Good management skills often lead to happier and more productive employees. And when the employees are happy, the whole company benefits. In this article, we’ll give you some useful tips and tricks on how to be a better manager. If that subject interests you, keep reading to find out more!
#1: Don’t Micromanage
Nothing kills productivity quite like micromanagement. Do you remember how frustrated you felt when your manager kept looking over your shoulder while you worked? Now, remember all the nice thoughts you had about that and transfer them to your employees. No one likes to be micromanaged and feel like they’re being surveilled all day. As an employee, you always want a certain degree of freedom. You will want your managers to show that they trust your skills and abilities to do the job you have. Micromanagement things such as manipulation, intrusive observations and too much communication will only send the wrong message – you don’t trust your employees to do the job they were hired for. In turn, this leads to frustration and negative feelings such as defeat, paranoia or even feeling underappreciated. Trust us, that’s not how you want your employees to feel. No one can be productive and further develop their skill while their manager is breathing down their neck.
#2: Always Define Goals
Keep in mind that poor planning and management won’t make your team more productive. When you fail to define goals for your employees, they will struggle to finish their tasks and their working day will just become more stressful and frustrating. And it makes perfect sense. When you have no idea why you’re being assigned a certain task or what your work means for the company, they will lose direction and meaning. In turn, this leads to decreased productivity. On top of that, your employees won’t be able to prioritize work anymore. They will start completing tasks in the wrong order, which leads to frustration on all parts involved. When employees feel like their work doesn’t have any meaning, they will sooner or later change jobs. When setting goals for your team, try to keep them achievable. It’s easy to slip into the opposite side and start setting unrealistic goals. Over ambition only leads to burnout and exhaustion both on your and your team’s part. You can make use of some great methods to better plan your goals, such as making a decision tree.
#3: Don’t Spoon Feed Solutions
A good manager will never hand over the solution on a silver platter. In turn, they will help their employees reach the solution in a productive and healthy manner. You should always focus on fine tuning your team’s skills so they can find the right solutions themselves. This will give them a sense of pride and accomplishment which will motivate them to keep doing great work. We understand that you want to help your team but spoon feeding them the solutions isn’t helping anyone. By doing that, you’re not allowing your employees to think and find the solution to the problem themselves. You don’t have to be the school teacher who is always available when the team encounters a hiccup in the process.
#4: Don’t Pick Favorites
It’s a sad reality but we all know favoritism still exists, even in the workplace. It’s incredibly disheartening for employees to know for sure one person will be promoted or given a raise just because they’re the manager’s favorite. A bad manager will never be able to hide who they favor. We can say for certain that this type of behavior is absolutely not what makes a good manager. A manager who displays blatant favoritism will only disrupt the workplace dynamic. It’s a very unhealthy practice that is sadly common in many workplaces. Picking favorites will only lead to decreased productivity and trust, as the employees won’t believe that honest work is the way to get promoted. Instead of picking favorites, a good manager should help their employees grow and polish the skills they already have. This will lead to organic and natural growth in the company, growth that will feel earned and will motivate the other employees to do the same.
#5: Don’t Be Egotistical
A bad manager is an arrogant one. Such a person will think they’re in charge of their teams just because they’re more skilled and competent than the rest of the people. To put it plainly, they think they’re better than anyone. Such managers usually love to show their “supremacy” from time to time and will come across as tyrants. If you want to be a good manager, ditch the ego. Don’t lead your team believing your ideas are better than your team’s and don’t use your position to manipulate your team. Many employees express their distaste over arrogant managers and believe their ego narrows their vision. This leads to the manager losing touch with their team which, in turn, results in decreased productivity, unhappiness and resentment.
Our Final Thoughts
All in all, being a good manager means handling both your work and your team with a great deal of responsibility. You’re expected to be the glue that holds the team together so they can deliver the best results possible. A good manager knows how to communicate, how to cultivate happiness at the workplace and how to bring out the best qualities in every employee. A great manager will bring a positive influence into the worklife of their team members. They will also help them develop their skills so they can become seniors in the company. That being said, one does not become a good manager overnight. There’s a lot of effort and consistency at play but if you manage to do it, the results will be excellent.
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