The Art of Management

Ever found yourself stuck in a situation? If you didn’t understand the context of the question let me give you an instance…

Rewind to your teenage years…

A beautiful day, you have made a plan of doing nothing but relax and play video games, suddenly, mummy walks in to tell you Sharma Uncle and Aunty are coming with their family (Bubble Burst). You are stuck! Stuck in the middle of a catastrophe where you are a waiter/cleaner/useless good for nothing kid.

What do you do in this situation? Simple! You Manage!

You work as a waiter/cleaner and you impress everyone with your waitering and cleaning. And this is called the art of management 🙂  

Management is the exact same thing, less work and more people-pleasing.  

The day you decide to do a management as a profession like MBA/PGDM, from that day your journey of becoming people pleaser begins. And no, there’s no shame in it! Anything that gets the job done, right? As an MBA, your main job would be to impress people with your skills, so that you get the contract or whatever you’re looking for. The whole impressing people is an art, nevertheless. Understanding people is a tough job and you are my friend will be a nutcracker in this.

There are a few points that can help you become the apple of everybody’s eyes (Yes, even your boss) and we are here to lay those points at your service.

Important Factors of Management are

• Read– Yes, it is an especially important factor. People who read tend to understand others quickly because literature is life and characters, people. Read management books, motivational books, novels, etc. Underline important lines, makes notes, remember the context, and then use this art of reading in public. How? Quote from them! When you meet people over coffee to discuss work and take a five-minute break from talking numbers, gently swoop in your hobby. Tell which book you read and what you’re reading currently, what is it about and how they should read it too. Suggest them books that they can read and enjoy. In no time, the person sitting opposite would be impressed by your vast knowledge and when you come back to the work part, he’ll listen to you intently. Believe us, reading never fails people and you should take up and enhance this hobby.
  Here are some books to learn the art of  management.  
  • The Art of Management: Insights from an Employee’s Perspective – by Gregory J. Blencoe
  • The art of project management – by Scott Berkun
  • Management and the Arts – by William J. Byrnes
    Next….
• Networking– Another important factor, Networking. It is especially important to enhance your networking skill to win people. Socialize with them by meeting, calling, emailing, take part in social events, interact with people, tell them about yourself and your job profile, get to know the other person, exchange numbers, organize meetings etc., there are several ways to develop your network. One more thing that works is make your account on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn and keep it strictly professional. The networking site forms a chain of people and gives you opportunity to interact with people from various fields.When in a job and going out to meet a client, be chivalrous, polite, courteous, and professional. Don’t get too friendly with the clients, stick to the work you are there for and pay attention to details. Also, prepare yourself beforehand for the presentation, think of the questions your client might have and imagine yourself giving the answers. People like confident personality and it is especially important you exhibit that.Moving on….

• Email Etiquette – You can work hard and do everything in your control to make it the best presentation for your client but what ruins it, is how you send them the presentation. A lot of people don’t know email etiquettes, there’s a way of communicating your ideas and many lack in that communication skill. A good email consists of professionalism, to the point information and a little bit of flattery. Remember the person receiving the email is not your friend, so don’t go all ‘how your day was’ on them. Just talk about the purpose of sending the email, attach your presentation and say you look forward to hearing from them.When applying for a job, most important is to draft your cover letter and change it accordingly from time to time, you know depending on job profile. Also, don’t CC your application, send individually to everyone.One more….

• Basic English and Verbal Communication– English is important. Period. We are in a country that has made English a language for doing business, you already know that, so no excuses for shoddy English. If you must enroll yourself in basic English and personality development classes, do it. Your job profile means meeting a lot of people, selling your business, answering their queries and you must present impeccable English while doing so. People get impressed by someone who has good communication skills, one who knows how to be polite and firm at the same time. Confident speakers do well in the company, because they know how to play with words and gently sweep their way into someone’s mind. Watch American and British series, Hollywood movies, read books, all these help to enhance your vocabulary. Speak in English with your family and friends for practice. It takes time, but you’ll get there.Last one….

• Tactical Skills– The world is a cruel, office, cutthroat! It’s true, no matter how much you dream about working at your dream job, no place is utopia. Office politics is everywhere, people will try to pull you down at every chance they get, so what will you do in such case? You Manage!Learn how to tackle things, difficult situations, and more so, difficult people. Impress them, flatter them, do their work, yes-man-ship goes a long way in polishing your career. Be warned, just this is not enough, your work should be up to date as well. Nobody should be able to point fingers at you when it comes to your work.

Secret tip– Watch American show Suits to learn about the office environment and tackling people.

I hope this list gives you some ideas about how to go about your job. As a management student, your job profile will include meeting a lot of people that will help you along in your career. Somebody said it right, “Management is 10% work, 90% people” and yes, this is the crux of the art of management. 

We are not saying work is not important, it is, no doubt, but presenting that work includes people and you need to keep those people at an extremely high level. One more thing, to tackle people you need to keep your temperament at a balanced level. Some people might annoy you, and we do not blame you for that, but you need to keep you calm if you want to reach heights. Keep yourself focussed and only think about your goals.

Remember: Management is the oldest of arts and youngest of science.

Good Luck!