Every manager was an employee at a lower rung, once upon a time. So, if you’ve been promoted to a managerial position recently and you want to excel at it, good for you. Just don’t forget what it was like to be an employee and it might help you gain plenty of support from those below you.
What makes a manager great? The ability to understand his or her employees at their level and to help them realize their potential while making sure that the organization productivity goes up. Sounds like a tall order right? Not really, if you break it up into the different segments.
In this article, you will read how you can accomplish all three and turn into one of the best managers you have ever seen. But before we go into that, there’s something else you need to remember. A good manager understands conventions and traditions. A great manager knows how to circumvent them if they’re blocking the path to success. So, ideally the first step to becoming a great manager would be to have an open mind that is receptive to new ideas and policies.
So, let’s take a look at what a great manager does differently –
- Understanding your employees – You were one of them too. Don’t forget that. It’s not easy to gain the trust and respect of your employees unless you can relate to them in the way they understand. Figure out your employees as people and not just persons who work at your organization. Look at what each employee excels in and help bring it out to the fore.
- Focusing on their potential – If an employee is good at something, make sure you recognize and acknowledge that and bring it to the fore. Don’t waste time on improving their weaknesses. Concentrate on their strengths and the collective strengths of your company and it will be beneficial to all concerned. This doesn’t mean that you can completely ignore their shortcomings. However, by moving focus to what they can do well will give your employees a boost of confidence which will help in overcoming their problems.
- Talent, not just experience – Traditionalists might frown but today talent gains more points than experience. If you have a new employee who has shown immense potential and has lived up to your expectations, make sure you acknowledge it rightly. Don’t dispense your praise and rewards stingily. A mediocre worker may have been working on something for years and never get it right but a talented worker may pick up the finer points immediately.
- Collective effort – Increasing the productivity at your organization has to be a collective effort which comes in from employees as well as managers. It has to be like a well oiled piece of machinery where all the gears fit together and everything moves as it should. Naturally, when the productivity of your organization goes up, everyone deserves the credit. Make sure you give it to them.
Becoming a good manager is not that difficult. Becoming a great manager is a little difficult. But who decides whether a manager is good, great or plain bad? Simple. Ask the employees.
My first time ready your article and find it easy to read and help reinforce some of my thinking. Matching organization need with the right talent is critical but hard if you considering Passion as well. As a manager, one tends to focus employees’ area of improvement and little is talked about working around one’s weakness. Having the experience without the talent is the probably the biggest weakness !
I agree with you Jenny. A team’s deliverables or the output is to a great extent dependent on the above factors you have mentioned – its the Manager who influences this output!
Another area which I feel a Manager should have in terms of skills is Listening. I have over my career observed Managers who although are very good in several areas lack the listening skills – they do not make genuine efforts to spend time with the team members or anticipate if there is something bothering them/an individual- they refuse to listen and interrupt imposing views/instruction.