MANAGING AND LEADING PEOPLE

Managing and Leading People

Managing and Leading People

Introduction and Background

This is a Scenario based report in which I have been into the role of Lead Program Manager for 6 months. I am full of drive and passion to foster a cohesive team spirit and evolve the team to take on a more prominent role within the Asia Pacific Operations Center. The other person involved in this case is my direct report, a Senior Program Manger named John, who had been with the group with the past 10 years. He is well-respected for his deep functional knowledge in the role, and he is a tough nut to crack due to seniority within the group and seemed unmotivated.

This experience happened about a year and a half ago when I first took on the role of a Lead Program Manager within this new team. I was finding my feet as a people manager and was full of drive and passion to build up the team. I had the impression that John was not very motivated in his current role. I had been observing him for a while and had been trying to find the perfect opportunity to provide him with some constructive feedback on his attitude and behavior as a team player.

After a not-so-conducive team meeting, I decided to ask John into my room and have a heart to heart talk with him. At the same time, I intended to find out more about his dissatisfaction in his current role and provide him with some constructive feedback. The outcome of the feedback session didn't turn out as what I've anticipated and John eventually moved on to a new team after six months.

Reflective Observations

John's perspective about me is that I'm not gained enough experience to be a good people manager. My intended constructive feedback was actually viewed as negative feedback which was targeted specifically at him.I wasn't motivating him to perform better as a team player. Instead, I was singling him out as a “scapegoat”. Decided that he did not want to be a part of the team anymore and moved on to another team.

My perspective is that, my good intention had not turned out well. Instead of motivating him, I had out him off and push him out of the team. I didn't achieve objective of providing constructive feedback to John and motivate him to greater heights in his role.

Action Plans for My Personal Development

Much more is expected from managers now than 10 years ago. Being an effective manager requires a deeper level of sophistication and a broader more versatile set of skills. In most industries the pace of change that organisations and their people must cope with is relentless. To be competitive, corporations have had to restructure, downsize, de-layer, and increase spans of control. Additional challenges include managing an increasing diverse work force the changing role of women in business, and the impact of technology on the nature of work pose human resources issues that simply did not exist to ...