7 Tips on How to be a Good Manager

Who is a manager?  He is a very important person in any large organization. There's a power structure of management that keeps the whole operation running smoothly. It does not matter whether you are a senior manager, middle manager, assistant manager or supervisor, the deal here is you are responsible for guiding people so that your organization's goals are achieved.

There is this need now for  alot of managers in this economic driven world. However, the dire need for GOOD managers, people who can manage themselves and others in a highly stressed environment is on the increase.

Below are 7 tips on how to be a good manager.

1) Motivate your staffs

Make it a point to talk to your staffs on a regular basis and ask them if they are happy working in their present environment. Encourage them to be honest with you.  It helps to be a good listener.  Understand their problems.  If they have something important to do when it comes to family commitments and they need to attend to those urgently, then respect their time.  Your staffs' values keep them going in life and if you manage by respecting your team's values, believe me, they will give you their full cooperation in their work.

A good manager is someone who knows how to tap into the potential of his/her employees and enable them to be efficient employees.  Get to know your team members.  Find out their weaknesses and strong points when it comes to their work and focus on and cultivate their strong points.   Motivate them by giving them the confidence they need to handle their jobs.  Not only will they excel in what they do in the long run but you will definitely be held in high esteem by your subordinates.

2) Delegate your work

Delegating your work to your team does not mean that you are NOT doing your job.  On the contrary, you ARE doing your job. People expect you as a manager to be good at what you do but that doesn't mean that you are expected to do EVERYTHING.  It is impossible! Your job is to oversee everything around you.  You teach others what to do and once they understand what is needed of them, let them do their job. You must have confidence in your staffs' abilities. There is nothing worse for you then to assign tasks to your subordinates and then you end up giving them suggestions on what to do all the time for fear that they may not do a good job.  Please avoid the tendency to MICROMANAGE.  It'll make your life miserable and take up so much of your time.

3) Communicate

Be there for your employees!  Always tell your employees that if they need to clarify things with you, if there are any questions or concerns, you are ready to talk to them and listen to them.  Be genuine and don't give them the impression that they are 'inconveniencing' you with their questions or concerns.  Don't look at their grievances as a problem or crisis to manage.  Instead, show them that you care and how much you want this organization to be a great place to work for them.  Show them that their concerns and queries are never brushed aside or taken lightly or even denigrated. One thing to remember here is that ALWAYS make sure that you have answered their questions COMPLETELY.

It is also very important for your employees to know what is happening in the organization.  This is where the good manager shines.  You act as an informant who shares RELEVANT company information. Once your employees are well informed about what is going on around them in their organization, they will see how they fit into the bigger picture and this leads to promoting a solid working culture.  It's a two way process.  Just remember this, you are also responsible for what your team is doing to the rest of your organization.

4) Let your subordinates make mistakes

This is perhaps the most crucial tip that I want to stress over and over.  As a manager, you are obviously responsible for other people's actions.  It goes with your job.  So what do you do?  The last thing that you want to do is be accountable for someone else's mistakes. Therefore in an attempt to be proactive and prevent mistakes, you might go overboard and give careful instructions and create clear, strict standards as to how a job is to be done specifically.  But let me tell you, by doing this, don't you think that you are directly making your subordinates afraid of making mistakes?

When you are so into not wanting your employees to make mistakes, what happens is that they will always check with you about every little thing, even the very petty ones!!  They will be reluctant to make their own decisions because they might not do the job correctly. What happens next?  Your employees will end up being more dependent on you their manager.  This makes them less effective and thus this will unnecessarily drain a significant portion of your time that you could use to do your job.

Let me ask you something, where is it stated in the 'RULES OF EMPLOYMENT' that an employee is not allowed to make mistakes?  Making mistakes is an evolving process in human beings.  We all make mistakes but we learn from them and move on!  Yelling at your staffs and making them feel like they are the worst people in the world for making mistakes in their jobs is not feasible!  People learn so much from making mistakes.  Know what mistakes are and what blunders are first before you decide to strip your employees of their dignity. Mistakes increase your employees' experience and in the long run, experience decreases their mistakes. You learn from your mistakes.  It's a simple philosophy.  

In order for your subordinates to think for themselves, they need to learn and in order to learn, sometimes they make mistakes.  Their mistakes can always be rectified.  It is not a life or death matter. When you let them do their job, you show them that you  TRUST them, you are EMPOWERING them to make decisions about their work.  You build their confidence level. Building their trust, giving them the confidence they need and empowering them are key ingredients to making your employees very effective workers.  Go ahead and give them a fair margin of error. In the long run, it will benefit you and your organization tremendously.

5) Learn from your mistakes

This is where you as a manager have to be true to yourself.  It is not easy admitting your mistakes in the position you are in.  However, having said that, when things don't turn out the way you expected them to turn out as they sometimes do, know what you could have done to do things differently and ADMIT it to your employees.  You will gain their respect by admitting to your mistakes.  This shows your staffs that you make mistakes too, that you are not perfect and that you too are learning because learning is a lifelong process and as humans, we are all learning every day. You telling your staffs about your mistakes will show them how they should handle their mistakes.  Whenever you are doing something correctly after having done it incorrectly in the past, let whoever is watching know about it. You are a leader and therefore you lead by example.

6) Explain thoroughly

Your employees should always know what is expected of them.  Be thorough in explaining what  you want them to achieve. Set short term and mid-term goals for them.  Review their performance and discuss ways to improve their work.  Whenever your employees do a great job and show enthusiasm and take the initiative, reward and recognize them by congratulating them on a job well done.  Employees love recognition and it is the one core thing that makes them better workers in the long run. You'll be surprised to know that many employees do want to be good workers and they need some  sort of a road map for their personal success.  This is where the good manager comes in.  Allow for occasional one to one time.  When it comes to review time, there should be no surprises and your team should know where they stand.

7) Never show any favoritism

I feel that this is one of the most important tips that a manager should strictly practice.  Okay, in reality, most of us are not as egalitarian as we'd like to be. Whether we know it or not, favoritism does happen on a subconscious level many times. There is always a tendency to reward and recognize the people that we like and who like us rather than the people who truly make the biggest contributions to the organization.  Please remember that in the long run, it is the people in the latter group who will make the most progress in achieving the organization's goals. So please check your own behavior when it comes to treating your staffs equally. You must always be fair in your judgment of an employee's work and not  base it on his/her character and whether or not you like or dislike that person. Some people shy away from  positive feedback but appreciate it nonetheless.  So ABOVE ALL, a manager should be UNBIASED towards his/her subordinates.  This is the golden rule to uphold at all times.
 

So now you may think that it takes alot of hard work to be a good manager and you are afraid that perhaps you may not be able to be one.  Not everybody is naturally qualified to be a good manager, yet we can all work at it. Let me assure you that the essence of being a great manager is not necessarily something you can learn from a text book or possess over night.  It involves alot of public relations work, empathy and your gut instincts.  A good manager is likely to be decisive, strategic, organized and ideally a natural leader. Coaching can help you strengthen your natural abilities as a manager as well as develop new skills and habits.

What do you think makes a good manager?  Are you a good manager? Could you be one after reading all these tips?  I would love to hear your thoughts about this.

7 Reasons Why We Fail

Robert Schuller said, "Failure doesn't mean you are a failure...it just means you haven't succeeded yet."  How true this is.  For most of us, be it in our business, career, studies or social life, bad things do happen that we are not prepared for and because we do not persist, we give up and hence we fail.

I truly believe that the one thing you need to not fail is believing in yourself. You have to have faith in yourself and dare to dream in order to succeed.

Below are 7 reasons as to why we fail. I hope that you will benefit from reading them and improve your life.

7 Reasons Why We Fail

1) Lack of Persistence

People fail not because they lack knowledge or talent but because they quit.  The total secret of success lies in two words, PERSISTENCE and RESISTANCE.  Persist in what must be done and resist in what ought not to be done.

When problems seem insurmountable, quitting seems to be the easiest way out...Success only comes when we try different strategies to overcome problems and that needs continuous and focused effort.

2) Lack of Conviction

People who lack conviction take the middle of the road; and guess what happens in the middle of the road?  You get run over.  People without conviction do not take a stand.  They go along to get along because they lack confidence and courage.  They conform in order to get accepted even when they know what they are doing is wrong.  They behave like part of a herd.

3) Rationalizing

Winners may analyze but never rationalize.  That is a loser's game.  Losers always have a book full of excuses to tell you why they could not.  We hear excuses like...

• I'm unlucky
• I'm born under the wrong stars
• I'm not good looking
• I don't have contacts
• I don't have enough money
• The economy is bad
• If only I had the opportunity
• If only I didn't have a family.

4) Not Learning from Past Mistakes

Some people live and learn and some only live.  Wise people learn from their mistakes.  People who do not learn lessons from history are doomed.  Failure is a teacher if we have the right attitude.  FAILURE IS A DETOUR, NOT A DEAD END.  IT IS A DELAY, NOT A DEFEAT.  EXPERIENCE is a name we give to our mistakes.

5) Lack of Discipline

Anyone who has accomplished anything worthwhile had never done so without discipline.  Discipline takes self-control, sacrifice, and avoiding distractions and temptations.  It means staying focused.  Steam does not move the engine unless it is confined. Niagara Falls would not generate power unless it is harnessed.

6) Poor Self-Esteem

Poor self-esteem is a lack of self-respect and self-worth.  It leads to abuse of one's self and others.  People with low self-esteem are constantly looking for identity.  They are trying to find themselves.  One's self is not to be found but to be created.  Idleness and laziness are consequences of poor self-esteem and so is making excuses.  Idleness is like rust that eats into the most brilliant metal.

7) Fatalistic Attitude

 A fatalistic attitude prevents people from accepting responsibility for their position in life.  They attribute success and failure to luck.  They resign themselves to their fate.  They believe and accept the predestined future written in their horoscope or star, that regardless of their effort, what ever had to happen will happen.  Hence they never put in any effort and complacency becomes a way of life.  They wait for things to happen rather than make them happen.

Remember, continuous and sustained efforts combined with a variety of strategies are the difference between SUCCESS and FAILURE.

An Insight Into Decision Making

This story was sent to me today by my friend.  Sometimes, we have to make tough decisions for long term benefits.  It isn't easy but we have to do it.

A group of children were playing near the railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused.  Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track.

The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange.  You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids.  However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed.  Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make...

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child.  You might think the same way I guess.  Exactly, to save most of the children at the expense of only one child was a rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally.  But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was.  This kind of dilemma happens around us every day.  In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are.  The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined, and in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that the track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens.  If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe.  It the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! So in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

'Remember that what's right isn't always popular...and what's popular isn't always right.'

Everybody makes mistakes; that's why they put erasers on pencils.

The 5 Important Leadership Skills

It is a common notion that leaders are born and not made.  On the contrary, I think that leadership is a skill that can be learned and polished with time.  No one becomes a leader over night; in fact it is a process of trial and error, self education, training, experiencing success and failures and importantly, learning from these experiences.

The following are some leadership skills that can be practiced in your professional as well as your personal life so that you can become more efficient and successful.

a) Proactive

It is a common observation that most of us wait for things to happen for us, and then we react to situations.  A leader is someone who makes things happen after careful planning , considering all the risks and visualizing the outcome to give the maximum advantage and edge to the company.

b) Commitment

Leaders are committed towards the goal. For them, achieving the goal is more important as they believe that their achievement gives them the edge that they need towards their competitors.  Without commitment, leaders may not make difficult decisions that are required in a situation.

c) Creativity

Creativity and out of the box thinking are necessary ingredients for success.  Leaders do not necessarily have Einsteinium brain, but they use their imagination to get others to convince and act.  Joe Badaracco once said," When you put aside the handful of path-breaking geniuses the world has seen, most leaders are creative in an almost microscopic way".

d) Decision Making

The most important leadership skill is decision making and the implementation of it.  Everyone has to make decisions on situations that confront them in their daily lives.  Decision making is to choose the best between given alternatives in daily situations and requiring all the above mentioned skills in the process.  Leaders have to choose several alternatives and categorize them so that they can move on to other plans if one plan fails.  Leaders do not rely on one plan for a simple reason as best described by Shakespeare that "Error is humane", that if the plan fails or does not meet their expectations, then they can initiate an alternative plan.

e) Implementation

Every decision requires action to achieve the goal for which a decision is made.  The implementation process is decided in the decision making phase while choosing the best alternatives.  It also requires follow up of process after some time to make sure of the validation of the process in different times and situations and make necessary adjustments whenever needed.

I am concluding this post with the words of Warren Benns and Burt Nanus, "Recognizing strengths and compensating for weaknesses represent the first step in achieving positive self regard."