Successful management is determined and directed by the culture it is managing. This is not to say that a manager can not alter a culture, but they must stay consistent with any changes implemented to achieve effective team building and productivity.

Mastering the culture of a collective is a manager’s best friend when it comes to achieving compliance in a non-threatening manner.

Not every manager can be a leader and not every leader can be a manager, they are two quite different perspectives. However, leadership and management is something that should be understood by all managers and leaders, regardless if they can master both or not.

Managers should especially understand the role of leadership, because leaders establish cultures, and the culture of a collective is a manager’s best way of achieving long-term trust, results and loyalty. 

Like leadership, management fundamentally comes in two forms, there is self-management and there is management of others. I loathe managing other people. I’ve always been a very self-sufficient person and I’ve always expected the same from other people.

However, it has not escaped my attention that many people are can be very inefficient at self-management in their personal and professional lives.

The biggest challenge I had while studying this module was taking my self-management experience and applying that skillset effectively towards managing other people. 

I had the opportunity to fulfill a management role as the supervisor for the weekend nightshift job I used as my financial safety net while I was building this MTA Portfolio. The position proved especially useful at allowing me to practice all the things I was learning.

It also highlighted many instances of extremely poor management, which I have steered cleared off in the refinement of my own management style.

The biggest lesson I have learned – Embrace the culture, and if it needs adjusting, lead by example.