Management Challenges Covered by
The Managers Resource Center

Each bullet below has a solutions page that offers concise, actionable advice on how to address the issue.

Goal Management Challenges

Individual Objectives

  • Writing clear performance objectives for your staff members

  • Assigning objectives and managing workload across your staff

  • Keeping your staff members objectives current

  • Addressing objectives that are not being worked on

  • Deciding if staff members should write their own objectives

Organizational Objectives

  • Determining your organizational objectives

  • Creating measures for organizational objectives

  • Aligning your organization’s objectives to your manager’s objectives

  • Requesting support from other organizations, and dealing with denied requests

  • Managing requests from other organizations

  • Addressing your organization’s lack of capacity

Coaching and Development Challenges

Developing Individuals

  • Writing development objectives for your staff members

  • Describing what a staff member needs to develop

  • Explaining how development objectives relate to performance objectives

  • Developing skills for which there is no training

  • Establishing your role when employees own their own career

  • Discussing career goals with your staff members

  • Developing staff members when they have no time for development

  • Developing staff when you have no time

Developing Your Organization

  • Creating a development plan for your organization

  • Developing staff despite having no training budget

  • Developing backups for specialists

  • Ensuring cross training is completed

  • Developing your staff, even though you are not rewarded for it

  • Understanding how coaching fits with the GROW model

Managing The Promotion Process

  • Explaining to staff members the path to promotion

  • Answering questions such as, “When will I be promoted?”

  • Determining who gets promotions, and when

  • Providing staff members experience needed for promotions

  • Convincing your manager to approve a promotion

  • Developing staff members despite few promotion possibilities

Performance Management Challenges

Addressing Performance Issues

  • Managing negative feedback from others about a staff member

  • Addressing problem behavior you have not witnessed

  • Determining if a staff member’s behavior is a problem

  • Making a course correction: a relatively minor behavior change

  • Addressing a performance problem: a serious performance issue

  • Addressing “wrecking ball” behavior: getting things done, but in the wrong way

  • Documenting a performance issue

  • Responding to negative reactions

Recognizing Strong Performance

  • Providing positive feedback

Emphasizing Key Practices

  • Ensuring key work practices and procedures are followed

Annual Evaluation Challenges

Gathering Input

  • Requesting and filtering self-assessments

  • Soliciting input from others about staff members’ performance

  • Filtering feedback from others about staff members’ performance

  • Coordinating writing with other managers

Writing the Evaluation

  • Establishing an efficient writing method

  • Writing or improving the past year's objectives retroactively (and fairly)

  • Writing for performance that exceeded expectations

  • Writing for performance that met expectations

  • Writing for performance that did not meet expectations

Addressing Other Writing Challenges

  • How do I write for “matrixed” staff members that report to me, but work on projects?

  • What if a project a staff member was on was canceled?

  • The way a staff member got things done was a problem (wrecking ball)

  • I inherited a staff member with inflated ratings

  • What if staff members did not work on some objectives this year?

  • Can operational work receive on an “exceeds” rating?

  • My manager is forcing me to give lower ratings

  • What if others are giving me negative feedback I didn’t see?

  • What if the staff member addressed a performance issue?

Delivering The Evaluation

  • Allowing private pre-reading

  • Using a “summary of performance” discussion opening

  • Explaining a merit increase

  • Responding to questions about promotions

  • Managing negative reactions

Remote Management Challenges

Setting and Maintaining Direction

  • Communicating organizational objectives

  • Using individual objectives to manage performance

  • Holding regular 1:1 meetings

  • Creating a “drop-by” communication method

  • Holding virtual staff meetings

Coaching and Developing Remotely

  • Maintaining fundamental development practices

Managing Performance Remotely

  • Managing performance when you don't "see" staff

New Manager Challenges

First Key Steps

  • First Step: Aligning with your manager

  • Meeting with each staff member

  • Establishing objectives for your staff

  • Establishing a management routine

  • Addressing inherited performance issues

Establishing Relationships

  • Treating your staff members with respect

  • Managing relationships with former peers

Delegation

  • Delegating short-term tasks

  • Overcoming your reluctance to delegate

  • Managing "delegation resisters”