A specialist's role and responsibilities are typically quite clearly defined and often relatively narrow in scope. You may be responsible for carrying out a set of tasks or responsibilities that relate to your specific position, where your success is defined by the results you achieve doing your work.

Things are different when you become a manager. You still have to achieve results, but the context becomes much broader, and the nature of your control changes. "Hands on" used to mean you rolled up your sleeves and did the work yourself - now it means being aware of what others are doing, and being able to provide support; having your finger on the pulse.

The first two "habits" Stephen Covey talks about in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are particularly important to your role as a manager:

• Be proactive - anticipate situations, take initiative and make things happen, rather than responding to situations as they arise, and
• Begin with the end in mind - always focus on the goals you want to achieve, and base your decisions on how the action you or your employees take will influence achievement of those end results.

Some of the results you need to achieve will be defined for you, such as sales targets, profit margins, staffing and compensation levels. Others, you and your staff can define, such as events within your department or office, professional development activities, cost control, and performance expectations.

How to do it

There are several things you can do to keep your focus on results:

• Ask yourself "What would we look like if we were achieving the desired results?" You can look at any number of things - customer service, hiring criteria, employee performance, office operations. The important thing is to have a clear idea of the observable characteristics of the results you want to achieve. This information can then help you clearly identify what's happening/not happening - the gap - and how it's helping or keeping you from reaching your goals.
• When you're planning to take action to achieve results, solve a problem, or deal with an issue, ask, "How will taking this particular action help us achieve the desired result? Is it the best possible approach?" The best approach is usually the one that achieves the desired result with the least effort. The Payoff Matrix, shown below, is a great tool to help you objectively decide on the best solution or identify priorities by weighing the balance between the amount of effort (time & urgency, cost, resources needed) your approach will require against the "payoff" (achievement of results, solution to a problem) it will produce.

  To use this tool:

1. Brainstorm all the possible solutions to an issue, or list tasks you need to achieve. Don't evaluate any item at this point; just list them all as quickly as possible. You might want to do this on a whiteboard or flipchart.
2. Review the list and for each decide how much effort each item requires, and the payoff it will produce in terms of achievement of results.  Indicate on your list whether the item is a Walk, Foul Ball, Grand Slam, or Extra Inning. To do this effectively, you need to determine exactly what you mean by effort and payoff.
3. Rank order the items. The ideal rating is a Grand Slam - minimal effort for great results. Where there are ties, you'll need to exercise your judgment, or you may be able to delegate work to others to facilitate task completion.

Once you've decided upon the results you and your staff need to achieve, you can develop meaningful goals, objectives and strategies to help meet the your client's, organization's and employees' needs.