Presenter: Welcome back to the second part of our programme, How do you manage? I have with me Jenny Buxton, who works in Ipswich. Welcome, Jenny.
Manager: Hi.
Presenter: You work for a well-known firm of retailers, but it's not the products I wanted to talk to you about today, it's the people involved. You've been responsible for a staff of 15 for a year or so now. Tell me how you got there.
Manager: Well, I did the standard round of applications from university and this is my second employer. I enjoy the area of retailing, but as far as managing staff, that's more recent and so it's quite a new area for me, with a whole new set of challenges.
Presenter: You pride yourself on being good with people. You've got quite a sociable, outgoing personality. I imagine you'd be a good person to work under.
Manager: Well, that's what I like to think. But managing people isn't all about sitting down with a cup of tea and talking over issues. Being in a position of responsibility means you can be the bringer of bad news as well as good. You have to develop a thick skin ... to be unpopular, not to be liked for a decision you make.
Presenter: And I guess that can be hard at first.
Manager: Yes, but the thing you learn, if you stick at it long enough, is that people will still respect you even if they don't like what you had to say on a particular subject or the way you acted.
Presenter: Are there other aspects of line managing that you find difficult?
Manager: One of the hardest, most awkward things is the issue of disciplinary action. The company should have a system in place for dealing with this kind of area, and you have to make sure the system is understood and agreed by everyone. But ultimately, if you've taken the employee through all the procedures and he or she still doesn't shape up, some hard decisions have got to be made.
Presenter: We seem to be focusing a lot on the negative side here. What about some of the positive things?
Manager: Oh, the chance to help people reflect on things, how they are developing with the company. I like seeing people develop, change and perhaps go off on a completely new path, something that may never have occurred to them if you hadn't pointed them in that direction.
Presenter: I imagine it can be quite satisfying.
Manager: Yes. And then there's the sheer variety. You plan your work, you have to get yourself well organised, but ultimately no two days are ever the same. There's always a new challenge, and I like that more than anything.
Comments
No, I haven't.
In my opinion, a good manager needs to know the work process well and be able to communicate with the team.
Yes. I had.
Have you ever line-managed staff? No, I haven't.
I hope I will try in the future.
Hi everybody from Spain,
I manage a staff of 20 people and I think the most importat think is to know how to keep your staff motivate at anytime, in addition to treat each one of them in a different way according with their personality and way of work.
Have a nice weekend
Dear sir,
I don't understand these sentences "And then there’s the sheer variety. You plan your work, you have to get yourself well organised, but ultimately no two days are ever the same" mean?
Can you please explain these sentences. Thank you very much! Have a nice night!
Hello quynhanhNT,
'And then there's the...' is an expression used when we want to add some extra information or an extra argument to what we are saying.
I'm not sure what part of the rest of the sentence is not clear for you - it is all quite literal in meaning.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you, sir!
How about this sentence " Well, I did the standard round of applications from university and this is my second employer" It means like: I learnt the subject "managing staff" at university, I know a basic of managing staff subject, and already worked in this field before?
Have a nice night, sir!
Hello quynhanhNT,
'I did the standard round of applications' means that the speaker sent out many applications, as is normal.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
It's really difficult to manage people but if you pay attention to the way you choose to communicate them your decisions it can turn the job easier than it is
It is not difficult to work as a manager while still being respected by the staff. It is difficult to coach and guide the staff while your management was always meddled by an unfriendly boss for her personal interests.
You can attend different sort of courses or trainings on leadership skill, these will help you to learn the necessary theories and knowledge on leadership, but you may realize that some of them may just not practical in real life situation, you have to learn from the experience, suffering from the pain, correct it, re-trying and ultimately you will grasp the idea of being a good leader in different environment.
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