A good story gets you an interview, expanding convincingly on that story gets you the post. I didn’t always want to be a manager let alone a senior manager. In fact when I started out I thought there were only two types of manager , good managers rended ineffective by out of touch senior managers and bad managers tolerated by out of touch senior managers. Over the years, as my career progressed and I moved from one type of organisation to another I realised that irrespective of size , structure or culture there were good managers, bad managers and out of touch senior managers and that if you wanted to change things you had to work with all three. My career has been about managing change, to improve a service, to hit performance targets, to make efficiencies and achieve budget savings always by influencing, encouraging, challenging and supporting those I worked with. The most significant period in my management development was the experience I gained as the project manager of a major multi agency project. I learnt that my management skills were transferable, that I could manage areas of business I had no previous experience of or back ground in provided I learned to ask the right questions. I learnt that partnerships needed constant maintenance. I learnt the importance of personal relationships in establishing the trust necessary to gain cooperation across agencies. I learnt that setting the right tone , modelling the right behaviour and being explicit in your values is as important to the success of an organisation as is having the right policies and effective strategies. To be continued…..
Blair Mcpherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
