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| Effective management - Efficiency Management |
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The unorganised manager  |
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 The aim
To show managers the importance of adopting essential time-management and delegation skills.
About the programme
The first two parts of The unorganised manager series show that no matter how efficient managers may think they are, they cannot be fully effective until they learn how to manage their time.
In Part 1: damnation a hard-working manager is so disorganised that he unwittingly makes the lives of his family and colleagues a misery. His disorganisation leads to an early heart attack and a confrontation with St Peter. By being given a second chance on Earth, he is able to learn the principles of time management in a way that viewers, many of whom will be unaware of their own faults, can easily relate to.
In Part 2: salvation the manager has returned to Earth full of enthusiasm, but his inability to establish priorities and to delegate effectively lands him back in front of St Peter. The programme shows why managers should consider the actual purpose of their jobs, and not the function. They must learn how to schedule time for active tasks, while leaving time for reactive tasks. By delegating and retaining responsibility, they will make more effective use of their own time and that of their team, and contribute to everyone's motivation and morale.
The benefits
- Ideal for incorporating into time management and delegation courses at junior management level
- Engaging and humorous plot to make messages highly memorable
- Wrong-way, right-way scenarios help managers learn practical skills |
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| The ultimate change show (Managing change) |
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The aim
To equip managers with the skills they need to deal with the emotional response of their staff to change, and to enable change to be implemented successfully.
About the programme
Change is both normal and constant but is seldom popular. It frequently leads to resentment, stress and distrust. It need not though. Through the professional management of change the process can be rewarding and exciting. The ultimate change show demonstrates the pitfalls of change and how best to manage it successfully.
The video shows Harry Bailey the host of a well-known talk show, played by David Soul. Reviewing the archives for Harry's favourite show he shows us how a girl from the woods ' Snow White ' comes across seven dwarfs living together in a house. She moves in and starts to make changes that hugely upset the little guys.
Harry Bailey takes us through six key steps that Snow White could have taken to manage the change she wanted more successfully ' while linking these to changes Harry is making to his own show:
1. Listen and be involved
2. Allocate extra resources
3. Be aware of stress & offer support
4. Personalise the change & promote the positive
5. Give the changes time to work
6. Manage change: you're gonna have to!
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| The ultimate stress show (Managing stress) |
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The aim
Those who work their way through the programme will be able to understand the nature of stress and how it effects people.
About the programme
Pressure is all part of simply being alive, if there were no pressure we wouldn't do anything, but excess pressure leads to Stress and that can be a very bad thing. When people make positive remarks (mistakenly) about stress they actually mean pressure. Its pressure that is positive and drives us towards our goals. However when the amount of pressure we are experiencing rises above what we believe we can cope with it can easily turn to stress. In the United Kingdom it is estimated that 1/3 of absence from work is stress related ' other industrial countries (USA, Australia) report similar findings. It represents a very large financial cost to organisations and an equally large personal cost to individuals in the form of physical and behavioural symptoms.
This video is all about limiting the potential stressors at work that can lead to damaging stress. Admitting to and dealing with stress isn't a weakness it's a positive action that can reap huge personal and organisational rewards.
The ultimate stress show shows how our own behaviour can be stressful to ourselves and others and how changes to that behaviour can lead to a more stress-free working environment. The video shows a host of stressed characters in a multitude of scenes being guided by a Guardian Angel through an Eight Point Plan:
1. Get your priorities right
2. Consider needs & workloads
3. Listen to your people
4. Communicate clearly
5. Be positive
6. Learn to say 'no'
7. Learn respect & trust
8. Be flexible
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| The paper chase (Cutting back on paperwork) |
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 The aim
To show staff how to be more organised, efficient and effective in the way they handle paperwork.About the programme
People must control paperwork, not let it dominate them. The video demonstrates that an office worker swamped by paper doesn't think it's a problem; she's convinced she needs it close at hand to do her job.
Her manager helps her change her ways by showing that there are only four types of paperwork:
- Paper you have to do something about
- Paper you have to pass on
- Paper you have to keep
- Paper you can dispose of
People will learn to efficiently file documents that need to be kept, to pass on or throw away other documents, and to shred confidential information. By clearing the backlog they will be in a position to deal with their work effectively, prioritising action papers and doing important tasks rather than searching for documents.
The benefits
- An ideal way to motivate staff as part of your own 'clear-desk' day
- Simple, practical approach to dealing with paperwork
- Humorous illustration of a real and common problem
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| Project management (Leading a project team) |
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 The aim
To give those tasked with managing projects the skills to maximise their team's performance.
About the programme
Everyone has to manage projects, but not everyone knows how to do it well. Bad management skills can be a costly drain on time and money, causing frustration and stress for everyone concerned. This programme provides a complete solution to the issues, exploring the techniques for project team leaders to better manage their project team, and so meet the project's objectives.
In the video a manager is organising an office move, but she's made some common mistakes. She has failed to define the objectives of the project properly, her team's responsibilities are not agreed and the project is in danger of failing.
Fortunately she is shown the right way to do things. She has a special program on her PC which provides invaluable advice to her - and to the programme's viewers - and helps her learn the key stages of project management. With the right project technique and by following appropriate people management skills, the move is achieved on time and on budget.
The manager enjoys greater job satisfaction from her accomplishment, and her team is more motivated, happy and committed to her and the business.
The benefits
- Suitable for anyone running a project, whatever its size
- Highly watchable and clearly illustrated techniques to put into practice
- Focuses on project teams, as well as project mechanics
- Comprehensive pack for running a course and individual self-study
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| The customer is always dwight (Achieving 100% quality first time.) |
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The aim
An introduction to process management.
About the programme
Every organisation has processes; a series of operations changing one thing (a product or service) into another.
Achieving 100 per cent quality first time, every time requires everyone in the process treating the next person in the line as an internal customer. They should then discover their internal customer's requirements - and how to meet them.
This is Process Management, the approach explored by Dwight (Andrew Sachs). It demands 100 per cent commitment from everyone in an organisation; but it repays effort in both improved productivity and job satisfaction.
The video makes the point that it is the responsibility of managers to act as process 'owners', maintaining the links with all the people in the process chain.
Of course, there are less ideal ways to approach quality. Dwight uses to examples - one where the process management approach is needlessly complicated - to make his point.
Dwight concludes that quality is not confined to products and services, it's the way that organisations work.
The benefits
- Identify internal and external customers
- Find out their needs
- Deliver 100% quality down-the-line
- The process should be as good as the product or service.
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| The balance sheet barrier (The basics of business finance) |
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The aim
To enable managers to appreciate how key financial statements are calculated and what they mean.
About the programme
The light-hearted approach of this world-famous video helps take the fear out of financial documents and complex concepts, and although accounts might never become a manager's favourite topic it does at least make them understandable.
Using the device of contrasting the apparent worldliness of a well-educated company director and the business acumen of the streetwise owner of a small factory, we're shown how the whole process of business finance works.
Because the success or failure of her manufacturing company is down to her, she knows the importance of understanding how money goes round the business and how to track and measure it - and she's happy to explain it in everyday language.
Having been previously too embarrassed to admit his lack of knowledge, her grateful pupil learns the difference between key documents and the significance of the balance sheet, profit and loss accounts and cash-flow forecasts.
The benefits
- Assumes no prior knowledge of finance
- Well-presented and structured video that ensures all managers understand how key financial statements are calculated and what they mean
- Imaginative use of graphics to emphasise key points
- Financial jargon is avoided in favour of everyday language
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