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Article #184: Confessions of a Reformed Manager: Seven principles for becoming a good manager

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Another one walked out the door. With soul and not the ego.
him, $25,000 in recruitment fees, $3,000 My job was not to do the job, but to get
in relocation expenses and a $31,000 the job done right and that meant
learning curve went down the drain. ensuring my people had the tools,
Clients became uneasy, employee morale training, encouragement and trust they
suffered and my firm's ability to recruit needed. By serving them, I met my goals.
top talent was negatively impacted. Good managers manage the whole person. I
My management style was costing my firm used to look on my employees as machines,
money and it was exacting an emotional seeing them only as a means to get the
toll on me. Taking each departure job done instead of the people they were.
personally, I was beginning to feel like When I began to look at the whole person,
a failure. I began to become a good manager.
Like so many young managers, I had been Being a good manager doesn't mean liking
bumped up into management because I was a every employee. While I have not liked
good producer. No one had considered that every person I have managed, I have cared
production and management require two about each one.
different skill sets, and that those As managers, it is important to recognize
skill sets are often at odds with one we cannot separate our employees' work
another. lives from their personal ones anymore
I wanted to be a good manager. I took than we can separate our own.
management courses, read a plethora of I also learned how to utilize employees'
self-help books and hired a management strengths and support their weaknesses.
coach, but I still hadn't hit on the No employee has it all. Our job as
right formula for management. managers is to create personalized
Totally ill equipped for my new role, I environments for employees in which they
continued to make mistake after mistake. can thrive.
It wasn't until I looked at myself that I Years ago, I hired a senior consultant
got it. who was one of the most creative people I
First, I had tried to control my knew and had a Rolodex as large as a car
employees. Then, I had tried to motivate tire. Still, she could not manage
them, but only when I sought to inspire traditional public relations accounts.
them did I become a good manager. It was After trial and error, she became "a
a principle so simple that I had missed marketing matchmaker" setting up
it. strategic meetings between companies
Good management is not built upon sharing similar marketing objectives. Her
behavior modification, manipulation division quickly became one of the
ormotivation; it is grounded in agency's most profitable, and she
intention. Instead of searching for the remained a loyal employee.
right combination of words and actions to Good managers thrive on feedback. Key to
produce desired behaviors, I began to put becoming a good manager is 360-degree
my employees' needs first and truly care feedback. Good managers put ego aside,
about them as people. Together we worked ask for constructive feedback and act
toward the company's goals while meeting upon it. One of the worse things a
our individual needs. manager can do is ask for feedback and
Good management is not linear. Like the not act upon it.
imagination, it is fluid, flexible and At my old firm, employees filled out "How
creative. While I found no set rules to Am I Doing?" surveys on their managers.
becoming a good manager, I did discover To encourage candid feedback, responses
seven principles that helped me grow into were confidential and compiled by an
management. outside source.
Good managers know themselves. Good From the feedback, managers were
managers know their strengths and encouraged to select no more than three
weaknesses, and they understand their areas for improvement, develop a plan,
management styles. and share that plan with their employees.
A clue to identifying our management Good managers constantly check in with
styles can be found by examining our their intentions. Good managers focus on
relationships with our parents. Once I intentions over outcomes.
looked at my relationship with my father, One employee had been with the firm for
I discovered why my employees were close to seven years. We changed her job
unhappy. I had adopted his impersonal, description several times to present new
authoritarian style. challenges and capitalize on her
Good managers share themselves, as well strengths. But as the agency matured, it
as their knowledge. When I train became apparent we no longer had a place
executives in presentation skills, I for her.
encourage them to be themselves. The best Over lunch, I learned she was unhappy,
presenters are those who share their and although she wanted to move on, she
souls with their audiences, and good was afraid. That afternoon, we mapped out
managers are no different. a plan that made sense for her and for
Sharing our souls does not mean becoming the agency, set a completion goal of
close intimate friends with those we three months, and agreed to meet
manage. It does mean, however, allowing periodically.
employees access to our lives. Employees Today, she is the director of marketing
want to know their managers as people, for a large professional service firm.
too. She is happy and challenged and looks
Share yourself, but don't share your back on her agency days fondly.
moods. Employees crave consistency and When good managers make mistakes, they
calm from managers, especially in crises. correct them fast. Even with the right
At no time do managers show their true intentions, we all make hiring mistakes.
colors more than in crisis. I ran red. When we do, we need to correct them fast.
Adrenaline surged through my blood when Again, if our intention is pure, we can
faced with crisis. While I was make this transition humanely and with a
super-productive, I put the office in a minimum of disruption to the operation.
hyper-frenzy. By staying grounded, I Few are born great managers. But these
could get as much done without seven principles -- know yourself, share
electrifying the office. yourself, practice servant leadership,
Good management is servant leadership. At manage the whole person, thrive on
its simplest, servant leadership feedback, check in with your intentions,
recognizes great leaders are humble and correct mistakes fast -- helped me to
servants. Servant leaders manage from the become a better one.






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