How to be a good manager
Today’s workers are looking for a manager they can relate to, who listens to them and gives them honest and constructive feedback.
Whether you’re the boss, the team leader or simply the person in charge, it’s good to know that a happy and productive workplace go hand in hand and its never too late to learn the skills to achieve it.
Adelaide consultant Brian Lucas has compiled a 37 Mistakes Managers Make! guide for managers who want to make a difference.
The guide covers the common and not-so-common mistakes of communication, customer service, expectations, resource allocation and complications.
Ten points from the 37 tips for effective managers are:
1. Not motivating staff. It’s a manager’s job to give staff enough work and challenges. Lack of training and job description cause many workers to resign.
2. Everyone’s friend. Trying to be everyone’s friend just doesn’t work. Being too chummy with staff will cause problems when a serious decision needs to be made.
3. Public speaking. Bad managers who stumble through a presentation will lose the respect of the staff. Speaking well in public is a must for any manager.
4. Being a desk jockey. The key to effective management is to be seen. As much as 75 per cent of the time committed to managing staff should be spent walking around and talking to staff. You cannot manage, guide and train staff only from behind a desk. Many staff are reluctant to go to the manager’s office with a suggestion but will happily talk and suggest changes at their workstation.
5. Have a personal vision. If we don’t stand for something, we will fall for anything. Many managers have no vision of where they want to be in five to 10 years and wonder why they never get promoted.
6. Not making a decision. It is far better to make a decision than none at all. Sitting on the fence and waiting achieves nothing.
7. Don’t promote from within. Often a senior manager promotes a like-minded individual, rather than someone “outside the square”. Innovative and entrepreneurial skills – as opposed to the same tried ideas and procedures – give a business growth opportunities.
8. Know your customer base. Understand the demographics of clients, their likes and dislikes. It is far better to send 100 carefully worded letters to actual customers than to send thousands of leaflets as junk mail.
9. Thinking you are an employee will fail. All successful managers think of themselves as self-employed hiring out their skills to a particular company. They see themselves as an investment companies can invest in to get a good return.
10. Prioritise tasks and work on the most important first, no matter how difficult. It is human nature to do the easy things first.
Brian Lucas is director of two SA businesses – Proper Financial Advice (Financial Planning) and Proper Advice (Guaranteed Success Business Coaching). View the website http://www.properadvice.com.au/.
The Adelaide Advertiser, June 2, 2007.
