Learning Journal: Management Skills

In order to assess the competency of a manager, it is important to determine how solid their skillset is. For management in the millennial age, this skillset is broken down into eight competencies: developing self-awareness, building effective teams and teamwork, building relationships by communicating supportively, empowering and delegating, managing personal stress, problem-solving, managing conflict and motivating others. After determining the skillset, the next step is planning and implementing a scenario to apply a competency skill. Finally, the scenario that is planned and carried out must be evaluated to ascertain results, success and effects. These steps will help to illustrate the strength of a manager.

The first competency, developing self-awareness is a strength of mine. The most important key insight is the fact that I take negative feedback as constructive criticism and not as a personal attack. This aids greatly in my ability to focus on the problem at hand (Whetten & Cameron, 2010, p. 46). Learning about self-awareness is relevant to me because, in order to be a productive member of a team, it is important to be productive individually. This will impact my future endeavors as a restaurant manager positively because I will be in touch with my team.

The second competency, building effective teams and teamwork, is a skill that I hope to improve on in the future. One key insight that I believe I need to improve in the most is becoming part of an interconnected team. It is much better and more productive to incorporate the skills of all members of a team (Whetten & Cameron, 2010, p. 493). What I learned about this skill is relevant because of the team-focused environment of a restaurant. Sharpening this skill will help because I will have to learn how to better incorporate myself into the team and build chemistry.

The third competency, building relationships by communicating supportively, is a skillI possess on a fairly competent level. One key insight that I find in alignment with my level of skill is the fact that I can focus on the problem at hand and communicate in a way that avoids personal attacks (Whetten & Cameron, 2010, p. 234). What I have learned about this skill is relevant because of how important morale and respect are in the restaurant business. Building on this will help those I am in charge of to feel appreciated and unthreatened.

The fourth competency, empowering and delegating is something I feel comfortable doing. One key insight for me is my strength in not succumbing to personal insecurities (Freytag, 2014, p. 70). Ironically, what makes managerial leadership powerful is empowering their subordinates and being concise and consistent in delegating duties. This is relevant because empowering people I am in charge of will make their performance better which has a chain reaction effect on the positive function of a restaurant.

The fifth competency, managing personal stress, is a skill that I am very strong in. The key to this high level of skill for me is my ability to separate professional from personal. This is done by having friends and family as support outside of the job (Whetten & Cameron, 2010, p. 106). This is very relevant because, in order for a restaurant to function adequately, all people within the hierarchy need to know the boundaries of their workplace interactions, especially in interactions with managers.

The sixth competency, problem-solving, is a skill that I need to polish. The key insight for my better performance is learning to be logical as well as intuitive when attempting to solve a problem. I can better this skill by learning to view problems from all angles within my mind (Whetten & Cameron, 2010, p. 169). This is very relevant because restaurants, like many other businesses, need creative problem-solving solutions to stay ahead of the competition and keep customers happy.

The seventh competency, managing conflict, is a strong skill for me, partially because it is a marketing skill (Freytag, 2014, p. 10). The key insight for my strong performance is my ability to negotiate. Often times this can eliminate conflict because if all parties feel they are being heard and respected, there doesn’t have to be a conflict that continues and worsens (Whetten & Cameron, 2010, p. 375). This is very relevant for respect and admiration of those I am in charge of. This keeps the restaurant business at peak performance.

The eighth competency, motivating others, is perhaps my weakest skill because it is hard to learn everyone’s individual motivational keys. The main insight that I believe can greatly improve my performance in this area is learning to reward on an individual rather than collective basis (Whetten & Cameron, 2010, p. 324). This is relevant to all areas of business including the restaurant for the simple reason that people are individuals and respond to different kinds of motivation.

After examining the eight competencies associated with successful management, I believe the most important one is empowering and delegating. In truth, a manager is only as good as the team working with them. The functionality of the team is critical to success. A manager, no matter how skilled, cannot successfully carry out a project on their own. In order to make a team function properly, each team member needs to be empowered according to their strengths and the distribution of duties needs to be concise and clear. The first specific area I wanted to improve on in this plan is securing sufficient resources for my team ahead of time so that the deadline for the project is met. Sometimes, details like this are overlooked and as a result, the timing of the project suffers. If consideration is given to the project, this aspect of the project is fairly easy to undertake. The second area of improvement for this project is continuous praise for my team. Too often, people are looked at as inanimate parts of a team and not as people ("The Three Essential Skills of All Good Managers," n.d., par 8). In order to make my team feel empowered, recognition is very important.

The project will be the creation of a garden. The assembly will include the construction of a raised vegetable box that is four feet wide and six feet in length. Materials for this box will include the wood frame, screws, hardware cloth, weed cloth, planting mix, a wheelbarrow and tubing to connect the garden to a water source. This project will be undertaken in my backyard with three friends of mine. The project will be worked on over the course of two Saturdays for four hours per day.

In order to complete this project successfully, planning ahead is key. I will personally make sure that all foreseeable materials are present at the commencement of construction. This anticipation will negate any common and avoidable obstacles. For a personalized rewards system, I will have my team communicate to me individually, their favorite reward methods, such as verbal affirmation.

There are several indicators that will demonstrate if the project was successful. The first is the timeliness of the completion. After two Saturdays and eight hours of work, the project should be finished. The second indicator is the overall satisfaction of each team member. Each person should feel accomplished in their role within the project for success. My goal is to make sure everyone feels that they provided a necessary service to the success of the assignment. The third indicator is that each team member feels like an individual under my leadership. I want to make sure that each person receives the kind of reward they need for their hard work and dedication. The balance between the individual and the team is the key to success for this indication. The fourth and final indication for success is having the necessary materials at the start. This is the easiest requirement to lock in since the task is my responsibility as manager of the project. The other indicators, however, require a team effort and the critical application of empowerment and delegation on my part. In conjunction with the above indicators, I will have each team member fill out a survey prior to and after the completion of the project. If the surveys reveal a positive experience, I will know that I performed competently as a manager.

After implementing and completing the project, the results were positive overall. The garden box was finished after two Saturdays of work, although it did require two hours of additional work because some resources gathered for use were faulty. This was an unknown factor at the start of the project but as manager of the project, I assume full responsibility for this mishap. In terms of assigning specific roles, this went very smoothly. With a total of four members on the team, including myself, each role was carried out with great professionalism. I made sure to take time and invest on an individual level with each person regarding their specific work. This opened up communication and built trust between myself and the team. I could observe that this contributed to a higher sense of morale and pride in the project.

While the work was not always fun, it was enjoyable. The atmosphere contributed greatly to the success of constructing the garden box. As expected, the surveys both pre and post-project were positive. The pre-project survey expressed appreciation and clarity from the team with my delegation of duties and coordination of the necessary materials. This removed any unnecessary stress and helped the team to focus completely on the project. The post-project survey expressed an overall sense of accomplishment and approval of my leadership. Most importantly, the team members believed that their roles in the project were crucial to its completion.

In terms of improvement, the most glaring mistake was the faulty materials. Perhaps, regarding future projects, it would be possible to test the materials ahead of time to make sure they will provide the necessary use. Further, it is a good idea for future projects to make sure to have extra resources in each category. This precaution would have saved time during the construction of the garden box and probably would have avoided the additional two hours of work that had to be done as a result. Also, it may have been beneficial to include the team in the gathering of resources. This could have been done by having each team member acquire the materials they would be working with on the project. This way, they could be involved in every step of the project. However, since this was solely my responsibility, I believe my role as manager of the project was demonstrated adequately.

I have learned the importance of clear and precise instructions for each team member to make sure they perform at their highest and add as much to the project as possible. Optimization and organization were key skills in this project. I learned that sometimes setbacks occur that are unforeseen but most of them are easily fixed and adjustments can be made to keep the project on track. Even though we were two hours late, I feel that the project was completed very productively considering the obstacle.

It was also impressive to see how smoothly the team worked together through their individualized roles. Each role was performed efficiently and, the further along the project went, the better-oiled the machine became. For example, when one team member fulfilled their role they were eager to help their fellow worker with their role. The sense of teamwork and willingness to go above and beyond, just due to accomplishment and organization reaped great rewards. This, I believe this will help me immensely in my future goals as a restaurant manager.

Even though the construction of a garden box is small in comparison to the day-to-day managerial operations of a restaurant, the principles are the same on a micro-scale. Roles need to be clear, team members need to feel appreciated and the manager needs to be a good steward of their responsibility and power.

References

Freytag, W. R. (2014). Managing employees [PPT]. University of Washington. The three essential skills of all good managers. (n.d.). Smart Manager.

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2010). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ, NJ: Prentice Hall.