How to Be a Good Manager: Tips
Being a manager in any industry can be a fulfilling job, but it can also be a difficult one. You will need to find the right balance of friendliness and authority. You will need to create a good team atmosphere whilst achieving the bigger goals. So how do you strike that balance?
1. Do Your Job
First and foremost do your own job. Managing people isn’t an excuse to let them do the work whilst you look on. Of course, sometimes your job may involve being more strategic but your staff will respect you for doing what needs to be done and being willing to pitch in like everyone else at times. Many of us have had managers who use their role as an excuse to do less or attend more meetings. Get the balance right and earn respect from your staff.
2. Acknowledge The Positive
See the positives in your staff and their work. Don’t be one of those bosses who only sees what’s missing rather than what’s been achieved. It is demoralizing for staff to have someone only see what they have done ‘wrong’. Positivity breeds positivity. Genuine and meaningful praise goes a long way. If this is difficult for you, get in the habit of noting down positive things you notice about how your staff work. Give feedback regularly and let them know that you see the good work they do.
Things don’t always go smoothly in any workplace. You are a manager, so you must be willing to manage. Some people find it hard to set boundaries or give feedback but it is important to get over that hurdle. If you need some help with this don’t be afraid to ask your own boss for help or request training. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone. You can make a work situation worse by not being clear with staff if you are hesitant about managing. People appreciate genuine leadership. Practice managing and making the tough decisions. These things get easier with practice but people will appreciate knowing where you stand and any changes they need to make.
3. Be Vulnerable
If you make a mistake, be big about it and apologize. It can be scary and seem like you are making yourself vulnerable, but your staff will appreciate your honesty. No one expects a manager to be super human. Everyone likes someone who takes responsibility for your actions. Being honest will help you create a culture of honesty.
4. Be Real With People
The way we work is changing. You don’t have to be superhuman or untouchable. Be the real human being that you are. Let people at work know about your life and find out about others. If you let people know the “real you” it is much easier than having different personalities for your work and home life.
Let your staff know what’s going on behind the scenes, as appropriate. If something will affect a member of staff, make sure they are included in the communication. This doesn’t mean you have to let your staff know everything. Sometimes keeping communications back until the correct time can save panic and needless worrying. Communicate appropriately and consistently but be aware of how communication (or lack of it) can affect your staff.
5. Lead By Example
If you want your staff to behave in a certain way (professional, good team players), then lead by example. It is not fair to expect your staff to do something if you are not doing it yourself.
6. Be Self Aware
Be aware of your moods and how you communicate. You may not realise how much of an impact you have on your team as a manager. You may know you are in a bad mood about the dog chewing your shoes this morning but staff may feel that they have done something wrong if they don’t know this! Be aware of how and what you communicate. Your team will pick up on it.
7. Have Fun
Having fun at work can help make the work easier for everyone, forge positive relationships and strengthen your team. There is usually room for more fun in any work environment, but if the nature of your work makes that difficult, be sure to schedule fun activities when you can. Meeting for lunch or drinks after work can help build relationships and help your team to see you and each other in a new light. If you create a positive work atmosphere it also becomes easier to deal with challenges as they arise.
8. Trust Yourself
At the end of the day, there is no one right way to be a manager. Trust yourself and learn through your mistakes. Managing others is a great way to develop and enhance your leadership skills and create a positive work experience for yourself and others.
Are you or have you been a manager? What advice would you add to this list?
Motivate people.
Why are the employees there? What keeps them with your organization and stops them from going somewhere else? What makes the good days good? What makes them stick with the organization after a bad day or a bad week? Don't assume it's money--most people aren't that one-dimensional. Ask the employees how they're liking their job on a regular basis. Encourage them to be honest with you. Be a good listener.Then take action based upon what they tell you. If health is important to them, give them time to go to the gym and work out. If their family is important, respect the time they may need to send their kids off to school in the morning or pick them up in the afternoon. Remember, our values are what makes us "tick". If you manage by respecting your team's values, they will give you 110% of their effort.
Delegate.
You're a manager because you're good at what you do, but that doesn't mean you're supposed to do it ALL. Your job as a manager is to teach other people how to do a good job. If you're uncomfortable with delegating, however, this can be a huge leap of faith for you. One way to overcome this is to start small. Give people tasks that, if performed incorrectly, can be fixed. Take the opportunity to teach and empower your employees. Then gradually give them tasks with greater responsibility as you come to understand their strengths and weaknesses and learn how to anticipate any problems they might have so you can coach them properly before they begin.
Keep the door open.
Always remind people that if they have any questions or concerns, you're ready and willing to listen. Don't be one of those managers who inadvertently makes an employee feel like they're "bothering" you when they bring up a question or concern. Instead of seeing it as another crisis to manage, look at it as an opportunity to show your employee how much you want this organization to be a fulfilling place to work. Never minimize or dismiss their concerns, and always make sure Let people make mistakes. As a manager, you take responsibility for other people's actions, so the last thing you want to do is be responsible for someone else's mistakes. In an attempt to be proactive and prevent mistakes, you might give careful instructions and create clear, strict standards. But are you making people afraid of mistakes? Do they always check with you about every little thing, reluctant to make their own decisions because they might not do it correctly? That ends up making the employees more dependent on you, which makes them less effective and unnecessarily drains a significant portion of your time. In order for people to think for themselves, they need to learn, and in order to learn, sometimes we need to make mistakes. Trust them, and give them a fair margin of error. that you've answered their questions completely.
Learn from your own mistakes. When things don't turn out the way you expected, recognize what you could've done differently and verbalize this realization to your employees. This shows them that you make mistakes, too, and it also shows them how they should handle their own mistakes. Whenever you're doing something correctly after having done it incorrectly in the past, let whoever is watching know. E.g. "The reason I know to press this button is because this happened to me when I first started out, and I made the mistake of pressing the blue button, thinking 'This will shut down the system, which should resolve the issue' and I found out--the hard way--that it makes the issue even worse!"
Treat everyone equally. Most of us aren't as egalitarian as we'd like to be. Many times, favoritism happens on a subconscious level. The tendency is to give more positive recognition to the people who remind us of ourselves somehow and who actually like us, rather than to the people who make the biggest contributions to the organization.[1] In the long run, it's people in the latter group who will make the most progress in achieving the organization's goals, so monitor your own behavior carefully and make sure you're not accidentally short-changing them, even if they give you the impression that your positive regard doesn't affect them. Some people shy away from positive feedback but appreciate it nonetheless.
Tips
· Celebrate success with your team, whether it's by giving them a pat on the back, taking them to lunch, or giving them the afternoon off.
· Avoid making them stay back after normal working hours. Respect their time and personal commitments and they will reciprocate by producing exceptional results for their manager and the organization.
· Forget about your credentials. Education didn't make you a better manager.But experience can contribute to becoming a good manager.
· As manager try to communicate with your employees in proper way and avoid making them feel down.
Warnings
Being a good manager doesn't mean being a people pleaser. If an employee keeps crossing the line or failing to meet expectations, use a feedback sandwich or nonviolent communicationto correct the situation. If that fails, consider firing them.
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