10 things you can do to be a Better Manager

Being a Manager can be HARD.  Your team can leave you bursting with pride… or bubbling with frustration.

 It’s hard to be responsible for your own work but now you are responsible for the work of others.  And what if you say or do something ‘wrong’ and end up in a world of trouble in the Employment Courts?  AND what if your team HATE you?

 Many super successful and confident people have come undone when they transitioned to managing a team. Here are 10 things you can do to be a better Manager:

 1.     TELL YOUR TEAM WHAT YOU WANT

Be clear in your expectations of what you want your Team to do.  Putting it simply, they cannot read your mind. 

If you haven’t told them what you need, don’t assume they will deliver.  Next time a team member underdelivers on what you wanted, ask yourself whether you specified EXACTLY what you wanted.  Asked Tracey to send an email to Mrs Smith on her recent order?  Annoyed she emailed Joy Smith and not June Smith?  It’s on you.

 2.     SAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU

As children, we are taught common manners.  We must say ‘please’ when we ask for something and ‘thank you’ when we receive it.  It’s amazing we seem to forget these common courtesies in our work life.  Saying please and thank you is a very small act of appreciation and recognition what your team is doing (or has done) for you.  And if you are that person who’s into issuing directives “I direct you to do this now”, please - just stop.

 3.     REGUARLY ASK QUESTIONS SO IF IT A DIFFICULT SITUATION COMES UP, ITS NOT SO AWKWARD

If Brent has a bottle of wine on his expense claim, ask him about it.   Don’t leave it to the internal monologue ‘It’s against the travel policy, but maybe he had a client with him, he was seeing ABC company that day’ (You’re assuming the whole mind reading thing again). If Brent’s wine ordering gets out of control, you will get frustrated.  When you do bring it up, he will wonder ‘where this came from, because it’s never been a problem in the past’.  It’s the same principle for if Sally is late to work (‘but she lives out south’), Donna didn’t submit her report on time (‘she’s had a busy week’) or John was 30 minutes late back from lunch (‘maybe he had an appointment’).

 If your team are used to you asking questions, they won’t be as defensive if you do need to challenge something in the future.  (Also, if you had innocently asked the very first time, they may have thought twice before repeating the same behavior!)

 4.     DON’T SOLVE EVERYTHING FOR YOUR TEAM… OR YOU ALWAYS WILL.

Your job is to enable your team to do their job.  Not do their job.  Provide them with the satisfaction of doing the work and solving the problem themselves.  Yes, you are very experienced.  Yes, you may know the answer.  Should you always tell them the answer straight away?  No. Should you take it over and do it for them because ‘it’s complicated’?  No.  Ask yourself how did you learn those answers? By doing it.  Don’t rob your team of the opportunity to improve or learn.

 Ask questions.  “Where do you think we could find the answers?”, “What are the options?”, “What do think we should do?”, “What will be the impact?”.  Yes, sometimes it is much faster to do it yourself. But it’s not going to be faster in the long run if you are always doing it yourself.

 5.     LET YOUR TEAM FAIL… AND FIX IT THEMSELVES

The best way to learn how to do something well is do it wrong, and then have to fix it.  Failure is uncomfortable and undoing or fixing a mistake is painful. Humans are naturally inclined to avoid repeating an unpleasant situation.  If you can let your team member make a mistake without impacting business too much, let them.

 As a junior HR person, processing payroll, I had an irate employee threaten legal action when their final pay was incorrect.  Mortified, I confessed to my Finance Manager.  Her response (with a smile) was “I know.  You didn’t check the leave taken balance, same as always. Better fix it then”.  I was dutifully chastised.  I spent 2 hours recalculating, gave a long and heartfelt apology, had to explain to the CEO why I needed him to reauthorise another payment and thereafter have NEVER made another mistake with a final pay again, even 10+ years later.

 6.     BE AN EXPERT IN YOUR TEAM

No matter the size of your team, there are 3 things you should memorise about each person.  If you don’t know these things, get cracking

-          What do they think their Strength is? (Their view – not yours)

-          What do they think their Weakness is? (Their view – not yours)

-          What is their career goal? (Their plan – not yours)

Understanding strengths, weaknesses and career goals will help you allocate work, overcome barriers with pushback, provide upskilling, ultilise untapped skills etc.  The benefits are endless!  The more you know about each person, the better.

 7.     RECOGNISE THEIR EFFORTS BY UNDERSTANDING

Recognition doesn’t need to be some fancy pants HR program providing certificates and rewards for an overly complicated set of criteria.  Recognition is strongest when it is based on understanding.  Show your team you understand.  You understand what they do. You understand the effort they expended to get it done.  You understand the painful elements of what they would have encountered.

 Don’t ruin it by being generic (“Ummm, Good Job”). Talk with authority to what happened and how they would have felt.  Managed a customer complaint? “Sheesh they seemed super annoyed at the beginning, you managed to turn that around”. Finished a long project? “Wow, you’ll be pleased to have tidied that one up! I know it was a long one but it’s really going to make a difference”. Completed a presentation for a major customer? “That was awesome, and I loved the graphs. Did you see their reaction to the stats? They were blown away”.

 8.     DON’T BE YOUR OWN NIGHTMARE

Think of the absolutely worst boss you have ever had. What did they say or do to earn them this illustrious title?  Don’t do it. Or at least consciously recognise when you start emulating the same behaviours.

 Were they dishonest? Pride yourself on being open and transparent.  Did they have anger management issues?  Catch your own anger before it boils over.  Did they take all the credit for your work?  Raise your own team up. Did they have no idea what you do? Make it a point to know your own teams duties and tasks.

 9.     RECOGNISE YOUR POWER AS A MANAGER

As a manager, you have a magical power.  You can make or break your Team’s day.  Your behaviour and attitude at work is contagious.  As a Manager, your attitude is 10x more contagious than anyone elses.

 When you have a bad day, you can guarantee it will flow through your whole team.  We have all been there. Bossman arrives at work and a darkness descends on the whole office.  “He’s in a mood”.  That’s it, day ruined for everyone.  Likewise, if you come in with an upbeat and success driven attitude then you can inspire a fantastic and productive day.

 10.  BE YOUR NATURAL SELF

Just be you.  Don’t try and change into what you ‘think’ a good leader or manager is if it doesn’t feel right or natural.  Don’t try and copy someone else’s style.  Your personality will have its own natural leadership style.  Its more important that you recognize how to leverage your own management strengths and weaknesses than pretending to be something different.  You’ll hate it and your team will see right through it.

Being a Manager can be hard, and even the most experienced and inspirational leader will say it’s an endless cycle of learning.  There is no magic formula for being a Great Manager but I can guarantee it can be one of the most rewarding experiences to see your team THRIVE!

Read more tips on how 10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO BE A BETTER EMPLOYEE