What makes you exceptional as a Manager? One thing to make it happen~

When you talk about what makes someone good there are lots of points you can make, but the difference between good and great managers are just a few things. Great managers do a few things that the good managers and lesser managers only think about doing.one else One primary place where Great Managers stand out from every other manager is 'communication'. I know that most managers when you ask them will say that they think they are good at communication. And when I pin them down to specifics, like asking, give me an example of how you communicate with your least important tier of employees they will be aghast and say, all of my employees are important. Of course they are. Now tell me how you just communicated with that tier? They cannot tell me of course because most managers tell their immediate supervisors information and expect that information to be communicated effectively down to all of the employees in their group or organization. The real heart of this is that Great Managers never assume/presume or take for granted what will or won't happen. They check and ask and seek to find out if that information is adequately passed down to all of their people. Great Managers use all avenues of communication, verify that it worked and insure that no one is left out. Great Managers not only use email to send information they also invite response to insure the information was communicated. They will use email, phone calls, text messages and verbal connections to make sure their messages are valued and received openly. Now I ask, what did you last 'send' and how did you make sure the correct info was transmitted and understood by the recipients? Now we are on the right track to being a Great Manager! Steve Sapato is a management trainer and speaker and has trained hundreds of companies and organizations in how to become exceptional. mentalprosperityblog.com

How Were You Trained To become A Manager? Who trained you and who trained them?

Did you receive any training before you became a manager? Most managers were never even trained to become managers but were placed into a position simply because it came available and they were next in line! There was no selection process. No tests or psychological profiling that went into their placement. And that is most typically answered with a resounding YES!!! by all of the people who suffer under the auspices of a bad or mediocre manager. So tell me, what training did you receive? Did you go to management classes taught by an outside vendor? because 90% of all in-house management training is taught by someone who has limited management training themselves and merely inherited the Training Position. This alone is responsible for thousands of lost man hours and thousands of unhappy employees because inadequately trained managers do not know how to use the exceptional people that are working with and for them. They don't know how to confront, delegate and utilize the people working under them. So bullying in the workplace stays strong because managers are not trained on how to deal in these areas! Great Managers understand and have learned how to deal with all kinds of personalities and learn how to out perform other departments by making their people happy and wanting to do great jobs for their manager. Most managers are improperly trained and therefore limited in their knowledge and their abilities to perform or excel outside of the scope of their experience. That means they can only teach you as much as they know. But we all know that each generation teaches less than they know so you aren't even being trained via what they know but only what they can pass on to you. What most companies desire is to achieve excellence in their organizations. Most understand that this excellence is achieved by utilizing their greatest resource – people. And most companies understand that the greatest loss of productivity is through the mismanagement of people and the under utilization of their abilities and skills. Now I ask again, who trained you and what additional training are you achieving on your own? I write this management blog for the mere pleasure of helping struggling managers learn more about how to get the most out of themselves and out of their people. I hope you enjoy reading it and forward it on to your peers. But let’s talk about what is really happening. If you are relying on a simple afternoon training class or some video training you were required to take then you are missing the most important part of management training. The interaction. The ability to ask questions in and of a person who has suffered through many of the things you are trying to figure out. Who has gained knowledge and background after years of managing as well as taking courses from others who we can learn from. The Great Management Trainers are never boring because we have been forced to set through hours and hours of terrible management meetings, hours and hours of boring meetings because the managers didn’t know how or understand the purpose of those meetings. And we have put ourselves out there to learn from other trainers and learned that boring is not only bad but ridiculous! Now you need to step up your game. You want the bosses to notice you? Then you need to be noticeable! You need to start showing them the results that only a great manager can achieve. And you can start that process by self training. Don’t wait for your company or your bosses to train you. Don’t wait! Take on the leadership you want by learning to be the leader they need. Read some of my past blogs and then follow the new ones and encourage your bosses and other managers to hire a GREAT management trainer (hint hint nudge nudge) to come in and start the process to make your company into the successful and powerful organization they want it and you need it to be. I am Steve Sapato with http://www.mentalprosperityblog.com and I have been training corporate managers for over twenty years. 563-370-4938

Great Managers~ Restaurants~making your staff more money by is using a 30 yr old technique

Have you been blessed by working for a great manager? Me too. I have learned many great styles and techniques as well as 'catch phrases' that endure time. I would love to hear yours so please comment and let me know. And pass this on to help others! One of the phrases that have stuck in my head for 50 years now is 'if you have time to lean, you have time to clean.' I love that. I hated at the time because it meant my boss wanted me to keep working! Now get ready to share yours, please. I have the great pleasure recently of having someone I managed over thirty years ago come back into my life. She is now a great manager and as we talk she reminds me of things she has learned and recently she told me I was the inspiration for her helping her staff make more money. Now don't get me wrong, I have lots of techniques I use and train that I tell restaurants will increase their business by ten percent and sometimes double the tips their servers receive. It is why I travel and train. I know things! Surprise surprise. But this one phrase I had long forgotten and my friend reminded me. She told me that her staff said that working her shift made them a lot more money than working for any other manager. By using one phrase she helped her people make more money. Would you like your staff to make more money? Because that is what great restaurant managers do isn't it? It is one of the reasons that Great Managers seldom have to look for a great staff because the staff tells their friends how great it is to work with you and they come and apply giving you a never ending supply of great staff while at other restaurants you hear, "I can't find good help these days." If you have heard that, maybe this one phrase will help you solve that huge problem of getting good help! Are you ready? When your guests check out all you need to do is ask them - Did your server take good care of you today? Wait, not done because it's the next phrase that makes all the difference! And of course they better be saying yes to that question or you had better be doing a lot more to make your guests happy. When you ask, - Did your server take good care of you today - and they answer yes! Then the money maker reply is... - Did you take good care of your server?- It's innocuous, it doesn't raise their hackles, it's not pandering, it's not offensive in any way AND it makes your guests realize that you not only value them but you value your staff. And my great friend Toni Finch said her servers love working with her for many reasons (it's why she is a great manager)but one reason they tell her is because she uses those two phrases together and they make her staff a lot more money! What makes you a great manager? Lots and lots of things. This is just one small idea that will create a loyalty from your staff and also make them more money. And that is what drives many people today, show me the money~ I hope this tidbit makes you and your people a better place to work and a happier place to spend your time. Would you like to learn more ways to increase your bottom line profits? Learn how to increase customer loyalty? Have great people standing in line to work for you? I am Steve Sapato and I would love to train you and your staff so that all of those things can happen. Great Managers are made not born. mentalprosperityblog.com - Now please leave your catch phrases here so we can all learn and grow.! Have an amazing year!

Great managers use great communication

Great managers use great communication What makes a great manager? There are all kinds of things that make a manager great. We have discussed many of those things in previous blog posts. If you have an article or an opinion I would love to hear from you. Just send your suggestion or article to steve@stevesapato.com As I travel from company to company and organization to organization I am always surprised by the level of non-communication that exists in almost all companies. The level of communication typically determines the level of success of an organization: the greater the communication the greater the organization. This greater organization comes from many different areas. When an organization is communicating well, so many things happen because people are more involved and happier as well as superior productivity and increased production and services. But this communication does not happen by accident. It has to be well planned, completely accepted and on-boarded and have a functional method of monitoring the results and methods for continuing the communication. In many organizations this entire system is mapped out, written down and has check-offs to insure participation and use. When the top of an organization communicates well all the way to the bottom of their organization you will find the employees and staff to be much happier and content in their jobs. Almost every study shows that when people are happy and content they almost always produce more results and improve productivity. When employees are treated with that level of respect that says I believe in you and trust you to know what is happening with our organization or company and actually have an opportunity to input information they feel involved and understood. Now let’s go back to what makes a good manager great? It is great communication with their entire staff. It is learning methods that insure that your area, department or organization is informed and involved. It is being open to all communication that will aid you in learning about how your own department works. It is your ability to discern how well you think your communication is working and then finding a method to monitor and insure that the communication you think is taking place is actually taking place. And now I get to ask, what are your current procedures for making sure your organization is achieving maximum communication from the top all the way to the bottom? I am Steve Sapato with mentalprosperityblog.com and I help organizations build Great Managers. Let me know how I can help you. steve@stevesapato.com