How to become a good manager
T. Karekalan Department of Management, Eastern University, Sri Lanka.
Becoming a good manager is not only about getting your job done, but
more importantly, earning the respect of your team. First you must stop
thinking of yourself as a ‘Boss’ - whether you are the manager or not,
you are first and foremost a part of the team.
Don’t alienate yourself by sitting in a high chair. Nobody likes a
windbag.
As a good manager, you should be able to give concrete responses
on lacking milestones due to which they were not recognized
while others were |
Lead by example - I always
think that to be a good manager, you need to understand what your team
is doing. Even if you are not ‘hands-on’, you need to earn the respect
of the team and make them believe that you have an overall guiding
vision of what the team is working on. If not, you will end up, at best,
being a resource manager.
Learn to delegate - one of
the hardest things for new managers is to delegate to and trust other
team members. Typically, when a good engineer steps into the shoes of a
manager, he still wants to do everything on his own - don’t fall into
this trap. If you do not delegate responsibility to your team, your team
members will feel stifled and will not be able to grow. And guess what,
delegation is one of the hardest things a good manager needs to learn to
do well. It involves trust and the ability to succeed without
micro-managing.
Never micro-manage. No one likes being micro-managed. One of the
things you will learn, as a new manager, is that when people are given a
responsibility, most of them rise to the challenge. Give them a chance.
Step back, keep a track of the overall goal but don’t walk up to your
team members every half hour asking what is going on.
Be careful of overprotection -
As a manager, it is critical for you to ‘take care’ of your team, which
includes shielding them from harsh criticisms from others in the
organization. However, be very careful of over protection. A good
manager will always balance protection with positive criticism to ensure
that while his team is motivated and happy, they also know their
shortcomings so that they can improve. It is your responsibility to make
sure that your team is on the path to constant personal improvement. The
worst thing you can do is keep them under the impression that they are
the ‘best’ and have them ignore areas of improvement.
Plan milestones for your team members well in advance (typically a
year at least) - so that you can track their progress concretely through
the year. Your team deserves to know how they performed objectively.
Take performance reviews seriously - In a typical corporation, the
rise of your team largely depends on the reviews that you propagate to
the upper management. A review should be timely and as objective as
possible. If you have a problem with a team member, step back and think
if it’s a problem with the team member or with you.
If it is the former, before you put it in the review, consider if it
is one-off, due to special circumstances or a repeatable problem that
needs to be corrected. Give an opportunity for your team to give you
input on what they think of you. Most importantly, act on their
feedback. Being a manager does not always make your right. Don’t let
your ego get into the way - learning is a two way process, from you to
the team and from the team to you. Self improvement is key for you to
improve as a manager and into a leader.
All work and no play... -
Don’t get too tied in with ‘deliverables’ and ‘schedule’. Make some time
to take your team out for a lunch or a party. Challenge your team - once
in a while push your team to achieve more than they think they are
comfortable doing. Sometimes, team members need an extra nudge to
innovative beyond their perceived limitations.
Recognize individuals and teamwork - I personally believe both are
critical. Team recognition bolsters the team morale and person
recognition provides a lot of individual motivation as well as urges
others to rise to the challenge.
Be ready to objectively explain individual recognition (or the lack
of it) - As I mentioned above, I am of the personal opinion that
individual recognition is key in addition to collective recognition.
However, remember that it is the right of other team members to
challenge/question you on why they were not recognized.
As a good manager, you should be able to give concrete responses on
lacking milestones due to which they were not recognized while others
were.
If your responses are objective and non-confrontational, it would
usually be accepted and taken as an input for self-improvement. Before
declaring a bad apple, consider if it’s another fruit’ - Remember that
not everyone excels at every job.
If you have assigned a person to be responsible in a particular area
and for some reason, that person is failing in his work, don’t just
declare he is not “worthy” to be in your team. Often, a simple
re-assignment to a different responsibility can change things
drastically.
Be there in times of need. There will be a time for everyone when
they face personal/family problems. Those who genuinely help during
these times of need are those who form long lasting friendships.
Do as much as possible to help your team get over hard times, should
they seek your assistance. Remember this - jobs come and go, teams form
and break but friendships last forever.
When you genuinely help a person in time of need, this is never
forgotten and this is how loyalty builds. |