Management – Nuggets of Experience

Nearly a fortnight ago, I happened to chat with a young doctor, and the conversation meandered into ‘management’ and the essential attributes of a manager.

Times have changed and so does the doctor’s ‘career trajectory’. Gone are the days when a doctor was expected to be either a generalist or specialist. In the past decade, owing to globalization, new avenues have opened up for medical professionals. With changing business models, doctors are called upon to manage sooner than later in their career. 

Despite being a doctor, I had taken up managerial responsibilities early in my career, more by default than by design. Without a management degree, I had to learn the nuances of management on the job from all available sources. Here are some of the management lessons I have learnt along the way.

 

1.      As a manager you are the leader of the team, who offers guidance/ direction and helps with trouble shooting. Always lead by example.

2.      Select the team members based on the job requirement. Delineate roles and responsibilities of the team members. Delegate and allow them to perform freely without interference. Each member should have ownership of some task so that they feel valued.

3.      Give the team credit for their performance, and voice it in the relevant forum & communicate to the right people. Remember, your team’s performance is a reflection of your managerial ability.

4.      Always appreciate good work. Praise openly and in public.

5.      As a manager, it is your job to identify and correct mistakes. However, remember to criticize in private.

6.      Schedule work realistically and insist on results. Have a robust monitoring mechanism.

7.      Be honest and ethical. Only by demonstrating your integrity, you can demand integrity from your team members.

8.      Wherever needed, create a team hierarchy, so that supervision is ensured at all levels of the function.

9.      Educate, train, and keep the team abreast with the knowledge required for effective functioning.

10.   Ideally, a manager should make himself or herself dispensable. Delegate, train and ensure that the work goes on seamlessly even in your absence. 

Once you have put processes in place for the effective management of the assigned function, you are ready to take on greater responsibilities! 

This article was published on 'Smart Indian Woman' (http://www.smartindianwomen.com) on 1st January, 2015. Click here to read the article.

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