Sample Management Personal Statement
Creating and implementing effective management strategy is about more than simply having the financial or business acumen to identify areas that need to change. Without the ability to create strategies for change, and to foster and support a team capable of implementing these strategies, being able to see the big picture is meaningless. This is why I have always centred my management approach on using my substantial communication skills to empower my team to work towards demanding, but achievable.
In my current role as Regional Accommodation Manager, I am responsible for providing a comprehensive management service for tenants and staff of partner organisations, including Hospital Trusts and Student Accommodation. Communication is paramount in this role, as I am required to work across departments and directorates, fostering strong working relationships with existing colleagues and clients and being the public face in meetings with potential business partners. My success in this area is reflected in my work within the ‘Key-worker’ housing sector; where I handpicked and managed a team to take handover of 1500 units of housing stock, including an individual project consisting of 557 units. Delivering this project in two phases, the efficiency and determination of my team ensured that one phase (120 units) was occupied within 48 hours of handover. As this success rate proves, despite the main thrust of my role not being restricted to sales, I have the natural instincts to identify, plan and execute deals with prospective clients, as well as the communication skills to identify a client’s needs and match them to the appropriate product or service.
While gaining new business through increasing profile amongst potential new clients is an important area of my job, as the above example demonstrates, the overall management of personnel is the factor that allows me to deliver an effective service for these clients. Staff training has always been the key to my management approach and I have worked hard to develop strategies for continual staff development. In both my current role, and my previous role as Customer Service Manager within the same organisation, I have found a target-centred approach to staff development hugely beneficial. By introducing individual KPIs for all staff, I have been able to assess strengths and weakness and implement strategies for staff improvement when necessary. I have also found that the introduction of ambitious, yet achievable, targets motivates staff to perform to a higher level by offering them demonstrable evidence of professional growth.
As my experience as Customer Service Manager, brought in to reshape a service centre continually missing targets and achieving minimal customer satisfaction, demonstrated, however, the creation of these targets needed to be backed by offering the support, guidance and strategy to make them achievable. By encouraging my staff to specialise in either maintenance or housing, I allowed them to focus their energies, devising and implementing individual training and professional development plans that responded both to the needs of the centre and to their personal and professional goals. As the dramatic increase in customer satisfaction levels (67% to 87%) and the decline in call drop rates (26% to 8%), which led to me being awarded the company-wide Outstanding Performance Award in 2004, proves, this individually-focused, goal-oriented, approach to staff development can be highly effective in motivating staff and allowing them to achieve the level of which they are capable.
I have taken every opportunity to enhance my own professional capabilities through training, and have sought out every opportunity to become adept at delivering this training to others. In addition to many individual training courses; including Coaching on the Run, Coaching for Performance, Train the Trainer and Leading and Managing Performance, I have enjoyed a healthy parallel academic career. In addition to my Professional Diploma in Housing, I have also qualified as an NVQ assessor in Housing and have recently completed the Training, Assessment and Quality Assurance Practitioner Award. Putting the skills learnt through these studies into practice, both in my day-to-day role and in my role as a Co-Facilitator within the Customer Care programme at the Thames Valley training centre, I have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to facilitating improved performance at all levels, with the involvement of a range of institutions and courses. Having already undertaken this multi-agency approach to training, I am aware of the complex funding structures which underpin many of these courses and will have no problem creating working relationships with individual agencies or umbrella organisations, such as the Skills Funding Agency.
Alongside this focus on staff development, of course, it is essential to maintain an awareness of the risks and demands of the business and finance. Without paying attention to the bottom line, and focusing exclusively on enhancing staff performance and customer satisfaction, it is possible to threaten good relationships with stakeholders. By implementing complimentary strategies in all roles, undertaking to review and lower costs where possible, I have managed to increase performance and profits simultaneously. Cutting utility costs by 30% and cleaning costs by £200k in my current role, for example, demonstrates the kind of overarching, profit-driven managerial strategy that I am well versed in planning and implementing. By creating new strategies for service provision in each role, I have been able to improve performance while also reducing costs and protecting stakeholder investment. Responsible for regularly managing budgets of £4-10million, I have demonstrated the ability to create and maintain workable financial models, reducing costs whenever possible and increasing the efficiency of staff to increase profitability.
In each of the management roles that I have undertaken, I have observed the increasing importance of conceiving, delivering and communicating a coherent corporate vision. By motivating staff and offering them the guidance, support and training that they need to implement this vision we can foster a team approach, with each individual working towards this common goal. By transmitting this vision to potential clients, and showing them evidence of its achievement in prior projects, we enhance the possibility of creating new avenues for development. By ensuring that it is not just our stakeholders, but also the customers, who feel involved and empowered by the excellent service we provide, we can create an overarching management strategy that places this singular vision at its heart and works to find ways to implement it. Whether through business development; staff training; increased efficiency; or customer feedback, I have proven that I have the flexible, overarching leadership abilities to construct a management strategy that foregrounds this singular vision, while always empowering my team to deliver it for the ultimate benefit of both stakeholders and service users.
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