Developing Management Skills Chapters 4 & 5

Page 1

Developing Management

Skills

Chapter 4 building relationships by

communicating supportively

Supportive communication seeks to address a problem while

preserving the relationship

2 types of coaching situations: giving advice and

direction for behavior change, and counseling situations where problem

understanding and recognition are desired

2 Obstacles to effective interpersonal communication:

Defensiveness (focusing on defending yourself rather than listening) &

Disconfirmation (belittling the other person)

8 rules

of supportive communication:

1) Congruent communication is consistency

between your feelings and thoughts

2) Use objective statements,

your reactions and their objective consequences; suggest alternatives

3) Use problem oriented

statements to focus on behavioral specifics, rather than people

4) Use validating statements

5) Use statements that are specific

and regarding items that are under their control

6) Use conjunctive statements

and acknowledge what was said before

7) Own your statements and use “I”

words rather than “we”

8) Demonstrate supportive

listening by eye contact and nonverbal ques

3 Steps

of Descriptive Communication:

1) Objectively describe the

event behavior or circumstance

2) Focus on the behavior and

your reaction

3) Focus on solutions

You can invalidate people by: superiority, rigidity,

indifference and imperviousness

“Most Conjunctive”

refers to an immediately preceding statement

“Conjunctive” refers to a statement that was made earlier in

the conversation

“Less Conjunctive” is something not stated previously but

both parties understand

Disjunctive refers to nothing that has been said or that the

parties share in common.

4 Supportive Listening Response Types: 1) Advising,

2) Deflecting, 3) Probing, 4) Reflecting

4 Types of Probing Reponses: 1) Elaboration, 2)

Clarification, 3) Repetition, 4) Reflection,

PMI (personal management interview) is two steps: 1) Role

negotiation session where a written record is made of the agreements. 2)

Ongoing one-on-one meetings either twice a month or monthly.

Purpose of PMI meetings is to foster improvement and

strengthen relationships. PMI meetings consist of 1) org and managerial

problems, 2) Information sharing, 3) Interpersonal issues, 4) Obstacles to

improvement, 5) Training in management skills, 6) Individual needs, 7) Feedback

on job performance and personal capabilities 8) Personal concerns

First action item of PMI’s are follow-up on the action items

generated by the previous meeting. Last action is review of items generated by

the meeting.

Chapter 5 Gaining

Power and Influence

Power is defined as the potential to influence other

people’s behavior

Personal power sources (Expertise, Attractiveness

[charisma, agreeable behavior and physical characteristics], Effort [being

extremely dependable also going above and beyond], Legitimacy-strong

beliefs aligned with organizational values)

Increase the “centrality” of your position by connecting diverse

contacts who normally wouldn’t interact, working with people outside your immediate

workgroup.

Structural holes-when two people within your network are

unconnected and possess different sources of information.

Increase the Flexibility of your position: reducing routine,

expanding task variety, new ideas, new project involvement, participate in

early stages of decision making processes

Proactive personality: a tendency to effect change in one’s

environment.

Increase visibility: contacts with movers and shakers, oral

presentations, problem solve with task forces, senior managers to help with

recognitions, personal notes, face-to-face contact

Increase relevance: Outreach role (Providing services and

information to other groups), Monitoring and evaluating activities, become

involved in org’s top priority activities, become a trainer or mentor for new

members.

Sell issues to superiors: Should be congruent with role,

issue presented honestly, broadly, culture compatible, it’s solvable, clarify

payoff, identify needs, management’s responsibility, be succinct with data,

bundle with other similar and important issues, get others supporter and use

public forums.

Retribution strategies (threaten) for: imbalance of power,

commitment unimportant, quality and innovation is irrelevant, serious violation

or emergency situation.

Reciprocity strategies (gain compliance) for: parties are

dependent on each other, adequate time, parties’ trust each other, needs are

specific and short term.

Reason strategies for (compliance volunteered): few time

constraints, initiative and innovation are paramount, and you have high

interpersonal trust and a long term relationship with low conflict, respected

personal goals

Neutralize retribution influence: explaining consequences, actively

resist

Neutralize reciprocity influence: examine the context of any

favor giving, confront using escalating tactics, refuse to bargain until

inequality is addressed

Neutralize reason influence by: EARS, (Empathize, Ask for

Alternatives, Render Negotiations, and Settle on Strategy), protect yourself,

and lastly firmly refuse to comply