Leading and Managing
Background
Providing effective leadership is an essential part of being an Event Manager. If there isn’t a leader, deadlines can be missed, team moral can decrease and the objectives of your event may not be met.
There are different types of leadership styles and some people develop leadership abilities from a young age which help them to become effective leaders in the workplace.
Some of you will have developed a leadership style within the workplace and are already managers of teams. Can you identify the different leadership styles and do you understand the effectiveness of each style?
As a manager you must adopt a leadership style of your own. There are several different styles of leadership and it is important that you understand the purpose and appropriate application of each style. The aim is to develop a style to best suit your situation.
While leaders are generally seen as officials with formal authority, effective leadership can also be an informal process. A leader's behaviour and attitude will have an impact on the team's productivity and overall job satisfaction. As a key role model for the team, the leader's style has the ability to build or destroy the motivation and attitude of the team. This ability makes it an important responsibility for any manager.
Managing a team focuses on project managing the operational aspect of the event, that is ensuring tasks are completed on time as per event objectives.
Important functions of a manager include:
Planning
"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".
This function involves setting the objectives and goals of the event and scheduling resources accordingly to staging requirements.
Organising
This function involves coordinating resources - financial, human and physical to tasks and timelines, defining roles and responsibilities of the team.
Staffing
This function involves sourcing, recruiting, inducting and training the right people for the job.
Leading
This function involves motivating a team to achieve goals and objectives via communidation, role modeling, rewarding and recognising staff, mentoring and counselling team members as appropriate. This function is further detailed in the following pages of this module.
Monitoring
This function involves overseeing the teams' performance against planned objectives. Monitoring and subsequent feedback is essential for continual improvement.