A Manager's Guide to Self-Development [antikvár]

Chapter 1 The philosophy of this book This book, which is an aid to management self-development rather than a repository of wisdom, is based on a simple fundamental premise: that any effective system for management development must increase the manager's capacity and willingness to take control over, and responsibility for, events - particularly for themselves and their own learning. While this is not a new concept it is one which is not always recognized in our current society and by management in general. If asked to think about how we have learned, most of us may think first of when attempts have been made to teach us.^ If, on the other hand, we are asked about problems we have solved we think about difficult situations we have faced and managed to overcome. However, in solving problems we don't just deal with the immediate difficulty, we discover a solution which we can use again in some form, and we may also become better at solving problems generally. Problem solving is, to a large extent, learning. In the managerial world, dealing with live problems, rather than being taught, is the major source of significant learning. When it comes to a 'crunch' decision (e.g. selecting a new senior manager), what really matters is track record - whether the person has dealt successfully with a nimiber of difficult situations. Information on what has been taught, through involvement on formal management development programmes, does not usually carry much weight. The implication for the ambitious is clear: get a slice of the action, deal with it in a way that is clearly successful, and be seen to have done it (the visibility factor).