Personal Lessons of Managerial Executive Development - Assignment Example

Report and illustrate, with reference to specific examples and evidence, your own progress (and/or otherwise) toward your goals in your chosen area of managerial effectiveness. Since I am a manager within the organization, I have learned with the passage of time that it is always a good omen to have a proper know-how of things that are happening around me. This helps me to get a first hand idea of how things will shape up in the coming times and it also makes me mentally ready as to what I should be expecting. There is no situation that makes me feel out of the blue from what is happening around me. My effectiveness as a manager is gauged by the fact that I try my best to find out what exactly is going on within the personal lives of my subordinates and the ones who are working under me. I also try my best to extract details regarding their professional issues which they have every now and then. This makes my tasks easier as I know that my employees and subordinates are giving in their best and what I can expect from them in the long term scheme of things. My effectiveness is therefore very closely tied in with the way I understand the psyche of my subordinates and all those who work under me. I try to remain accessible to them so that I can be honest with a clear review of their activities, behaviors and undertakings which they exhibit within the workplace. I have made it a point to let the employees enjoy their own selves at work so that they can be mentally fresh on all occasions. I have also encouraged employee refreshment programs from time to time which put the employees in a better shape to give in their work tasks. One of the examples that I would like to quote here is when one of my subordinates was having a tough time at her home. Her husband used to beat her nearly on a daily basis and she came all bruised and mentally shattered to the workplace. She did not tell anyone what problems she was going through at work but I, on my own decided to find out the real issue. I sent one of my female colleagues up to her and asked my colleague to extract confidentially what she was going through. What was hurting the organization was the fact that her work had come down considerably and that she was of no good use to the company for quite a while then. The colleague went up to her and inquired her of the exact problem. I came to know that this female subordinate was indeed addicted to a drug for which her husband used to beat her day in day out. She was indeed playing havoc with not only her own life but also of her entire family. She wanted this drug almost on a daily basis and to get the same, she was ready to get beaten from her husband. Had I not inquired about the exact problem that she was going through, I would have surely understood that her husband was the one who was on drugs and that he beat her daily to ask her for money. I believe I got a better idea of what exactly was taking place in her domestic life through extraction of details. Indeed this was a good step on my part to understand the psyche of the people who worked under me. Eventually we had to warn this subordinate on a formal level to stop using the drug so that she could give in her best at work. Luckily for everyone she paid heed to the advice and quit on this menace and became a good employee again. I am of the view that if I had not understood the exact problem, it would not have solved even half of the problem that was occurring in her life (Frame 1999). I, in a way, helped her to get rid of a habit which could have destructed her life as well as of her family. I am happy that I, as a manager, understood the gravity of the problem at hand and took serious steps in the nick of time. Assess your actual progress and experience against your intended targets, plan of action, initial criteria, and ‘promises’. Identify and explain any surprises, changes in plan, changes in heart, etc. I believe I am well on my way to achieve what I have always dreamt of in the long run. This is because as a manager it is very important for me to comprehend the basis of my subordinates and all those who work under me or with me. My progress is in relation with how they conduct themselves and what I need to do for them in order to have the best possible returns for the sake of the organization. I had envisioned for myself a pathway which will eventually take me to success and since I have been the manager for quite a good amount of time now, I am of the view that my experience has been handy all this while. My progress is therefore directly proportional to how I thought of my tasks and behaviors at work. I had promised to myself to remain fair and balanced as regards to my deeds with the people who work under me or alongside me and I am glad to state here that as a manager I have performed exceptionally well on this premise. My promise has therefore been achieved to a good enough extent as I can respect in the eyes of the people who are indeed my subordinates as well as my peers and colleagues. My initial criteria was to make a name for myself within the organization so that people could know that I am a hard working soul, who understands that work is the first religion. People know me as a hard working and committed professional, who is dedicated enough to go the distance as far as work domains are concerned. They also know that they can bank on my experience to bring out the results which they have planned for themselves or which the organization has planned out in the long run. My plan of action during this while has been simple – to enact measures which will benefit the employees and the subordinates immensely well and to cultivate an environment which will reap the best possible results in the long term scheme of things. My progress has therefore been based on what I have learned on the job and how I have been able to apply the same towards my work domains for quite a while now. What I had planned earlier has been instrumental at making me the manager for this organization. The targets that I had set in my mind have eventually come true with the passage of time and I am of the view that this is something very good as far as my managerial capacity is concerned. I am lucky not to experience any surprise or change of a magnanimous effect in the workplace to date when I compare the same to what I had planned for myself some 5 years back. Therefore I believe that my pathway has been set on a solid edifice, one which brings a lot of stability and job security for my position in the time and age of today. I want to work my best towards what I had planned earlier and therefore this will be the basis of my success in the coming days as well. I am hopeful that if I am given a better chance than I am having at the moment, I would be able to give in what I have been unable to manifest thus far (Parrish 1997). Fortunately for me, I have not had a change of heart on the job and I believe that such a thing would eventually never ever crop up since I know my personality better than anyone else. I do not give up that easily and this is indeed one of my core strengths as a work professional. However I am very thankful to the top management who has realized what kind of potential I have and what skills are needed to extract the best possible results for the sake of the organization through my personality and character. I look forward to working on these same lines to achieve even better efficiency and effectiveness in my managerial capacity in the times to come. Draw personal lessons about the process of Managerial Executive Development, what conceptual frameworks work for you, what doesn’t work for you, and why? Managerial Executive Development comes about with immense talent and sheer hard work. On my part, I am blessed with both of these factors and thus I have been able to combine the two in a very effective way. My managerial effectiveness and competence is represented in such a way that I have been able to achieve success through understanding different things that have come about at the workplace. I have envisioned success through zeal and commitment and thus have banked on the good times that I have had in the past, as far as my personal work domains are related. However I have always taken every new day as a lesson for myself and I do not look back quite often. The bad things and the moments that need to be forgotten are some of the scars that would remain on my personality but I make a special effort not to recollect such thoughts as these bring a lot of negativities to my mind. I am aware that Managerial Executive Development is something that holds a great deal of significance for my management undertakings and that I need to develop myself in line with the premises of this philosophy. The conceptual frameworks that work best for me include the fact that I need to remain in line with the strengths that the Managerial Executive Development offers to me. I gain an insight into how I can develop my managerial capacity and the much needed niche over my compatriots with the passage of time since I comprehend where I am going wrong and what exactly I need to do in order to correct my stance in the future. There are immensely important lessons for me as I seek to learn new things with each passing day. These give me the insight as to how I should mold myself in line with the best known managers in the historic times as well as the ones that are working today. The Managerial Executive Development works for me as it brings a sense of freshness with managerial concepts which are always very exciting for a manager to learn from. The understandings provided are very important because these put me (a manager) in a better grade than the people who do not have any know-how of the Managerial Executive Development regimes. I am glad that I have a better grasp of managerial activities and undertakings than the ones who have been unable to quite comprehend the true meaning behind Managerial Executive Development. I am also happy because Managerial Executive Development provides me a competitive advantage over my predecessors and the colleagues who have yet to learn important points from the same domains. What works for me best is the exact way under which I am able to take care of the work quarters and how I shape up activities before these reach fruitful succession. I have a fair enough idea how my processes would turn out to be because I have the foresightedness as one of my core strengths within the managerial capacity onto which I hold fast (Statt 2000). I have always been a very ardent supporter of the logic behind having the Managerial Executive Development because I believe it helps the managers to gauge their processes, activities and work tasks with the very best in the related lines of business. It also makes managers like me get the true meaning of management and how I am able to counter problems under situations which ask for sustaining pressure. The role of technology within the domains of a manager is also something that the Managerial Executive Development teaches me on a consistent level, as it allows me to have a fair enough idea of how things shape up within the managerial quarters as well as the organizational understandings are so very important to know. All of these factors assist me enormously as I aim to build my respective basis within the world of management and make a name for my own self in the days to come. Identify, if applicable, new development priorities, arising out of unanticipated circumstances, new discoveries or fresh perspectives. The new development priorities are set in such a manner that these put me under stressful regimes every now and then. Since I have a very able and trained team working under my auspices, I am able to shed away the pressure that is imposed on not only my own self but also my entire team. My subordinates know beforehand how to tackle such sudden issues which crop up without giving any indication into their eventual happening. I am able to come out as a happy and satisfied man since I know that these unanticipated circumstances will soon die down and my work regimes would indeed be the winner. However this is not always as easy as it might sound here. Sometimes there are situations and circumstances which ask of me to have a differential route, whereby my perspective might just be in favor of the task at hand, yet I have to shun away the proposition in order to think about the long term betterment of the organization that I work for (Nathan 2001). Then again, there are situations when I am totally against a clause or undertaking yet I have to bear the eventuality because my organization has wished for one such work reality. There are situations where I have to think above what my personal viewpoints would bring about and hence this is a collective effort that brings in the much needed results at the end of the day. This is true within every organization and not just my organization alone. The new developments keep on happening within my managerial undertakings but these must not mean that I give into the pressure which is exerted upon me on a day to day basis. I need to counter such issues because this means long term stability of my organization and the people who work under me as well as the ones who work on the same level as I do. More than anything else, it ensures that I remain as a vital link within the organization and my position is indispensable. For me, job security is indeed very important and this can only be assured when I give in my best on a proactively consistent level. The new discoveries and fresh perspectives do take place whenever the top management thinks that there are problems with the already adopted routes as far as the business undertakings are concerned. The top management therefore needs to be told the exact mechanisms for sticking with the plans that my team has devised or we need to give a rationale for the same so that justification is provided in a quantifiable way. Therefore new development priorities bank on the importance of a task that is assigned to us by the top management as well as the time frame that has been given to us to complete the task at hand. If we feel that there are any resources which seem missing within the related ranks, we will do our best to demand the same from the top management in a manner that justifies our demand. If however we are unable to give a solid documentation of why we are asking for the allocation of resources, we shall find a way to let the management gurus know that we shall expect to use these resources in the coming times, and which would eventually help the organization achieve its goals and objectives in the long run. I believe that a proactive approach rather than a reactive one would help my cause as this will mean success for me in the long term and not to forget the organization that I work for. Success is a relative term for me since it means quite a lot of significance for the organization that all of us work for. I am hopeful that nearly all my work undertakings ensure success for the organization and that any unanticipated circumstances will be taken care of in an automatic fashion so that stability and progress would be ensured for the sake of the organization. Comment on your own abilities as a self-developing manager in the light of your attempts to develop so far. As a self-developing manager, I have understood the importance of being proactive and on my feet most of the times, in fact all the time. I comprehend that it is my responsibility to be the leader under difficult circumstances since I am a manager who has to manage people from the front. When things are rosy and under control, perhaps I can stay back and let one of my subordinates take the lead role so that delegation principle can be instilled within the workforce. It would also turn them into good leaders and indeed managers in the coming days. My self-development holds a great deal of essence for me since this teaches me to remain head on with my work tasks and the ways and means through which I would be able to give my best shot. My self-development also means that I have to remain very candid about my thoughts and that my actions will always be spot on and in the best interests of the organization that I basically work for. I have to play an important role at turning my present day weaknesses into my core strengths so that I can improve in the job and enhance my managerial capacity without looking back at any time within the future. I need to do this in such a way that it brings success for me in an automatic fashion. I have to think on a broader level because a number of people are attached to me and since they work under my aegis, I have to be very closely associated with them, both on a personal as well as a professional level. I need to understand what works best for them and how they can manage things whilst pressure gets mounted on them at certain moments within their work regimes. My personal attempts to develop my personality have been very appropriate and concise since I feel that I have not let myself down till now. I have been able to manifest my truest basis through hard work and sheer commitment – some of the best traits that have been instilled in my personality since childhood. I have an ability to develop my own self though looking at instances where I have been at a loss, and to reflect back on issues where I could have done much better than I did in the past (Engel 1997). As a self-developing manager, I believe that I need to follow the past examples of some of the greatest managers that existed and who worked immensely well under extreme pressure situations. I would have to carve my own personality in such a way that my truest basis comes about in a clear and lucid way. This would require some more time since I believe everything takes its due course of time to come about in a perfect shape at the end. I will keep on working hard to achieve long term success, which for me remains very important. I will also give in my best whenever there is a need to do so. In fact I will do so on a proactive basis so that no shortcomings arise due to my laziness, which I hope would never be the case with my personality domains. Self-development always happens for a good reason and the eventuality related with one such undertaking is tantamount to quite a lot of positives that arise for a person. I believe on this ideology quite a lot and I want to see myself grow both as a person as well as a professional, so that my latter capacity can assist my organization to break new grounds and achieve new heights. Self-development holds the key for me in the long term scheme of things and I would give my best to achieve the best possible result for myself. I believe that loyalty towards one’s own self is important towards achieving self-development regimes and this is one of the basic reasons why I want to be known as the best known managers in this day and age. Identify and explain what you see as the most appropriate and desirable changes that you could make in your future approach to Managerial Executive Development in order to be a highly effective manager. To become a highly effective manager, I have to incorporate nearly all the important points behind the ideology of Managerial Executive Development. For me, Managerial Executive Development is equivalent to achieving immense success within the quarters of management because I take this as something very important within my professional domains. However I also know that this is easier said than done, and that I need to do quite a lot in order to break new grounds as far as my personality regimes are concerned. I look forward to building my personality in such a way that I gain quite a lot of incentives from my undertakings and tasks that I give in at my workplace. The changes that I would like to see for not only myself but also for my organization involve of the fact that my subordinates must improve their ways and means under which they manifest their work on a day to day level. On a personal front, I would like to achieve complete interdependence from things that hamper the flow of tasks and the eventual success of the organization, both from the short term perspectives as well as in the long run. I know this is always a very difficult step because it involves a great deal of planning and tact, however with the able and educated team at my disposal, I am more than satisfied to know that this can in essence be done. However what still haunts me is the ideology behind going complacent whenever success is coming in easily and business undertakings are happening without any such problem. I know that such circumstances do take place every now and then, and that one has to remain resilient all the while to achieve supremacy. This is a proactive route, which must be covered amicably by the people who matter the most – the middle tier (management) who has to give in its best day in day out. However this middle management must be encouraged by the top realms so that they remain committed to their respective jobs and be on their feet on all occasions. I am sure that when employees know that they are receiving encouragement and support from the very top, they try their best to keep the top management happy and contented with whatever they are working upon. For them, success always means going one step ahead of what they deem as success in the first place. This is an important consideration, and one that must be given the proper significance which it richly deserves in the time and age of today. In essence, it is always a good idea to remain resilient as far as work manifestations are concerned and be focused on the changes that will bring about positive and healthy competition at the workplace. I believe, as a manager, I would have to undertake special efforts to make my subordinates feel at ease and to give their very best on a regularly consistent basis. A highly effective manager is therefore the epitome of bringing in success for the organization over a long period of time and I will definitely try my best to gain that sort of advantage over my colleagues so that my personal grooming happens in a very dignified way. Works Cited Engel, M. The New Non-Manager Managers. Management Quarterly, Vol. 38, 1997 Frame, J. Project Management Competence: Building Key Skills for Individuals, Teams, and Organizations. Jossey-Bass, 1999 Nathan, M. Pastoral Leadership: A Guide to Improving Your Management Skills. RoutledgeFalmer, 2001 Parrish, C. The Changing Role of the Manager: Developing Skills for the Future. Public Management, Vol. 79, September 1997 Statt, D. Using Psychology in Management Training: The Psychological Foundations of Management Skills. Routledge, 2000 Word Count: 4,089 Read More