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Description of Make Me a Better Manager - the way to improve your management skills
How do I get the most out of it?
Referring colleagues and friends to Make Me a Better Manager
Anonymity and confidentiality
Miscellaneous
Still need to contact us?
Email: help@makemeabettermanager.com
Write: Make Me a Better Manager, 123 New Zealand Avenue, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey KT12 1QA
Call: Customer services on 01932 219 946
Description of Make Me a Better Manager
What is Make Me a Better Manager?
Make Me a Better Manager is a simple way to get powerful feedback from the people you work with (your team, other managers and associates) that will help you to start being a better manager in two weeks or less. It helps you to see yourself as others do.
Some feedback is effective straight away because it changes how you see yourself as a manager, leading you to try a new approach. Other feedback requires you to learn how to do things differently. If you act on feedback – and our reports contain a handy ‘Action plan’ for you to complete – then you will become a better manager. It’s that simple.
And depending on what you achieve, you should expect to make more confident decisions and to improve team performance. Good managers are noticed and rewarded: you should expect greater respect at work and to have better prospects.[back to list of questions]
What’s the idea behind Make Me a Better Manager?
It’s based on what’s often called 360 degree feedback, multi-rater feedback, multi-source feedback, multi-source assessment and 360 Degree Appraisal. The technique is used by a large number of the world's most successful companies. The idea is that you get feedback on your strengths and weakness - and on how and where to improve - from the people that know you best at work. Make Me a Better Manager puts this powerful method into the hands of millions of managers.
Two UK professors, Knights and Willmott, wrote in 1999 that most management textbooks provide little to help managers make sense of their particular problem or situation. Make Me a Better Manager provides managers with real-life feedback, on the 16 core management behaviours, from the people that know you best. The feedback and development tips can easily be turned into an action plan that will make someone a better manager. [back to list of questions]
You make it sound so easy. Is it?
Make Me a Better Manager is, in our opinion, the simplest, quickest way to being a better manager. It’s online, automated and gives results in two weeks or less. But it won’t make you a better manager on its own. Whatever motivates you to start the process must support you as you address areas that need action. The ‘Action plan’ is a key section of the feedback report. It will help you map out what you will do to become a better manager. [back to list of questions]
What’s in the survey?
Make Me a Better Manager asks the individual members of your feedback group, in a quick online survey, to select how often you display 16 core management behaviours – e.g. leadership. It also asks them to give written feedback about what you should stop, start and continue doing and provide advice on how to improve. You should expect feedback on what you do well now and on how you might improve.
The sixteen management behaviours represent good practice based on ETS expertise and research and a review of published work by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the UK Institute of Managers, the Management Standards Centre and published authors including Drucker Berger, Fayol, Moorcraft and Mullins. [back to list of questions]
Can only UK residents use Make Me a Better Manager?
Our ultimate goal is to put this powerful tool into the hands of millions of managers across the world. Make Me a Better Manager is for use by UK residents only during the launch period. Please email us if you live outside the UK and would like to sign up for Make Me a Better Manager, using 'Outside UK' as the subject line. [back to list of questions]
Can I sign up a group of my managers to use Make Me a Better Manager?
In a word, yes. You can click here to start. The way it works is that you register yourself and your managers and pay for them. You then click a button and we individually email your managers an invitation to use Make Me a Better Manager. You may want to contact your managers to tell them why and how the company is using the service. If so, there's an chance to do so before the emails are sent. Your managers will each receive their reports within two weeks of starting to use the service. It’s really that simple. [back to list of questions]
How do I get the most out of it?
Who should I involve and what do they need to do?
- You! Make Me a Better Manager puts you in control of becoming a better manager. You start by filling in the Make Me a Better Manager survey for yourself.
- Your feedback group. Choose a mix of people in your organisation - at your level, more senior and junior (including people who report to you). Also, consider people outside your organisation – customers, suppliers and associates. Also, many people know ex-colleagues who will give feedback. The members of your feedback group will have two weeks to complete the Make Me a Better Manager survey - so don't choose people who are about to go on holiday! [back to list of questions]
What is the best way to select my feedback group?
The members of your feedback group need to know you well enough to give honest and authentic opinions and advice. Also, choose a cross-section of the people with direct experience of you at work. Try to include people who’ve seen you in challenging situations. Champagne feedback from your friends at work will not help you be a better manager!
Finally, choose people who have time to take the Make Me a Better Manager survey in the two weeks available. To make sure that responses are anonymous, we can't create a report unless three or more people give feedback. [back to list of questions]
How big is the ideal feedback group?
You will get a report from your Make Me a Better Manager programme when three or more people, plus you, respond in the two weeks that your survey is open. You will not get a report if fewer than three people respond.
To ensure that enough people complete the survey, choose up to double the number you want to respond. You can increase the number that respond by reminding them to do it. Make Me a Better Manager will send two reminder emails. [back to list of questions]
What is the smallest group for which you will create a confidential feedback report
You will get a report from your Make Me a Better Manager programme when three or more members of your feedback group respond in the two weeks that your survey is open. You will not get a report if fewer than three people respond.
To ensure that enough people complete the survey, choose up to double the number you want to respond. You can increase the number that respond by reminding them to do it. Make Me a Better Manager will send two reminder emails. [back to list of questions]
What’s in the Make Me a Better Manager confidential feedback report?
The Make Me a Better Manager feedback report, in Adobe® Acrobat® format, brings together all the feedback you have received, some tips on being a better manager and an action plan. It contains:
- Section 1 - feedback from others
A chart showing how your feedback group has scored you on 16 core management behaviours. To provide a comparison, the average scores of other managers who have used Make Me a Better Manager are also shown
- Section 2 - perception gap
A chart that shows where your feedback group scores you higher and lower than you do yourself. It may highlight your hidden strengths or areas where you have more belief in your skills than other people
- Section 3 - distribution
A table showing all the responses so you can see if people agree or have a range of views about your management behaviours
Section 4 - development tips
Things that the members of your feedback group suggest that you might stop, start or continue doing. Your feedback group's ideas of books and training courses that could help you
Our development tips on the management skills that received the lowest scores from your feedback group
- Section 5 - path to becoming a better manager
An action plan where you lay out the two or three things you will do to become a better manager [back to list of questions]
Should I use Make Me a Better Manager more than once?
Make Me a Better Manager is simple to use and gets powerful feedback. But it won’t make you a better manager on its own! The ‘Action plan’ in the feedback report will help you map out a six-to-12 month journey to becoming a better manager. Improving some management behaviours needs only a different outlook. Others take longer, particularly if skills need to be learned or improved.
We suggest that you wait at least six months and then start a new Make Me a Better Manager programme to check your progress. [back to list of questions]
Can I run two Make Me a Better Manager feedback cycles at once?
Yes. But if you start a new Make Me a Better Manager programme while one is running, the first one will close to further feedback. You will get a report based on the feedback at that point. However, you will not get a report if fewer than three people have fed back. [back to list of questions]
Referring colleagues and friends to Make Me a Better Manager
If you know anyone that you think would get value from Make Me a Better Manager, please log in and refer them. We will thank you with a £5 Amazon e-voucher for every person who signs up. Yes - every single person! To qualify for e-vouchers, they cannot be known to us before or have already signed up. Please refer to the Terms and Conditions. We will email the people you refer from 9 September onwards. [back to list of questions]
We will email you the when you qualify for a new Amazon e-voucher. The email will contain a claim code needed to redeem your e-voucher. To redeem your e-voucher(s), you:
- Go to Amazon.co.uk
- Select the items you wish to order, using your Shopping Basket
- In the order form, you'll see a box that says "Have you got a gift certificate or promotional code?"
- Enter your claim code into the box and click the "Apply" button. Repeat this step for each code.
You will be able to see that the value of your e-voucher has been deducted from the total cost of the order.
You can also see your claim code(s) by logging on to Make Me a Better Manager and going to the 'my reward' page after you have logged in from the homepage. [back to list of questions]
How many Amazon e-vouchers can I qualify for? Can I use several vouchers to buy one item?
There is no limit to the number of reward e-vouchers you can qualify for. You can use several vouchers to buy a single item. [back to list of questions]
Anonymity and confidentiality
Who sees the confidential feedback report?
That’s up to you: you are the only person who receives the report. You may want to share it with someone who wants to help you be a better manager (or whoever holds the training budget!) [back to list of questions]
How can I be sure that the feedback report is confidential?
Make Me a Better Manager leads to powerful personal feedback – and it’s yours alone to keep or share. We respect that and make sure it’s only you that can access it via your unique log on details. We will not give your report to anyone except you.
It’s also important that your feedback group knows that their views are confidential. We never provide details of who gave specific feedback or even who did not give feedback. This way, everyone knows that their confidentiality is respected. [back to list of questions]
Miscellaneous
How do I get a receipt for Make Me a Better Manager?
Make Me a Better Manager is low-cost at £20. For those registering on or after 3 December, your receipt is in the activation email we send when you first register or start a new programme. You can also access your receipt from the 'my invoices' link, which you get to by logging in via the homepage. [back to list of questions]