WorldGAMES

Manager Tool Kit Series Module 0: Using Management Tools to Improve Results
Overview:
As we learn more about the evolution of mankind, it becomes increasingly obvious that our journey from ape to human has not been a straight forward path. Along the way there have been many differing branches of close relatives, such as the Neanderthals, that have become extinct before leaving us as the one surviving member of our species. So how have we survived when others quite like us have failed? The key answer is our ability to use tools. Not just any tool, for fossil evidence suggests all of our extended family used tools. The difference that made the difference appears to be that while others of our kind used the one-tool-fits-all approach, we forged ahead through our ability to design specific tools that were just right for the job. Unfortunately, in todays competitive world, it is too easy for many to adopt the same one-tool-fits-all approach to managing others that lead to the demise of our relatives. This Manager Tool Kit module is the first in a series designed to incorporate over 150 simple and effective management tools that will create the same advantage for the busy manager of today that early Homo Sapiens had over family rivals. The difference that can make the difference between success, mere survival or far worse.

When and Where to Use this Manager Tool:

Any time we need to manage outcomes, people, tasks, information or time. Tip: If you are not managing something effectively ... try this tool!

How to Use this Manager Tool:

Find a quiet place and follow these steps: 1. Understand why management tools are useful in creating flexibility / options. 2. Understand the need to be flexible. 3. Understand the uses and limitations of management tools. 4. Follow the process. 5. Identify what is not working. 6. Look for the most likely tool kit module to help, using the index 7. Read the Overview page. 8. Follow the process step by step. 9. Try it out in a safe environment. 10. Read the real life example. 11. Correct and modify anything that is not working. 12. Practice until competent. 13. Find another need. 14. Move on to the next module

ManagementTools22/3/05

Copyright WorldGAMES Pty Ltd Publishing 2005 Tel 02 9880 7277

Using Management Tools to Improve Results

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Using Management Tools

Why Use Management Tools ?
One of the distinguishing talents of mankind is our ability to learn quickly and effectively from others. Management Tools in this series are tried, tested and refined ways of doing things that work. There is no need for us to spend precious time and energy reinventing the wheel when there is the collective wisdom and experience of experts distilled, ready and waiting for us to use ... and if the one we try does not work for us, there are plenty more to choose from. Learning to use all of the tools creates flexibility. (All the ingredients are there - just add practice !)

Why Create Flexibility ?

Perhaps our second human distinguishing talent is our ability to be flexible and adapt to our environment. As in nature, managers who adapt best tend to thrive. Flexibility allows us to trying something different when what we are doing is not working rather than keep plugging away and vainly hoping. Flexibility helps us to find new and better ways. Flexibility can help solve problems and find answers that others cannot. In an ever increasingly competitive world, flexibility keeps us ahead. (The most flexible people are those with more tools at their fingertips !)

What Are Management Tools ?

Management Tools are simplified models that can help us create flexibility in our own behaviour and do things better. Like a craftsmans tool kit, each management tool has a specific use and the more often we select the tool that is tailor made for the task, the more we achieve exceptional outcomes with less effort. Management Tools can help us move from apprentice to craftsman in out trade as effective managers. However, just like the apprentice, we must first learn how to use each tool and practice until its use is second nature to us. (Management Tools help make difficult things easier !)

How Do We Use Management Tools ?

If we follow the steps on the next page, we will discover just how simple it is to use each manager tool using the WorldGAMES Manager Tool Kit series. (Use each simple module as a building block to success !)

ManagementTools22/3/05

Copyright WorldGAMES Pty Ltd Publishing 2005 Tel 02 9880 7277

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Step 1: Understand What A Manager Tool Kit Module Is

The WorldGAMES Manager Tool Kit (MTK) series is a simplified, easyto-follow, set of guides to managerial success. Each module of just 6 - 12 pages is a distillation of a powerful and proven technique in a bite-sized format. The step by step approach used in each module is often sufficient to provide all of the information we need on a particular model, however, for those of us who want to know more, further reading options are shown too. (MTKs are short self-help guides not detailed comprehensive manuals !)

Step 2: Use Them When Something Is Not Working

The Manager Tool Kit series is designed for us to use to increase our options and flexibility when something is not working for us. It follows, therefore, that the first thing we need to know before we read any module is what is it that is not working. If we take a break from the problem and get some perspective, this will helps us identify our need. (Emotion can cloud the issue - create some distance for clarity !)

Step 3: Review The List Of Available Modules

Having identified the problem, we can now find the management tools that look like the best options by simply looking down the list of modules. The index of modules has been written so as to provide a clear indication of module contents. However, the process of creating modules for the series is dynamic with new releases being added continuously, so watch out for new additions too. (Find the tool kits that fit the problem !)

Step 4: Read The Overview

Page 1 of each module provides us with an overview, as well as when and where to use the module. Reading this one page will be enough to show us whether this is the right module for us and our current need. (Reading one page will confirm whether the module is appropriate !)

ManagementTools22/3/05

Copyright WorldGAMES Pty Ltd Publishing 2005 Tel 02 9880 7277

Using Management Tools to Improve Results

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Step 5: Just Follow The Steps

Each module has a series of keys, steps or options. They have been made short and simple and are our stepping stones to success. If we follow each one in sequence, we will have a working knowledge of each management tool in the space of a few pages. Wherever possible, even complex models have been reduced to a series of simple-to-use steps. (Follow the steps in sequence !)

Step 6: Try It
We can now try out the new tool for ourselves. Like many skills, it is best to practice in a safe environment. Friends, family, peers on the same learning path are all generally safer options that live in the workplace. However, if all else has failed for us and we have nothing to lose, we can always give it a go as long as we do not expect to be instant experts. (Follow the three Ps - practice, practice, practice !)

Step 7: Read The Real Life Example

Many of us like to get a feel for something new before we try it. Each module contains a true story that illustrates one or more aspects of the tool in operation. Names and locations may have been changed but in all other respects these are direct experiences of the team members who created this series or those of close associates. These are shared in the spirit of helping us all to avoid the pitfalls and learn from others experiences. (We do not need to repeat the mistakes others have made before us !)

Step 8: Correct And Modify

The last page of each module shows what to do if our first attempts are not working for us. Like practicing anything new, we are bound to make a few mistakes along the way. Our standing as a manager is not so much marked by our ability to do things right first time as by our ability to correct and modify based on our mistakes. (A mistake is an event we fail to learn from it and do not correct early !)

ManagementTools22/3/05

Copyright WorldGAMES Pty Ltd Publishing 2005 Tel 02 9880 7277

Using Management Tools to Improve Results

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Step 9: Practice Until Competent

We now need to reiterate our process of practice, reflection and refinement until we are what is called unconsciously competent. That means that we are so well practiced that we can use the tool without thinking about it - just like driving a car. (Create unconscious competence !)

Step 10: Move On To The Next Module

The one thing every great manager knows is that there is always something more for us to learn. In using any one of the modules in the tool kit we have learned a new technique that will not only create more flexibility and options for us but will inevitably save time too. However, these are tools not magic wands. They will not work all of the time in all circumstances. So we must be prepared to have more options at our fingertips by continuously improving our own options, skills and performance. (The next tool kit is only a page away !)

ManagementTools22/3/05

Copyright WorldGAMES Pty Ltd Publishing 2005 Tel 02 9880 7277

Using Management Tools to Improve Results

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Using Management Tools

Real Life Examples:
The Gentle Persuader Bill Rutherford was an imposing man, an ex-paratrooper with distinguished war record. Yet he was also a family man with a heart of gold who could be regularly found helping his two sons in their latest construction project. When I first met Bill, through his eldest son, Mike, the project was a 650 BSA motor bike which resided in kit form all over the front room of the house. Mike was building his first set of wheels from the ground up. Mike and an assortment of his friends did most of the construction. However, when things didnt quite work, Bill would lend a helping hand - solicited or otherwise. There was just one problem. Bill had a favourite tool, a hammer he called the gentle persuader, which he used to the exclusion of all the other tools available to him. I was constantly amazed at the flexibility of this particular tool ... and also the damage it caused when the job really required a spanner, screwdriver or torque wrench! In my varied and largely successful business career, I have seen many directors, managers and team leaders following Bills example - using their favourite, and often only, management tool in both appropriate and wildly inappropriate circumstances. As business continues to develop and change to meet the challenges of globalisation, the need for managers to have the exact tool at their fingertips to meet the precise needs of the job increases. After all, in todays competitive world, we all need to be the most effective we can be to survive and prosper. What do I mean by a Management Tool? Well, just as tools in a mechanics tool kit are often widely different and highly specific, so are management tools. They are a range of techniques, processes, models, skills, behaviours, rules and guidelines which assist effectiveness in a single area of business management. Simple examples are techniques for Time Management and models for Goal Setting. WorldGAMES encourages active business learning through games, exercises, simulations and use of effective tools. So far we have identified more than 150 different tools that we use in our Management Training Programs and we are constantly adding new ones. By using just some of the tools provided during training, our participants often leave our programs with greater flexibility than their bosses. Indeed one client, having run three back-to-back programs for aspiring managers, then approached us to improve the skills of their senior managers who were in danger of being left behind. So why doesnt every manager start with a tool kit? Well, lets assume that you are a little like me. A quick view of the 150 Management Tools shows that I learned about 1/3 rd of just one tool (Effective Letter Writing) at school. When I started in business I had learned most of the 11 finance tools (well I am an Accountant by profession!) and had made a start on four more. By the time I first became a director of a multinational company, I had added another four tools to my armoury. By my reckoning this was about 12% of the tools I now use ... and, at the time, I was regarded as being super efficient!
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Using Management Tools to Improve Results

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As I now know, I was like the one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind. However, the modern world is full of competitive people with their eyes wide open. To stay ahead, I had to change. I read loads of management books, I attended training courses, I listened to tapes, I tried hundreds of things that didnt work, I spent thousands of hours on self-education. Gradually, I built up a store of tools that really worked and found they all have a number of things in common. They are simple. They are short. They are proven to work with a range of people. They are understandable. They make logical sense and, above all, they are practical. Some tools distil the contents of several books down to three pages of action steps. Others contain the essence of a weeks training in a one hour process. The tools support each other and provide alternatives so that if one is not working, there is always another to try. (Rather like having an open-ended spanner, ring spanner, mole grips and wrench available to shift a stubborn nut). Big business is able to send people on training programs to gain the knowledge base they need. Yet even so, busy executives are often too busy to spare the time. In smaller businesses and at the home office, with all the demands of modern business life, training is rarely on the agenda. Statistics show that Small Business use of all but mandatory trades training is just about non-existent. So how do the people who need to be increasingly more efficient and effective in an ever broadening range of skills acquire the knowledge they need? Well you can do it the way I did and invest thousands of hours of your time, or you can use the leverage principle. What do I mean by leverage? ... it is simply the art of doing more with less - in this case using the documented knowledge of someone else who has invested the time, energy and resources in producing the tools in an easy-to-follow set of Management Tools - The WorldGAMES Management Tool Kit. There are tools for managing yourself, there are tools for managing your time, there are tools for improving your results, there are tools for managing other people, there are tools for change, there are tools for finance, there are selling tools and there are planning, negotiation and conflict tools. The full tool kit will help you become the most effective and efficient manager you could hope to be. Each management tool is designed to be like a segment of a Do-it-yourself Manual. If you want to build a wall, you do not need to read through plumbing, electrical and carpentry, digesting all of these techniques, before you get to working with bricks and mortar. The Management Tool Kit will take you straight to the skills you need for the task. Each MTK module will describe what the tool is, how, when and why you use it, what steps you need to follow and what to do if the tool does not appear to be working. There are real-life stories, like this one, about using each tool in practice and guides to follow-up reading if you want to know more. And most modules are less than ten pages long, quick and easy to read.

ManagementTools22/3/05

Copyright WorldGAMES Pty Ltd Publishing 2005 Tel 02 9880 7277

Using Management Tools to Improve Results

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Using Management Tools

What If The Tool Doesnt Work For Me? :
If Using Management Tools does not seem to be working, follow this check list: 1. Check to see what is working and what is not working in terms of management competencies. 2. Make sure there is sufficient distance form the problem and any associated emotion so that the issues become clear. 3. Check out findings with others who can be trusted to give a truthful answer. 4. Be clear on the benefits of increasing flexibility. 5. The maximum benefit comes from taking the process in sequence. If this was not done, try again in the recommended sequence. 6. Did the process as a whole not work or does the execution of one step need to be corrected or modified? Repeat if necessary. 7. Ensure that the module selected was the most appropriate for the issue. 8. Try another module. Experiment and see what works best. 9. Ensure the practice environment is safe. 10. Identify what has been learned from the process to date. 11. Make it fun! Thinking can be hard work so make the process enjoyable.

Additional Reading:
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ManagementTools22/3/05

Copyright WorldGAMES Pty Ltd Publishing 2005 Tel 02 9880 7277