At High Trails, we have lots of staff members who at some time or another have to manage people. We have Directors, Coordinators, Head Cooks, and several Collaborators. Within that group of around 15 people, only a couple have had formal training in how to manage others. The rest of us showed we were good teachers, had great people skills, and were competent problem solvers.

All of a sudden we found ourselves having to tell others what to do. In true High Trails fashion, we moved into management positions eager to take on the next challenge with enthusiasm and positivity. However, becoming a good manager is still a daunting task.

It seems like this situation is not unique to High Trails; it is common that once someone gets good at something, they get pulled from doing that and promoted into the seemingly scary position of “Manager”.

To help us come to terms with this situation, our administration teams have been studying and discussing books to help us become successful and happy managers. Devora Zack’s “Managing for People Who Hate Managing” addresses the issue of people being promoted without being entirely sure what the have gotten themselves into. It is a quick read that gets its points across well. It can be a little much, if read in one continuous block, but reading a chapter or two at a time then discussing it with others is a great way to go about getting the most out of the book.

Zack’s style is informal and includes a good amount of reassurance balanced with lots of great practical suggestions to try out. The book encourages the reader to observe and analyze themselves and others in their group, then recognize what each individual needs to be successful. Each Chapter asks the reader to consider a specific element of management. It contains real life examples from the experience of other great managers, guidelines to follow and solutions to common problems. Here are several sections that stuck with me:

Treat people as they would like to be treated

Zack puts a large focus on knowing yourself and knowing your charges. A lasting quote that sticks with me that we should “Treat people as they would like to be treated”. Some of my staff have similar personalities to myself, while others are very different.

I can take very blunt direction and am confident problem solving, so if I’m told “Chris, the shower house is broken, go fix it”, I’ll happily go get it done.

Other staff members will need to be addressed in softer tones, “would you mind?” and to be given more details and guidance “..a toilet is clogged, could you pull the plunger from the closet and take care of that?”.

Recognizing those differences and choosing how we address and manage people enables us to be effective managers of all of our staff.

Are you a thinker or a feeler?

Zack helps us identify different types of people on a sliding scale of thinkers and feelers. Here at High Trails we discovered many of our staff tend to lean towards being on the “Feelers” end of the scale. Maybe it’s something about working with children, living in a close community and caring passionately about the Earth that attracts them?

That’s not to say that we don’t also have “Thinkers” around. Or that “Feelers” can’t think and “Thinkers” can’t feel.

As with most things there is no black and white and there are benefits to being anywhere along the T-F scale. Or F-T scales, sorry F’s didn’t mean to put you 2nd. Look at me adjusting my behavior to keep everyone happy…

Flex but don’t break

In Chapter five Zack introduces the concept of “Flex” which is then continued in subsequent chapters. This concept describes remaining who you are and being confident with that while making subtle changes to adapt to the world around you. “Maximizing rapport with others while maintaining your core of integrity”. This is a great lesson not just for managers managing, but for all of us, all of the time. If everyone recognized and met other people’s individual needs, while still being true to themselves, the world may be a much nicer place!

As managers, as with anything we do, it is important to evaluate how we are doing. What we are doing right and what we can do to improve. This book reassured our management team that we are already doing lots of great things to motivate our staff, keep them happy and get them to perform to their highest potential.

This book also also gave us things to work on as we master the art of managing staff, which secretly we don’t hate at all.

At High Trails Outdoor Science School, we literally force our instructors to write about elementary outdoor education, teaching outside, learning outside, our dirty classroom (the forest…gosh), environmental science, outdoor science, and all other tree hugging student and kid loving things that keep us engaged, passionate, driven, loving our job, digging our life, and spreading the word to anyone whose attention we can hold for long enough to actually make it through reading this entire sentence. Whew…. www.dirtyclassroom.com