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Managing people is one thing, but anyone with experience in managing managers will know that’s a completely different ball game. A management team that works in complete harmony is a rare and beautiful thing, but it never comes easy.

In fact, it’s paradoxical to think it should ever be that a group of people with strong leadership and management skills will operate without conflict for any length of time. The seven tips below highlight the most likely areas of contention and how to overcome these.

Strategy and Planning

Do you have a clear strategy that sets out the medium to long-term (three to five years) vision for your business unit? Do you have a clear business plan that sets out specific business objectives for the current financial year? Although you can set targets and objectives for your managers without these, those can seem hollow and hard for them to fully engage with if they aren’t part of a coherent strategy and plan.

Make sure you fully understand the overall strategy and objectives that are driving the business at its core. Only then will you be able to set your own local plan that translates those higher-level aims into meaningful, measurable targets for your managers that facilitate them working in unison with each other and in alignment with the wider business.

More Leadership, Less Management

Remember, the more senior a manager you are, the more your role becomes about leadership rather than management. Of course, you have to manage the performance of your managers and at times make decisions and give direct instructions to them, but remember they are managers.

They need direction, not solutions. Feel free to project your vision in all its glory, and give them guidance if they seek it, but let your managers manage. Let them figure the most effective path to get to the destination you’ve set for them.

You won’t always feel comfortable doing this, but take a deep breath and let it happen; allowing yourself to micro-manage is a slippery slope that rarely ends well. Stay on the bridge with your hands firmly on the wheel and stay out of the engine room, unless circumstances are exceptional.

Beware of Projects

Improvement is a buzzword in the boardroom of any business. It’s synonymous with so many business objectives, from increased customer satisfaction to decreased cost. The trouble is, improvement doesn’t come without time and effort to drive change.

Businesses are typically very good at identifying potential projects that need to be undertaken to realize improvements but don’t have nearly the same appetite to invest in the skill and resources to bring them to fruition. Too often it is wrongly assumed that project management is a core skill of any manager. Engage your managers in defining a business case and requirements, but if you have project management or business improvement resource within your business, then hand them over to them to initiate a project once you have a green light. You might not get the results as quickly as you’d like, but you run the risk of a failed project or worse if you saddle your managers with unrealistic workloads.

Acknowledge and Reward

Managers tend to be conscientious types, often more than willing to go the extra mile; working late, at weekends or outside their normal jurisdiction without any recompense. By all means, take advantage of this when you can, but be willing to give some payback from time to time.

Managers are rarely paid overtime, yet understand better than most that sometimes the business needs a little more of them than usual. But be mindful when a little becomes a lot, and when this starts to become the rule rather than the exception. If your managers feel they are being taken for granted or treated unfairly they will become disillusioned and disengaged. Sustain that position for too long and you will lose them.

A simple acknowledgment of efforts beyond the call of duty goes a long way, but sometimes more tangible recognition is called for. This doesn’t have to be financial; be creative, but find ways to reward when it’s due.

Know your People

Take the time to get to know your managers as people as well as professionals. It can be tough to fit regular one-to-one meetings into busy diaries, but they are essential; overlook them at your peril.

Make sure those conversations strike a balance between the person and the business tasks at hand. Losing sight of the human being is dangerous as you need to connect on a personal level to get the best out of them. If you don’t you also risk missing early warning signs that they may be struggling with workload, or with circumstances outside work that are affecting their performance in work.

Busy managers may also struggle to network, even within their own management community. Make sure you create the opportunities to facilitate a good rapport between all your direct reports, inside or outside of the workplace. It’s likely that their roles and responsibilities overlap to some degree, so their relationship with each other is just as important as their relationship with you.

Just like in sport, a group of highly talented individuals doesn’t necessarily make a good team. You need to work on that, and it will pay dividends in more open communications and more collaborative working.

Trust and Honesty

Managers who feel under pressure will often find ways to hide areas of inadequacy or underperformance for fear of the consequences. Building a culture of trust and honesty with your managers has to start with you. Lead by example and encourage them to share their struggles and concerns. Show them it is safe to do so, but challenge them to come up with solutions, not just problems.

This can feel like walking a tightrope at times, as you need to maintain respect amongst the group and for your authority, so be clear on lines that cannot be crossed. However, allow them to feel comfortable expressing themselves fully. Set boundaries, but ensure you have protected time behind closed doors to allow for open and honest exchanges. Consider drawing up a management charter to set basic rules of engagement to create an uninhibited but safe environment.

Support and Backing

If you’re under pressure from your manager, it’s easy to transfer this to your direct reports. Some will say that the best managers are those that delegate, and don’t shy away from doing that, but resist the temptation to use delegation as a means to simply palm off the tasks you don’t like or feel comfortable with.

Delegate fairly and provide support and guidance when sought of you and be willing to share the load sometimes. Recognize when it’s appropriate for you to step in to back your managers when they need you to pull rank, or when an initiative or key communication needs visible endorsement from someone more senior.

There will also be times when you need to push back against your own manager’s demands and expectations where these are not realistic or reasonable, to protect your team. You will need the facts and figures to do this effectively, but ultimately the buck stops with you and you must be willing to have these difficult conversations. You will strengthen the trust and respect from your managers if they know you have their back and they will offer you the same support and loyalty in return.

The subtleties of approaches you take to tackle these seven areas will be dependent on the specific personalities you are managing, but if you’re paying regular attention to them all, you’ll find your life a whole lot easier. You’ll also have managers who are more likely to be relaxed, communicative, and able to perform to their full potential. It’s never a case of ‘one size fits all and you may need to experiment with different styles, so don’t be disheartened if something doesn’t work the first time. Eventually, you’ll establish working practices that fit, and you’ll never look back.

The worst thing about a rude message is the author presuming you’ll respond to a complaint or request when his communication lacks any hint of civility.

When confronted with an obvious violation of good manners, you can easily delete the email without upsetting anyone who is aware of politeness standards. You can also punt the request to a co-worker, but that would make you the bad guy. It’s best to respond but take certain steps to ensure your response is a solicitous one, and then move on to other, more pleasant tasks.

Delay Your Response to the Email

To ensure you don’t send a scathing reply in response to the offensive email, close the message after you read it, flag it for follow-up and move on to another task.  This will help you focus on something else, rather than sit and simmer about the rude email. When you deal with the message later, after you’ve had a chance to separate the subject of the message from its tone, you’ll be better prepared to create a congenial and rational response, rather than an emotional one.

Use the Text Expansion Utility

If you can’t just delete the rude email, but rather must issue a response, don’t over-invest in the process. The text expansion utility can help you in this regard. The utility will automatically enter long blocks of text that you create in advance based on a few keystrokes that you type. By limiting the time you commit to your response, your emotional investment will be less as well.

Create a Neutral Response

It might be tempting to send a rude email in return, but remember the goal of the sender may have been to get your attention and perhaps make you angry – so it’s best to ignore the person and handle the issue. If you allow yourself to be baited, things may get worse.

After waiting a few hours to respond, you’ll be able to focus on the problem or issue that was the origin of the email rather than its tone. Identify an appropriate solution and convey the information to the originator of the rude email.

If you can’t solve the problem, tell them so and the reason you can’t. If appropriate, tell them you’ll convey their concern to the appropriate department or person for handling.

Review the Email Twice, Then Send It

It’s best not to transmit an email unless you’ve had the time to review it carefully first. While some messages contain so few words that it would be difficult to misinterpret their intent, a reader can easily misconstrue a lengthier one. So study the message carefully, particularly if the subject is a delicate one. When you’re confident your message is a helpful and amiable one, send it.

Move On to the Next Task

People tend to mull over issues even after they’ve dealt with them. But there’s nothing you can do about a person who chooses to send a rude email. Spare yourself the frustration by issuing your response to the offending message and then moving on to another message or work task. You have more important issues to deal with and more gracious people to help.

Thinking about turning your passion into a paying gig? These steps will help you avoid some common mistakes as you set out to earn an income from your favorite pastime.

Do you have what it takes?

Unless you’ve run a business before, it’s easy to get carried away with the idea of how perfect it will be to get paid for doing what you love. Reality check: the stress of needing to earn an income from your hobby can quickly take all the pleasure out of it.

Running a successful business isn’t all a hobby indulgence. Unless you can afford to hire someone to take care of the bookkeeping, marketing and sales, expect to spend a lot of hours on necessary tasks completely unrelated to your true passion.

Before you start investing in your hobby-to-business idea, take this online quiz to see if running a business is right for you.

Do your market research

If you’ve been gifted with the entrepreneurial spirit, you’re ahead of the game. It’s definitely a plus to be able to combine business know-how with your passion.

The question is, will people pay you for your great idea. If you love to garden, for instance, who will buy your herb garden kids, custom flower arrangements, or green thumb e-books?

One of the biggest mistakes home-based solopreneurs make is not doing their market research.

In a nutshell, market research is the process of:

• identifying potential markets
• understanding what your customers most want and need
• matching up your products and services to those needs
• examining the competition and
• creating a marketing plan.

As a pro tip, focus your efforts on a niche that isn’t currently being filled to increase your chances of success. You’ll minimize the competition and cut out unprofitable possibilities by creating a must-have solution designed for a highly specific customer.

Strategic marketing ideas

If you’re just starting up, odds are you’ll be running your business on a shoestring. You’ll need to be very selective about how you spend your marketing dollars—which is why it’s so important to know exactly who your customers are off the bat. Then it’s all a matter of making it as easy as possible for those people to find you.

A website and social media presence are essential for any small business. Consider craft fairs and trade shows, sponsoring a community event, joining a local business association, or partnering up with a compatible business as low-cost ways to get the word out.

Final thoughts

If turning your hobby into a business seems right for you, test the waters for six months to a year before diving in. Running a small, no-pressure side business at first will show you whether your idea has the potential to become a sustainable full-time business—before you quit your day job and invest all your savings.

Drafting a simple one-page business plan before early on is a great way to help you think through and evaluate your idea, step by step, as you set goals and identify strategies to achieve them.

Business planning may seem like a lot of work for a small part-time business venture, but unless you have a plan, how will you know when you’ve achieved your benchmark for success?

According to recent research, a staggering two-thirds of US millionaire-owned businesses are operating without a succession plan—and even fewer small business owners around the globe are prepared for their CEO’s eventual exit.

Recent stats from PWC Global show that family-owned businesses are no more prepared: 43% don’t have a succession plan in place, and only 12% survive to the third generation.

No matter whether your company has one employee, a hundred or a thousand, a succession plan is essential to minimize the risk of financial loss.

Read on to help prepare for a stress-free transition when it’s time to sell or transfer ownership of your business.

Define your objectives

The starting point for any succession plan is a reflection on your long term goals, both personally and professionally.

Where do you see yourself in five or ten years? What would you like your retirement to look like? Who are the best people to take over if you have to step away from the business suddenly – and how can you best prepare them for the task?

Once you’ve tackled the big picture questions, your next step is to seek planning advice from your lawyer, accountant, wealth management, and business advisors.

At the same time you’ll be able to start grooming your predecessor and training your employees for a smooth transition when you leave.

Tips for successful succession planning

Most entrepreneurs find it daunting to think about everything they’ll need to do before they can leave the company they’ve worked so hard to build. It takes time to create a useful, well-thought-out succession plan—so start early, and don’t rush the process.

One of the most important elements of succession planning is clear and timely communication. Be sure to keep key stakeholders, business partners, employees, and family members involved in the planning process early and often.

Set a reasonable timeline for the creation of your succession plan and try your best stick to it. Once you have a plan in place, schedule a review on a yearly basis. It’s always wise to have contingency plans in place in case any sudden life changes require an unexpected exit.

Many business owners time an annual review of their business plan along with a review of their succession plan to ensure both are always up to date.

Final tips

A wealth of information is available online for small business owners ready to start succession planning. Free and low cost tools—including this self-paced e-course—can help you get started and stay on track throughout the process.

Although it’s impossible to predict how long it might take for a small business to sell, a good guideline to keep in mind is two to five years. In addition to the other professionals you’ll want to consult as you draft your succession plan, you may want to consider the services of a business broker.

Ask your business colleagues for a referral to a local broker with experience in your industry. A good broker can really streamline the sales process and maximize the perceived value of your business to buyers.

It can be heart wrenching for a business owner to walk away from their company, and some entrepreneurs will plan to stay involved in some way for a few months—or indefinitely. Many find maintaining an ongoing role in their business can mean a more satisfying, and financially stable, retirement.

The loss of a job is one of the most devastating things a person can go through. The results of a job loss can be long lasting and the implications go far beyond the financial. While losing your job will most likely put your financial life at risk, the emotional consequences can be just as damaging.

When you consider that most of us spend more time at our jobs than anywhere else, the sudden loss of employment can mean losing our identity as well as our paycheck. If you’ve just received the unwelcome news that you will not be returning to work tomorrow morning, you need to step back, evaluate your situation and find a way to move on.

Stop Panicking

The first thing you should do when you lose your job is to stop panicking. Losing your job is devastating, but the loss is a temporary one. Life will go on, and you will most likely find a suitable position sooner rather than later.

There is no reason to panic at the sudden loss of a job. Panic can blind you, and that can be just as dangerous as the loss of a paycheck. We tend to make poor decisions when we let our emotions get the best of us. No matter how hard it may be the best strategy is to detach emotionally and let your brain take the lead.

Gather Your Resources

The immediate aftermath of a job loss can be very difficult, but how you handle the first couple of days can make all the difference in the world. Now is the time to gather your resources and start your job-hunting strategy. If you still have access to the email addresses and contact information of your former colleagues, record that data as soon as you can. Your former co-workers can be valuable resources going forward, but you will want to give yourself a few days to cool off and take stock.

You can use that time to start building your online network and get ready for the job search to come. If you do not already have a LinkedIn profile, now is the time to create one. If you already have a profile, spend the next few days polishing it. Take the time to update your resume and post it online. Make sure the information is up to date and that the document meets the recommended formatting guidelines.

Assess Your Monthly Expenses

The sudden loss of a regular paycheck can be financially devastating but taking some proactive steps now can reduce the pain substantially. Grab your checkbook, pull out your monthly bills and do some serious financial planning.

You may not be able to afford a high-end mobile phone bill and you may need to stop eating out for a month or two or kick your morning Starbucks habit. Making a few temporary changes now can reduce your expenses and make surviving on unemployment a lot easier. You may even find that you do not miss the fancy phone or daily latte. If so, making your temporary changes permanent could give you more money to save and invest once you do find a new job.

Get What You Have Coming

Most large companies offer laid-off workers some sort of severance package but the rules are not written in stone. If your tenure with the company was a positive one, you may be able to negotiate a much better severance package than the one you were originally offered.

Do not be in a hurry to sign your exit paperwork; that impatience could cost you a lot of money. Take the time to read the documents carefully and negotiate a better package if you can. Whether you negotiate a longer severance period, company-paid health insurance, or both, you will put yourself on the firmer financial footing and reduce the stress of your sudden unemployment.

Stop Blaming Yourself

Most people will suffer an involuntary job separation at some point in their careers. Losing your job does not mean you were not a good worker or that you are not worthy of respect. Stop beating yourself up and place the blame where it belongs –on the financial conditions that forced the company you worked for to cut back.

Even if the job loss was partially your fault, you can learn from the experience and be a better worker going forward. It is easy to be defensive when faced with an unexpected termination but paying attention to the reasons and moving forward is the best strategy.

Nothing can fully soothe the emotional and financial devastation of a job loss, but making the right moves now can make recovery faster and easier. Whether your job was an integral part of your life or just a way to pay the bills, you can recover your financial independence and your dignity. In the end, you may end up with a much better job and a more secure future.