What I Learned Trying Different Management

Exploring and executing varying management styles in real-time has been both a journey and a balancing act

  In part one of Determining Management Styles…and When to Use Them I covered the following management styles:

• Creative Management style works best on a regular basis for allowing your team to utilize their individual strengths and make them accountable for the results
• Management style changes based on the situation and circumstances at hand
• Coaching Management is great for grooming new employees

Team Management is a must when challenges outside of your comfort zone arise I’ve found team management leadership is necessary when a totally new challenge is faced by the company—something that you have little to no experience with. I have found that as the business climate has changed at lightening speed in the fashion industry, this is a management style that I have had to become much more comfortable with. Initially, it used to give me so much reason to panic. I put a lot of stress on myself to come up with the solution. I soon realized that if I was going to figure out how to get the job done, I would need to put everyone’s heads together and let everyone bring their vision to the table. At times like this, you start to realize some of the strengths of your team that you may not have realized before. I have found that some of my designers are able to bridge over from designing women’s to men’s, or that a graphic artist had a great ability to also create professional video content and 3-D renderings of a floor plan, that someone can step up and be able to run a meeting smoothly and confidently. I have also found that I can do things that I didn’t think I was capable of! This requires a lot of trust in your team and a highly confident attitude that you and your team CAN get the job done with your seemingly limited resources or knowledge. This management style varies from “Creative” for a few reasons. I may be calling in additional resources for added insight and expertise. We don’t have a set template on how to execute the task. It is a first for us and we work as a team to help support each other. I am much more hands on involved in these projects as I must make sure key pieces fall into place to get to our end result. It can be stressful and nerve-wracking so it is important to have a great “teamwork” mentality about the project to keep everyone feeling at ease through the process. This style is a challenge for many managers. This is when you must trust other people immensely and at the same time not feel threatened that someone is more knowledgeable about something than you are. The way you have done things previously may not work in this situation. You have to be able to maintain your confidence and listen to what many other expert resources have to say. It is not an easy position to be in and it does not feel comfortable. The one thing that a manager can take from this situation is that at the end of the project, you are going to be that much more of an expert on how to handle this situation. You have now built the working model for how to set up your team when the situation arises again and it will! The next time around, you can veer more towards the “Creative” management style to get to the end result. Next page: Dealing with Conflict, Time Management, and Time for Self are Key Components for Being a Good Manager