The higher you move up the ladder into "management" the further you could be getting away from the jobs that people do. In a management role you often lose that expertise and spend your time doing other things, such as planning and controlling the work of your section. Try recognising it and do not try to fight it out. Identify and acknowledge the skills your subordinates have. Explore how they can help you and explain how you can help them. Ask for information and explanation if you are not sure what they are talking about and/or its implications. Encourage them to keep you involved.

As the new manager you identify areas where changes need to be made . However, these are met with stiff resistance. What will your aproach be?

Talk to them individually about the changes but do not be surprised if they behave much differently when they are with the peer group. Try to involve them in the changes planned and get their ideas. Try to sell them the benefits of the changes you are planning. Do not avoid potential problems, confront them. You can try a compromise, for the time being to take everyone with you.

On a variety of issues you feel that your boss is letting you down. He is not available when needed, directly goes to your sub-ordinate and doesn't give you any feedback. What will you do?

There could be a variety of reasons as to why your boss behaves the way he does. He might be thinking that your ideas won't work. He might be disliking you or might not be skilled at handling staff. He might be having a demanding job and is often pre-occupied; might not have grasped the total picture.

Could you present your ideas more successfully? Can you present things the way your boss would like them? Anticipate objections that he may raise and prepare yourself accordingly. Be businesslike and keep your presentations simple. This is bound to improve your communication with your boss.

You have a good performer as a sub-ordinate. Recently for no apparent reason, he appears to lose motivation. How will you improve his motivation?

Loss of motivation could be related to there being no more challenge in the job, not getting paid enough for the position and responsibilities, status not being recognised etc. Try making the individual aware of what he is doing and the effect it is having on the organisation as a whole. Find out what he is good at and what he enjoys doing. See what chances are there for his skills and abilities to be better utilised. Try to build in challenge into the job by making it broader and delegate some of your work to make the job interesting.

You have a sub-ordinate who is a poor performer. He never achieves his goals and can never be relied upon. When put under pressure the person panics. How will you handle this sub-ordinate of yours?

Be clear on what the person is expected to do and to what standard he should perform. Talk to the person and obtain agreement on what needs to be done, what help is needed and the timeframe of actions. Monitor the person's performance and take any action may be necessary, as you go along.

You try to build your team in a new organisation, but find lack of interest. People continue to work as individuals behaving in ways that conflict with your objectives of team working. What will you try to do?

If you need and want to be a team, try to-

-Look for opportunities to build teamworking into your daily activities, i.e. get people working together on projects

-Look for examples where teamworking has paid off within your organisation and publicise them

-Share information and involve your people

-Hand over tasks to your people, ask for suggestions as to how they could be done

-Put together some team building activities

-Encourage harmony-watch for "them and us" situations within your team