Good Manager

Congratulations! You’ve become a manager. Or perhaps you’ve been a manager for a while, and you’re trying to step up your game. No matter your rationale for trying to become a better manager, there are some things to keep in mind and some things to try to do.

At the end of the day, a good manager can work with their team and can also make sure to get their projects done efficiently and in a respectable timeframe.

That’s just how it is on the surface, however. It can be much harder to do that in practice.

Especially when you try to look into the best ways to be a better manager, you might come across a plethora of information. Some of it might even conflict with what you’ve come to learn.

That’s because there’s not a perfect or specific way to be a “good” manager.

Unfortunately for your goal of improvement, “good” is an objective term that can many any number of different things for different people.

The only way to be a good manager is to work with your team and figure out their needs and desires. If you’re a good manager, you’ll be able to breed trust with your team and you’ll be able to work on several different projects and finish them successfully.

But how do you do that? How do you garner trust and finish projects efficiently when you’re the manager?

Research

As mentioned above, there is so much information out there in regard to trying to make you into a “good” manager. Although there is a lot of conflicting information out there, there are still bound to be some nuggets of good information.

That’s why you have to do your research. You have to learn the best sort of leadership techniques and then figure out how to apply these techniques to your organization. You have to pick the ones that work and toss out the ones that don’t work.

To do that, however, you have to know what all the techniques are.

Motivation

The best way to make sure that you’re a good manager is to figure out how to motivate your people. This can take many different facets, but at the end of the day, you have to have them trust you.

The way that you can get your employees to trust you is to learn what makes them tick. You need to be able to understand your employees. This doesn’t mean that you have to become their friends—it’s probably best not to become friends with them as that will add difficulties to your ability to manage them—but you need to understand them.

What makes them want to work harder? What are the signs they exhibit when they’re on the verge of burnout? What are their ways of recharging their energy? What are the best ways to make sure that they’re always fighting fit for continuing to work?

If you’re able to form a connection with your employees, you’ll be able to understand them. Once you understand them, you can take measures to make sure that they’ll produce the best work for you, and that they’ll be happy to go the extra mile for you.

If you don’t have the trust of your team and if you don’t understand them, it can be hard to get them to work for you.

Communicate Professionally and Often

There’s nothing worse than a manager who doesn’t tell you what they expect. If a manager tells you to do A, but then, hours later, expects you to hand in B, it can be very frustrating.

Don’t be this type of manager!

If you have expectations for your employees, make sure that they know what your expectations are. Make sure that you communicate your expectations. Spend the time to go over what you want your employees to do.

Then, make sure that you and your employees are on the same page. Make sure that they understand your vision and that they understand what you want them to do.

Don’t let there be confusion when it comes time to getting them to work for you. If you don’t communicate well, you’ll find that your employees don’t know what to do.

You’ll lose time, energy, and resources when your team has to redo their work—thanks to your poor communication—and it can breed resentment in your employees as well. Employees who resent you are not going to want to work for you or the organization.

If you’re a manager who has employees that resent you . . . that means you’re not a very good manager.

To be a good manager, make sure that you communicate your wants, needs, and expectations. Also, make sure to check in with your team often. If you do this, you can make sure that your employees are continuing in the direction that you want them to.

Make sure to communicate often and clearly. Make sure that your team understands what you want from them.

Speaking of checking in, try not to hover over your team. That can make them feel as if you don’t trust them. It can be a fine line to walk along, so it can help to check in with your team often to make sure that they feel trusted.

If your team feels trusted, they can work harder for you, too.

Take Time to Help Your Employees Grow

If you put care and time into your employees, you’ll reap the benefits in the work they provide for you.

When it comes to your employees, make sure that you’re giving them situations that they can succeed at. Make sure not to set them up for failure.

When it comes to tasks you’re giving them, make sure to provide them with the tools and training they need to not only succeed at the task but also reach their full potential. This will drive your employees to try to exceed your expectations and the standards that you have set.

When it comes to giving them tasks, encourage them to figure out their strengths and to find out what motivates them. Once you figure out what these elements are, try to incorporate them into what drives them with their daily tasks.

This will allow them to see how their strengths turn into success in a very direct way.

Delegate

It’s been said by many people . . . “It can be lonely at the top.” That’s especially true and obvious when it comes to working as a manager in business.

As a manager, you’re the first port of call when it comes to getting work. When you get a new task or job, you have to figure out the best way to succeed at that job so that you can make money and keep your business going.

However, most of the jobs you get are for more than one person to complete. You can’t hold up the entire mountain of work on your own.

This means that you need to delegate your work. When you delegate your work, it takes the load off your shoulders, and it can make your employees feel valued.

Not only does delegation allow you to be more relaxed when it comes to your work, but it can also prove to your employees that you trust them to work on things on your behalf.

The more that your employees feel like they’re trusted, the more they’ll want to prove their worth to you over and over again. If your employees can feel like they’re valued, they’ll want to keep feeling that feeling. They’ll keep chasing that approval and will do more work on your behalf.

But only if you’re a good manager will you know how to delegate your work in such a way that it’ll empower your employees rather than depressing them.

Create Partnerships and Relationships with Your Employees

This was mentioned somewhat earlier, but you need to make sure you have a connection to your employees. This, again, does not mean that you need to become friends with you.

Instead, you need to make sure that your employees feel seen and valued. You have to make them feel special and make them feel like their efforts, even the smallest ones, are appreciated by you.

By you first and the company second. When you make them feel valued by you and the company, they’ll be more likely to put their best foot forward and try their best.

In this way, you’ll be involving them directly in the success of the organization. They’ll be more invested in how their actions affect what is going on with the business, and they’ll strive to make sure that their contributions are important.

Make It Fun to Come to Work

Whether this takes the form of weekly events, staff food bars, or group activities, you need to make sure that your employees want to come to work. You have to make sure that your employees find at least a single aspect of the workplace fun.

If people find their workplace an enjoyable space, they’ll be able to work harder and more effectively. Because it is a positive and productive environment, your employees will be able to feel that they are a part of a professional, skilled, and successful community.

Acknowledge The Wins

When things are going well in your work, and when you can directly point out those successes to specific things that your employees have done, make sure to acknowledge those things!

Make sure to do this as soon as you know, and make sure to do it often. Praise for well-deserved effort is never a bad thing.

Publicly recognize productive employees for their contributions. Be loud! Be obvious! Make a big deal about it! In doing so, you’ll be able to show that your employees are valued and appreciated.

Encourage outstanding, sustained performance by showing your employees how much you like what they’ve done and how their work has helped make your company work more efficiently.

Studies show that acknowledging the great things your employees can be more encouraging and exciting for them than receiving a bonus.

Benefits of Good Management

If you manage to be a good manager, you’ll be able to inspire and motivate your team. Most companies claim and have had it proven that great bosses inspire their employees to perform well and be loyal to the boss and thus, the organization.

Having loyal employees is the best way to make sure that your organization will succeed.