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It’s easy at any point in your life to find yourself in a position of management. “Management is a set of principles relating to the functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling, and the application of these principles in harnessing physical, financial, human, and informational resources efficiently and effectively to achieve organizational goals.” Management occurs in any career field, place of business, or concentration of expertise. When learning a new skill, it’s important to begin with the basics. In the case of management, the basics are planning, organizing, and directing.

 

Planning

The best place to start is with a plan in hand.

Planning is an essential part of any style of management or leadership. While the exact amount of preparation and planning may vary from task to task, it’s almost always a staple of a business person’s journey. When considering planning, working one out fits into one or more of these seven categories:

  • Tactical Planning
  • Strategic Planning
  • Operational Planning
  • Disaster Planning
  • Succession Planning
  • Crisis Planning
  • Compensation Planning

Organizing

Proper preparation prevents poor progress.

After the plan comes to the need for organization. A good manager needs to be able to organize not only tasks but also people, schedules, and projects. Overlap indeed occurs between the planning process and the organization stage, but a good plan only succeeds with proper organization. When it comes to projects, especially projects concerning other people, no detail is too small to consider. Preparing well by organizing prevents potential fallouts or mishaps that could’ve been anticipated while looking at details.

 

Directing

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar

You have now made it to the action step of your management skills. This is the stage where you begin to direct other people to do a task or complete an aspect of your plan. Try to pull your team members, not push them. Remember, they are a part of the goal, so pull them into collaboration with you rather than forcefully pushing them to do something.

 

Management is an essential part of culture and how we deal with producing anything. Be patient and forgiving with yourself as you move to hone your management skills. After all, it all starts with a plan.