it’s essential, otherwise we end up back where we started: the most competent people are overwhelmed, the least competent are demotivated…

2nd management situation: a team member is taking up an enormous amount of your time.

He asks you too often about subjects that he seems to have mastered. It’s very time-consuming and it annoys you: he keeps asking you to confirm points that he’s already seen. You have the impression that he’s also wasting a lot of time waiting for you to be available to move on with his work.

Your patience is being eroded, you’re not a mum who has to reassure her little one, your job is management, not babysitting! You’ve really got other things to do. At least, you’re at a stage where you’re losing patience, especially as you’re under pressure, the team’s objectives aren’t being met and you’re going to have to be accountable…

How would you propose to deal with this situation? Take 3 minutes to think about it before looking at the answer…

Solutions Training Management – Managerial situation

Context analysis: what is/are the problem(s) as we understand it?

• When you explain something to them, do they take notes?
• If you have the impression that he knows the answer, why give it to him? It’s tiring to repeat the same thing 3 times.
• He seems to lack self-confidence. What have you done to build his confidence?

Operational management solutions for an employee who lacks confidence and is time-consuming

• Could you ask him how he plans to go about it? If they have the answer, you can suggest that they take note of the solution and re-use it in a similar context without even asking you, pointing out that they have just demonstrated that you can trust them. Green light!
• A long-term solution: during feedback meetings, once a week or fortnight for example, ask the employee to prepare the points he or she has learnt over the past week or fortnight.
• They certainly need to make the effort of memorising, which anchors the learning process, but it will also help them to realise that their skills have improved, and therefore their self-confidence.

The management bible is filled with hundreds of managerial situations to help you identify new reactions in everyday situations, while taking a step back from your practices.

Other resources for managerial situations

• Assess Manager tools are aimed at managers and future managers.
• They are usually made available on the initiative of companies or training centres.
• The Management Bible is available in paperback in 2 volumes, published in April 2021 (volume 1) and January 2022 (volume 2) by EMS Coach.
• Assess Manager has a wide range ofclients, including recruitment agencies, companies, training centres and coaches – Randstad Search, Robert Half Executive, UPS, SNCF, UGAP, Air Liquide, Johnson Control – Hitachi, La Croix Rouge, CNRS, Fondation OVE, Polylogis, Une pièce en plus, Sofralab, etc.