Throughout the course of your intrepid journey across the working world, you will have no doubt come across more than your fair share of managers who have left a lasting impression.
Some may have been important rolemodels in your professional development, offering guidance, mentorship, and a friendly face to turn to in your time of need. Others may have been utterly terrible.
If you are about to take your career to the next level and enter a management position of your very own, it is important to think about some of the fundamental characteristics that a great manager might possess.
Although the nature of the work will likely influence your specific day-to-day duties and requirements, some of the best traits and skills are universal.
Here are some tips to hopefully prepare you for your new role as a manager that gets remembered for striving to try their best.
Acknowledging and Encouraging New Ideas
It is often the manager’s role to provide a wealth of knowledge for employees to turn to when they need advice and guidance. This can sometimes mean coming up with innovative solutions to a tricky problem in fairly little time.
Innovation is an important factor for modern businesses looking to avoid falling into stagnation and irrelevancy, but it is hard to come up with ideas if the employees are not given the freedom to voice their thoughts.
It is crucial to acknowledge and encourage others to successfully start managing new ideas, as this has the potential to create a great working environment in which people feel cared for and appreciated, both highly impactful factors on the concept of employee satisfaction.
Humility
Showing respect and admiration for the work done by your colleagues is a skill that many great managers possess.
Practicing humility and making yourself aware of the value your team has is essential in this regard, as it develops an atmosphere of teamwork while showcasing your desire to keep learning from others.
Making sure to promote togetherness and collaboration over hubris and solipsism can be a wonderful way to let your team know that you have their back.
Empathy
Developing a team often means getting to know the individuals for who they truly are and what they most enjoy doing at work. Many of the more cutthroat style companies would perhaps beg to differ, but a great manager is often one whose team respects and trusts them to look after their best interests.
Showing empathy can be a superb way to do this, as it can greatly improve communication between individuals and strengthen a professional relationship, rather than weaken as a result of neglecting to pay attention to the human behind the results.
Trustworthiness
Most managers will, at times, need to make incredibly difficult decisions, some of which will directly affect the future of an employee’s career for the worst.
To develop a level of trust among yourself and your team and hopefully work towards avoiding as many unpleasant situations as possible, remaining transparent is a must.
By clearly communicating what needs to be improved, your desired outcome, and the timeframe you have to work with, this concept can be greatly improved.
Trust works both ways, so placing responsibility on your team to get the job done might mean stepping away from the situation every now and again, as this can let them utilize their autonomy without feeling the unnecessary pressure of ineffective micromanagement.
Be Concise and Decisive
Stumbling on your words and giving half-hearted instruction rarely goes down well, as it can tend to reflect a lack of commitment, resolve, and ability to take command in high-pressure situations.
Being concise and decisive are factors that often makes a manager an effective leader, and it is entirely possible to do without sounding harsh, patronizing, or arrogant.
Some of the worst managers seem to forget that they are talking to other adults, who do not deserve to be treated like inferior citizens or children, so choosing the right tone is important to avoid this fate.
Employees will generally appreciate concise and clear instruction, as it can represent a sense of authority without appearing condescending.
Looking Professional
Setting a good example to your employees pertains to the way in which you decide to carry yourself at work.
Maintaining a professional and approachable demeanor can be a great look to provide employees with, as it can show them that you care about the work and want to represent integrity and dedication.
Conversely, if you decide you do not want to make an effort, they might follow your example and do exactly the same.
Accept and Learn from Mistakes
Making mistakes can be an important part of developing oneself both personally and professionally, and from time to time, everyone makes them.
Recognizing the genuine error, both yours and your employees, and striving to learn from them can be a great way of strengthening your team as a whole.
A great manager is a leader that knows to take on the rest of the team’s mistakes as their own responsibility. This is possibly one of the more distinctive traits that can separate a great manager from a terrible one, so a willingness to take on this responsibility is imperative in growing your managerial prowess.
Praising Achievements
Praising your employees can let them know that their work is recognized, valued, and appreciated, particularly if they have found themselves caught up in the midst of an extremely long and exhausting day.
This can provide a good boost to morale, but it is worth not overdoing it, as this can greatly diminish the value of your words.
On the other hand, never doing it might lead to employees beginning to feel disillusioned and isolated.
Prove Yourself to the Team
Your employees will likely respect your managerial position if you can prove to them that you have the skillset, decision-making ability, and professionalism to deliver results, so letting your actions speak louder than words is sometimes for the best.
