Wellbeing

Career: Managing confidently by making things happen

Kate Keenan explains how management strategies can improve all areas of your life

The Management Guide to Managing: Part 1

Manage confidently by making things happen… Kate Keenan explains how management strategies can improve all areas of your life

Everyone needs to know how to manage. Whether you work for a corporate business, organise a home, or run a professional practice, you will almost certainly find yourself managing something at some time or other.

Managing can be broadly defined as deciding what should be done and then making sure it gets it done. To do this successfully, there are four core management activities you need to actively engage in. These are:

Planning what you want to do by identifying your overall aims and specifying exactly what needs to be done.
Organising who should do what by dividing up the work and assigning the various tasks fairly.
Directing the action by letting people know what they need to do and then encouraging them to do it.
Controlling the outcome by keeping everything under control, on time, within estimated cost and driving forward your overall plan.

And this is what managing well is really all about.

But, sometimes, managing can seem a bit like wading through a swamp. Sometimes you make good progress, but at other times, you find yourself surrounded by alligators or bogged down in the mangroves. It is all too easy to end up panicking or acting rashly and to forget that the main reason you are in the swamp is to drain it.

But, by keeping your overall aim in view and engaging positively in the key management activities, you will know that you are managing confidently and making things happen.

Article by

Kate Keenan

Occupational psychologist

Occupational psychologist Kate Keenan is the author of the ‘Management Guides’, a series of books which are designed to assist people to manage themselves better. The books enable people to...

Discover more

Article by

Kate Keenan

Occupational psychologist

Occupational psychologist Kate Keenan is the author of the ‘Management Guides’, a series of books which are designed to assist people to manage themselves better. The books enable people to...

Discover more