What better way to end the year than with a post about how to be a more effective manager?
Here are some tips to being a great manager.:
1. Make a difference as a coach
- As a manager, you are not only responsible for managing people and projects—you are also responsible for helping your employees develop skills and abilities. You will need to know what resources are available for them to use, and how best to help them find success in their work.
- If you are good at developing others, you will be effective at coaching them.
- Coaching is one of the most important skills that managers can have because it helps employees learn from their experience, while keeping everyone on track toward achieving goals together.
2. Be empathetic
- Empathy is a crucial skill for any manager, but it is also helpful in your personal life.
- If you are able to understand what someone else is feeling, you can respond in a way that allows them to express themselves while maintaining their dignity.
- And if you can apply empathy when coaching your employees, they will be more likely to feel comfortable coming to you with their problems—because they know that no matter what happens next, nothing will change about how much you care about them as individuals.
3. Be genuine
- Be honest and show your employees that you care about them. Let them know when they do something well, and when there’s room for improvement. Give constructive criticism as opposed to just saying what everyone else is telling them (i.e., “you are doing great!”). If a problem arises with an employee, talk it out with them instead of hiding behind an email chain or text message thread (we all know how those go). It is important that the people who work for you feel like they can talk openly with their manager at any time.
4. Delegate
- I am going to let you in on a little secret: you are not a machine. There is a reason they call it “management,” not “do-it-all.” You cannot do everything yourself, and even if you could, it would be counterproductive to your team’s growth if you tried.
- As a manager, one of your main jobs is to let your employees do their jobs. This might seem obvious, but I have seen many managers who do not allow their team members the chance to make mistakes or learn from them—and that is what will set them apart from the pack.
5. Trust your people
- This is perhaps the most important item on this list, but it is also the one that people are most likely to forget. It is easy to forget once you have been promoted into a management position—you will suddenly be responsible for a team of people who report directly to you, and there will be an endless stream of other things vying for your attention. But you must remember that your role as manager is not just about micro-managing everything they do; it is also about empowering them and trusting them with their work.
