Management challenges have been around since the sands of time. Where ever there is a manager, there is a problem or a challenge they face. In order to be one of the most effective managers around, your problem-solving skills have to be top notch.

In today’s working environment, we as managers might feel that the challenges we face are much more complex than times gone by. However, evolving technologies, business politics and policies, managing multiple working generations etc. are challenges that managers have faced over decades and will continue to do so in the future.

managing challenges in the modern workplace

Managing challenges requires a strategic and methodical approach, especially with complex interpersonal challenges such as managing passive-aggressive behaviour or bullying in the workplace.

Putting in place a process to manage the more straightforward working challenges will help you to manage them more easily and efficiently. But the not so straightforward challenges to management require additional thoughts and creative problem-solving.

management challenges in a modern era

As management challenges develop over time, so too must our approaches in solving them. We can do this through newer ways of thinking, having a progressive mindset and using modern approaches to our working lives generally.

transparency in the workplace

A rather tricky management challenge can be how to deal with on-going business politics, policies, long-term strategies and how to communicate them with a transparent and objective mindset.

Office politics just happen – there’s no getting away from them, but the solution is always objective. You cannot involve personal opinion or emotion, especially when communicating on-going office information to your wider team.

Naturally, different personalities will react differently to the information you provide. Understanding your team and what they must know versus what isn’t necessary, but potentially harmful information is key to knowing what to communicate and when.

Take the time to learn about your individual team members, how they react to information they receive and what responses they give. This will allow you to understand how to approach them with sensitive information or general business information, making your challenge a much easier one to manage.

keeping your talent happy and motivated

One of the key management challenges being faced today is retaining talented workers. It takes much more than a good salary to keep your talent happy and motivated in today’s working world.

It appears to have become the social norm for employees to job-hop in order to move up the career ladder sooner or meet their ever-changing motivations and expectations.

Do we have the millennial generation to blame for this? Should we even be blaming them or anyone for that matter who wants to further their career quicker and meet their life goals as soon as possible?

Today’s managers have to understand that there are many more opportunities for aspiring talent now, especially with technological advances, the development of the start-up and entrepreneurs changing the world.

It’s a necessity to feed the hunger within the workplace much more than just providing a secure job and some potential promotion opportunities.

Managers should be working with their senior team to help define roles, provide extensive career progression, an engaging working environment, work that fuels creativity and collaborative culture whilst also providing a common purpose that an employee can buy into and strive to achieve.

If you’ve read Daniel Pink’s ‘DRIVE’ you’ll know that we are driven not by monetary value, but by purpose, autonomy within our roles and the chance to master our skills. Provide this or risk losing your talent!

managing multiple generations simultaneously

A hot topic in the workplace is how to manage and communicate with the millennial generation. This will eventually move on to the next generation, and on to the next and so on. We faced this challenge decades ago too.

With a new generation often comes a form of technology, new ways of thinking and acting and new challenges on how a business manages them.

In the current day, millennials are digitally native, unaware of analogue and writing letters, they write more succinctly, appear impatient and lacking emotion. However, what we know is that this is a generation who work on efficiency and impact. If the job can be done at the same quality, but quicker using these digital tools, you bet they’re using them to maximise their time and productivity – and why not? They’re positively affecting their workplace.

The challenge here is managing their passion, managing how other generations react to these new ways of thinking and working versus more traditional ways and finding a way to facilitate collaboration and respect. A mix of generations within your team can be a real benefit if you allow each to bring their respective qualities to the table.

Blending forward-thinking, drive and creativity with experience and hard-graft is a mixture for success. If you can understand how to maximise this, your team’s performance is on to a winner!

managing and implementing change

Managing and implementing change can be one of the biggest management challenges a leader can face during their career.

The business world we live and work in is highly volatile and competitive. To keep their edge and remain profitable companies need to constantly review and adapt their approach.

Implementing change can often mean new business process and role changes. This can be disruptive and emotional for them.

For managers, it’s key to make these changes as smooth as possible. Creating the right conditions for change will ultimately work as a foundation for a smooth transition into a new process or infrastructure. It’s equally important to communicate the reasons behind the change and how this will benefit the company and individual in the future.

Naturally, change will bring uncertainty and it’s important to understand whether your team believe they have the skills required by the change.

Determine what training is needed and ensure the resource is available for this. Reassure your team that they will have the support and time to succeed.

Ultimately, implementing a training and development plan will standardise processes and terminology and make the transition and implementation much smoother than first imagined.

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