Now when she had direct reports, she found it tough to buy their arguments. She also scored very high on Dominance on the FIRO-B personality scores. That set her alarm bells ringing. She couldn’t be a good manager if she continued behaving like an employee herself. It got her thinking about what makes a great manager?
At the time of writing this post I listed out all the supervisors that I had since my first role. Result – 13 supervisors. I then counted how many of these were the best. Result – 6. Just over half of all the supervisors I had. As I begin to think more about this, I then pondered on how they were as supervisors, why they stood out and what were common traits among them. In addition to this, I listed out some of the lessons I learnt about leadership in my many roles I’ve been fortunate with. Listed below are what I believe makes you a wonderful manager. Some may sound too preachy and some might be too simple but they all are equally important.
Managers do just that, manage things. But that only sounds easy, it’s pretty challenging. The first strength a manager must develop is that of knowing and understanding people. This is not easily possible in official settings. A new manager has to interact with his/her team in office as well as at casual occasions. People often drop their guard and are free to speak their heart when they are outside. Make it a point to inquire about their lives, their problems, aspirations and career plans. Make notes later if possible. It helps to know a person thoroughly when you can judiciously utilize his/her strengths that helps them flourish. It is important to make an effort and build that trust with each team member and there is no easy way about this.
You have already heard that catch phrase that people don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses. So you definitely don’t want to be that eponymous Bad Boss. Introspect. Ask some friendly colleague about what kind of a boss are you. Many times, we speak vitriolic words in the heat of the moment and then forget it, only to leave a bitter memory in others. Being nasty, selfish, passing the buck, taking credit and generally being the baddy never shows manager in good light. Sooner or later, either you lose your position or your respect. And the latter has to be earned every day afresh. Read more...
