Many years ago, it was not altogether uncommon for an employee to spend years, even decades working for the same organisation. Gradually, over time experience was gained and the results achieved would ensure a steady climb up the career ladder. Managers of old worked their way up, and knew their organisation and its people inside out.

Today is very different; while people generally acknowledge that curriculum vitae are weakened when they display a plethora of positions listed over a short period of time, it’s not uncommon for some to move onwards to new challenges after only a few years or even less.

And so, new managers take on new positions, with organisations and staff that are new to them. Anecdotal evidence suggested that sub-ordinates expect their new manager to come in, make sudden changes, and assert their authority.

However, the wise manager puts some of their soft skills training and experience to good use. A wise manager will spend time observing the organisation; its structure; its people, its methodology, its strengths as well as its weaknesses. The new boss should invest in listening, questioning and planning. Only then, will they be truly well armed to put their talents to good use, and drive forward positive change.

You’ve come in early, stayed late and you’ve attacked every goal set like a warrior in battle. You got yourself in front of the right people, and pitched yourself with great confidence and competence. You made it, you got the promotion, and you’re now officially recognised as a key manager.

Now it’s a different ball game, standards are set and you are suddenly responsible for a team of people, and answerable to the senior brass. No longer are you just responsible for your personal efforts, but you’re accountable for lots of other people’s as well.

Strangely, and particularly in smaller organisations, staff are promoted to management positions based on their individual achievements and not necessarily on their ability to manage and motivate people. This is typically because directors see potential managers as results oriented achievers, whom they expect to get the same from their subordinates.

If you’re a new manager, don’t bluff. If you really want to earn the respect of your team, you need to be patient and you have to earn it. Sometimes, you have to be prepared to admit to your subordinates that you don’t know something or you’re unsure. It’s what you then do afterwards to rectify the situation that will gain your credibility.

The smartest new managers invest their time and money on a management training course; learning and using new techniques while you’re actually doing the job, will give you confidence, and your staff will have confidence in you.

Depending on what their specific job function entails, it is likely that with some kind of regularity a manager will have to present their ideas to an audience. This audience may take the form of clients, sub-ordinates or superiors, and can range from a handful of people to the hundreds.

Even the most competent and successful manager can panic when it comes to speaking to groups of people. Sweating, shaky legs, wobbly voice, dry mouth and forgetfulness are just a few awkward symptoms that can rear their ugly head when the time comes.

The good manager recognises the important of presentation skills. The ability to impart knowledge and information, in a concise and engaging fashion, makes sure that the important messages are received well by their audience. You can have the best research and the best ideas in the business world, but if your audience cannot absorb the information, it will not give you your desired effect.

If you have a presentation coming up, don’t put it off – rehearse. The best actors in the world spend many weeks practising their delivery, and if they didn’t they’d be incredibly nervous too!

If you find yourself unduly worrying about the next big presentation you have to do, invest in some personal development or soft skills training, and learn the skills and techniques to be a confident public speaker.

Managers are constantly expected to come up with new solutions and ideas to tackle challenges faced by their organisation. In today’s fast-paced environment, managers are expected to be multi-tasking individuals who can duck, weave and punch their way through new problems.

It’s common that managers tend to approach problem solving from a reactive position. A situation presents itself, requiring attention, and the manager is expected to be methodical and logical in their thinking to come up with the best solution. However, there may be unexplored methods to tackle a problem and come up with new solutions.

Those who have attended management training courses have discovered that there is a whole new alternative to logical thinking that probes their creative mind instead. One of the best known methods for creative thinking is brainstorming.

Brainstorming was a group creativity technique believed to have been devised by an advertising executive named Faickney Osborne, as far back as the 1930’s. He proposed that by sharing ideas a group could greatly increase their output, over and above their sum of individual parts.

Although frequently used as a team building exercise, brainstorming can be effective in providing new ideas and problem solving.

The biggest barrier to successful brainstorming is blocking. As the team leader, encourage everyone to stay open and receptive, and not to comment negatively on anyone’s proposition.

The modern manager is under constant pressure to make decisions, and these decisions can affect the performance of a team, the direction of the organisation, or even the type of manager they become.

If you’re a manager who is finding it increasingly difficult to make decisions, then perhaps you should invest in some personal development, whether it is embarking on a management training course, or a soft skills development seminar.

You might want to learn techniques involved in decision making. You may find that you’re more of a logical decision maker; you can select a number of specific options that meet set criteria. Alternatively, you may want to develop your ability to make creative decisions; where a new objective or solution is to be found, perhaps by brain-storming or ‘blue-skies’ thinking.

It’s important to realise is that you make decisions every day, you just don’t realise it. Think of your decision making skills as a muscle that needs to be flexed. If you exercise a muscle it grows stronger and more flexible. If you practice making decisions, even simple ones, (instead of letting things take care of themselves) you will become a better and stronger decision maker.

A measure of your performance is the results that you produce. To drive forward towards positive outcomes, you need to practice your decision making skills.