Monday, February 14, 2022

Management 0107 – The Master License to Lead

  Hallo everyone, and welcome to this short launch blog of my latest book:  Management 0107 – The Master License to Lead (amazon.com/author/jacquesvanzyl) and (https://bit.ly/3oMKjhW). For twenty-six years, I have coached, counselled  and worked with numerous people. I engaged with them in psychology practice, management training as well as management development.  I have experienced and observed at first hand, the effects of various management styles, approaches, and execution thereof on the organization, employees, and the managers themselves. Some outcomes had been very positive, although, in many other cases, not so. In the event of the latter, I believe it was a matter of not yet having achieved competence in the managerial role. It is analogous to a medical intern, who, although familiar with a stethoscope, requires many hours of application and practise before they are efficient in using the instrument confidently and competently. Organizations assume that once a person has been promoted to a management position, they will automatically be amply equipped with the knowledge they need to perform their managerial role. 

 

I find this intriguing, as it is the management cadre who is ultimately responsible for managing the organization on behalf of all its stakeholders, including its employees and shareholders. If they are not fully competent in executing their roles, the ship goes down!  Yet, scant attention gets paid to their ongoing development and professionalism, as is the case in other vocations, for example, medical and legal professions.

 

The concept of leadership is also often divorced from the managerial role, and countless numbers of books and articles attempt to describe the difference between the two.  My view is that they belong in the same profession, i.e., that of the professional managerial leader.  This book then describes specific professional managerial leadership competencies, and how they could be acquired and developed.  In the process, I draw on numerous personal experiences, stories from others as well as existing management science and its many contributors. 

 

The field of managerial science is vast, so this book does not strive to cover everything contained in this domain.  It should serve as a ‘compact read’ of some of the major ideas and approaches offered therein. I selected twelve primary competencies in managerial leadership to illustrate the points I am making, especially regarding professionalizing the cadre.  These competencies include, human capital management, thinking & problem solving, quality & operations, and various interpersonal competencies, such as EQ and team management.  The reader is encouraged to read broader to add to their repertoire of applicable competencies.  

 

While in the process of writing, the Covid 19 pandemic engulfed the globe.  Even in my own practice, I had to swiftly adjust to the ‘new way’ of doing business. My days fill up with many Zoom and MS Team meetings and sessions.  I have limited physical contact with my team as well as colleagues and clients, and my business traveling volumes have dropped to virtually zero – I truly miss those exchanges.  To remain relevant, I then offer a short concluding chapter on the application of managerial leadership competencies in the present low- to no-touch economy we are operating in.

 

Finally, managerial leaders are not overseen by a professional board, such as the medical profession, nor are they formally licensed to practise.  This book, Management 0107 – The master license to lead, offers a self-coaching compact read, for those who are serious about their profession in the field, and in professionalizing their own managerial leadership practice.  


Thank you for reading.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

PARENT WELLNESS

Parenting, probably one of the most stressful activities we as adults engage in.  It is also a long term commitment, and as is the case in my own household, does not stop once your children leave your home to pursue their own adult lives.  I am a psychologist and develop psychometric instruments to measure various areas of human behaviour, such as, road behaviour, integrity perception, debt propensity, and many more.  My most recently developed test, measures parent functioning wellness.

Well-being/wellness is defined as the perception that one will experience positive outcomes to the events and circumstances of life.  It is an internally focused method of attaching value to the quality of the physical and emotional experiences of life. The PARENT FUNCTIONING WELLNESS QUESTIONNAIRE INDEX - PFWI factors, can be defined in terms of the absence of manifested difficulties (stress, depression, anxiety, etc.) or the presence of positive mental health attributes (inner locus of control, joy, calmness, etc.).  In some cases, the parent role can be highly demanding, and some of the wellness functioning areas measured in this questionnaire might well be the result of this demanding relationship/s, such as depression and anxiety.  In other cases, the parent might in any case not be well, e.g., work pressures, financial difficulties and the like might cause the problems/symptoms.  In many cases it is very much the hen-and-egg situation and dilemma, that is, one does not always know the exact cause-effect reaction chain.  For example, one might have difficulties at work, as well as an oppositional teenager in the house.  It then becomes difficult to discern which one of the two stressors create the initial stress and anger responses, as well as which one of the two, or both, exacerbates the dynamic.  Many parents react emotionally to these difficult situations, without taking a step back to rationally and logically determine causality, and to then make the necessary mental adjustments to deal with said stressors effectively.

The PARENT FUNCTIONING WELLNESS QUESTIONNAIRE INDEX - PFWI measures parent wellness in fifteen areas: Stress, Anger , Frustration , Depression , Anxiety , Locus of control , Self-esteem , Psychosomatic responses , Interpersonal relations , Parenting style: Democratic , Parenting style: Autocratic , Parenting style: Laissez faire , Parenting style: Communicative , Parenting style: Reactive , Coping style.

You, as a parent, can take the test and immediately receive a narrative report by accessing: www.assessmentworld.co.za/aw5_public

Give me some feedback on this blog - I will sincerely appreciate it!

Friday, February 17, 2017

NEWEST BOOK!!!!

Hi - my newest book - Why some rats will never be good at playing cards, will be on sale at Amazon.com as of Friday 24 February 2017.  The book speaks to the practical application of ethics in life, and introduces various new concepts to this theme, such as Behavioral value Chains, Circles of Value, and many more.  I'll drop the Amazon link on the 27 Feb 2017 - have a read and let me know what you think! - Jacq

 

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Welcome to Sharpedgepsychology

Visit this blog in the next few weeks to read about my soon to be published book on ethics and values in life: Why some rats will never be good at playing cards!