Management – Competencies, Responsibilities, and Resources

Manager Competencies (click each tab to learn more)

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Managing Self

Integrity/Honesty: Behaves in an honest, fair, and ethical manner. Shows consistency in words and actions. Models high standards of ethics.

Interpersonal Skills: Treats others with courtesy, sensitivity, and respect. Considers and responds appropriately to the needs and feelings of different people in different situations.

Continual Learning: Assesses and recognizes own strengths and weaknesses; pursues self-development.

Resilience: Deals effectively with pressure; remains optimistic and persistent, even under adversity. Recovers quickly from setbacks.

Oral Communication: Makes clear and convincing oral presentations. Listens effectively; clarifies information as needed.

Written Communication: Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner for the intended audience.

Flexibility: Is open to change and new information; rapidly adapts to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles.

Problem Solving: Identifies and analyzes problems; weighs relevance and accuracy of information; generates and evaluates alternative solutions; makes recommendations.

Managing Projects

Team Building: Inspires and fosters team commitment, spirit, pride, and trust. Facilitates cooperation and motivates team members to accomplish group goals.

Customer Service: Anticipates and meets the needs of both internal and external customers. Delivers high-quality service; is committed to continuous improvement.

Technical Credibility: Understands and appropriately applies principles, procedures, requirements, regulations, and policies related to specialized expertise.

Accountability: Holds self and others accountable for measurable high-quality, timely, and cost effective results. Determines objectives, sets priorities, and delegates work. Accepts responsibility for mistakes. Complies with established policies and procedures. Ensures that all department strategic initiatives are well aligned with the University’s mission, vision and values.

Decisiveness: Makes well-informed, effective, and timely decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions.

Influencing / Negotiating: Persuades others; builds consensus through give and take; gains cooperation from others to obtain information and accomplish goals.

Click the image to learn more about effective goal setting

Managing People

Employee Management: Builds and manages workforce based on organizational goals, budget considerations, and staffing needs. Ensures employees are appropriately recruited, selected, appraised, and rewarded; takes action to address performance problems. Effectively manages employees and a variety of work situations.

Leveraging Diversity: Fosters an inclusive workplace where diversity and individual differences are valued and leveraged to achieve the vision and mission of the organization.

Conflict Management: Encourages creative tension and differences of opinions. Anticipates and takes steps to prevent counter-productive confrontations. Manages and resolves conflicts and disagreements in a constructive manner.

Student-Centered Motivation: Shows a commitment to serve students. Ensures that actions meet student needs. Aligns department objectives and practices with goals of increasing student enrollment, retention and graduation.

Developing Others: Develops the ability of others to perform and contribute to the organization by providing ongoing feedback and by providing opportunities to learn through formal and informal methods

Click the image to learn more about employee appraisals Click to the image to learn more about employee recognition

Tools for Managers

Preparing to Write an Evaluation – Before you get started in writing an evaluation for your employee, make sure that you have these items with you:

Employee’s self-evaluation
Past notes/documentation on the employee
Record of what trainings your employee has completed
Copy of Performance Improvement Plans/Write Ups/Disciplinary Action
Copy of last year’s performance review
Employee job description/ last year’s goals

Successful Evaluation Meetings – A Performance Review should be a Dialogue, not a Lecture.

Review and Discuss past performance – Be fair, have proper documentation (don’t rely on just memory)
Discuss where things are right now and what needs to be done to improve – Don’t compare your employees. View them as individuals; Don’t make excuses for your employees, Focus on results.
Discuss the future plans, goals and objectives

The difference between a dream and a goal: Dreams are visions of what you want to achieve or who you want to be. Goals are clear, specific and
measurable and they have a deadline.

Handling the appraisal meeting – Tips for Supervisors

The Evaluation Meeting

Schedule the meeting in advance. Make sure that you have a quiet, private room with no disruptions (a conference room is a good choice). Be sure to schedule enough time for a discussion (1 – 1.5hrs)
Welcome the employee; put the employee at ease.
Let the employee start
Listen and take notes.
Maintain good eye contact and attentive posture.
Reflect back to the employee your understanding of what the employee said.
Don’t interrupt, but ask questions only for clarification.
Apply the 90/10 Rule: the employee talks 90% of the time and you talk 10% of the time.
Be non-judgmental
Compare the actual specific performance results and behaviors to the standards. Stay away from an attitude or personality focus.
Keep the appraisal open to employee input.
Ask the employee for ideas about how to resolve problems.
Focus on the future, not on the past.
Emphasize strengths, as well as areas that need improvement.
Be honest and be prepared to discuss questionable items. Support the employee’s effort to improve.
Set goals, expectations, and standards together for the next appraisal. Goals should be SMART: Specific; Measurable; Attainable; Relevant; Timely.
Discuss development/training plans with the employee.
Summarize the session and end on a positive note.

Handling employee behaviors

If the employee becomes defensive or makes excuses:

Listen to what the employee has to say and paraphrase back. Remain neutral. Maintain eye-contact.
Ask for specifics with open-ended questions.
Try to determine the cause: “Tell me more.” “How did you reach that conclusion?”
Ask how the employee will resolve the problem.

If the employee becomes angry:

Stay calm and centered. Maintain eye-contact.
Listen to what the employee has to say and paraphrase back.
Let the employee “run down” for as long as s/he needs until the employee can listen to you.
Avoid arguments.
Bring discussion and focus back to performance and standards.
Say the employee’s name, and ask open-ended questions.

If the employee is unresponsive or withdraws:

Be patient and friendly.
Show concern.
Stay silent, and wait for the employee to say something.
Ask open-ended questions.
Note that the employee is unresponsive.
Encourage the employee that you want to hear his or her input, and this input is important to you

Managing Programs

Technology Management: Keeps up-to-date on technological developments. Makes effective use of technology to achieve results. Ensures access to, and security of, technology systems.

Financial Management: Understands the university’s financial processes. Prepares, justifies, and administers the department budget. Monitors expenditures and uses cost-benefit thinking to set priorities.

Creativity / Innovation: Develops new insights into situations; questions conventional approaches; encourages new ideas and innovations; designs and implements new or cutting edge programs/processes.

Partnering: Develops networks and builds alliances; collaborates across boundaries to build strategic relationships and achieve common goals.

Screenshot for My T S U Web

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Leading Organizations

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External Awareness: Understands and keeps up-to-date on local, national, and international policies and trends that affect the university; is aware of the university’s impact on the external environment.

Vision: Takes a long-term view and builds a shared vision with others; acts as a catalyst for organization change. Influences others to translate vision into action.

Strategic Thinking: Formulates objectives and priorities, and implements plans consistent with the long-term interest of the university’s desire to be a contributing partner to our community, state, nation, and world. Capitalizes on opportunities and manages risks.

Entrepreneurship: Positions the university for future success by identifying new opportunities that will boost enrollment, retention and/or graduation rates; Takes calculated risks to accomplish organizational objectives.

Manager Responsibilities (click each tab to learn more)

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Effective Hiring

Managing Change

10Tips for Effective Change Management – Learn more HERE

Address the “human side” systematically
Start at the top
Involve every layer
Make the formal case
Create ownership
Communicate the message
Assess the cultural landscape
Address culture explicitly
Prepare for the unexpected
Speak to the individual

Discipline and Documentation

Documenting employee discipline: Written reprimand do’s and don’ts

Tips from BLR.com and Business Management Daily

It’s important to always consult with Human Resources prior to documenting an employee. here are some additional Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s:

Do state what happened. Try to be specific.
Do state what policy the employee violated. Attaching a copy of the policy would also be helpful.
Do indicate why the violation harms the department/University. This provides context, which may not be obvious to everyone involved.
Do provide specific instructions on how the employee can improve. Give concrete suggestions.
Do indicate consequences. Be clear on what will happen if the situation is not remedied. This also protects you later if further infractions occur.
Do issue reprimands consistently. Everyone needs to be held to the same standard.
Do follow up. Following up with either the employee, the supervisor, or just checking records is important. (The appropriate follow-up depends on the circumstances).

Don’ts:

Don’t be inconsistent. Don’t write up one person for a behavior that you ignore in other employees. When in doubt, check to see how similar problems have been documented in the past.
Don’t be too vague. It’s important for the employee to understand specifically what it was that he or she did wrong, what she needs to do improve, how she’s going to improve it. Example of poor documentation: “Employee was late three times in the past month.” Better: “Employee was 30 minutes late on Feb. 5; reason given: traffic. Employee was 45 minutes late on Feb. 9; reason given: overslept. Employee was an hour late on Feb. 23; reason given: car problems.”
Don’t be too specific. Over-documenting can appear to be nit-picking; be sure to not be so detailed as to appear unfair (e.g. “employee was 2 and a half minutes late”). If such details are included, it will come under scrutiny whether all employees were equally penalized for such an infraction.
When possible, try to include a witness when you are terminating or reprimanding an employee. Any time you’re going to convey negative news to an employee, it’s best to have at least two company representatives in the room. This helps to minimize any questions over what occurred.
Don’t include emotional content like including personal impressions (“I think …”), labels (“He’s a whiner …”), adjectives (“very unproductive …”) and drawing conclusions about the reasons for the employee’s behavior. (“It’s probably because of her divorce.”)
Don’t forget to file it in the personnel file. If the documentation is lost, it may as well never have occurred. Be sure to submit a copy of the signed document to Human Resources.
Don’t for get to include a signature line. Ask the employee to sign the document to acknowledge receipt. (An employee’s signature does not imply agreement) if the employee refuses to sign, note that on the document.
Don’t exclude employee feedback. Give employees an opportunity to respond in writing and include the response in their files.

Online Learning

Improve Your Performance

Online On-Demand Trainings

As an employee of Texas Southern University, you have access to a library of online trainings geared at increasing your knowledge and enhancing your job performance. To sign up for an online training, send an email to HRhelp. Online trainings typically take less than 30 minutes to complete and are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week at your convenience.

To view a full list of the available online trainings, click HERE

Online Leadership Training Offerings

Business Writing Skills for Supervisors
Coaching for Superior Employee Performance: Techniques for Supervisors
Communicating Up – How to Talk to High-Level Management
Conflict Resolution and Consensus Building
Dealing with Change: How Supervisors Can Help
Effective Communication for Supervisors
Effective Meetings: How-To for Supervisors
Encouraging Employee Input
How to Manage Challenging Employees
Leadership Skills: What New Managers and Supervisors Need to Know
Motivating Employees: Tips and Tactics for Supervisors
Negotiating Skills for Supervisors
New Supervisors’ Guide to Effective Supervision
Performance Goals: How Goals Help Supervisors Manage Employees More Effectively
Problem Solving for Supervisors
Professional Behavior: What Supervisors Need to Know
Planning and Organizing Skills for Supervisors
Supervising Special Groups
Time Management for Supervisors
Workplace Ethics

training library

We also have a library of training DVDs, books, pamphlets and guides available for loan. Contact HR for more information.

One-on-One Coaching

The Office of Human Resources also offers one on one coaching on employee relations issues. If you need some guidance on how to handle an employee issue in your department, contact HR and make an appointment for a one on one training session.

Organizational Effectiveness Solutions

Organizational Effectiveness services focus on supporting leaders and their teams in achieving their objectives, increasing efficiency, and improving performance in a rapidly changing environment. We follow a consulting model that begins with assessing the current situation and identifying areas of change and improvement. We collaborate with departments throughout the process to develop, plan, and implement a customized set of solutions designed to meet their unique needs.

Examples of solutions and consulting services we offer include:

Team development, team building, and team effectiveness
Organization design
Organization change and transformation
Management skills development
Strategic planning and goal setting
Process mapping to improve productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency

Continuing Education

Texas Southern University’s Office of Continuing Education offers many educational opportunities. Click HERE for more information

Development for Managers