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Biggest Challenge of People Management - Incompetent Managers - Part 3

Employee Engagement, Employee Relations, Rewards and Recognition

Good managers are those who planned their career. They invested time and money to groom self, identified their mentor, and took the help of professional career coaches to develop competencies required to be successful as a manager. They understood that the role of a manager is like putting together a puzzle.  The pieces of the puzzle are the people, tasks, goals, and data.  Assembling those pieces means creating strategies, distributing tasks, supervising the execution and providing feedback, which requires them to make decisions.  They also understood that getting the title of a manager is not enough, and they need to invest continually in their self-growth; think about the motivation that compels to do a good job and to achieve excellent outcomes and set a good example for your employees to follow.   Good management is no child's play. Here are FIVE competencies that are demonstrated by good managers in varied cultures are environments.

Effective Communicators – In her organization, Simran is known for her effectivenessFor her team communications, she doesn’t depend of solely on email.   She talks to individual team members and set her priorities. Her every meeting ends with, “Did you understand what I said and what the result I am looking for. If there is any doubt, ask me again and do not hesitate in reaching me should you need any clarification. It is critical for the manager to have unyielding communication skills. Ineffective communication can lead to so many different problems in the future. A good manager is a communication expert. Promoting a work environment where everyone feels valued and heard takes excellent communication skills and practice. As a thumb rule, a good manager always listens first, ask questions, and then facilitate to direct with the answers and solutions at hand. Frequent communication is important for everyone to be on the same page. Good Managers take a proactive approach by initiating a series of positive check-ins, an open door policy, and not waiting until the conflict arises to communicate effectively with your team.

Excellent Delegators– There is an impression in the organization that Samar doesn’t work and is getting a salary for not doing anything, but that is not the case. Samar is an effective delegator. He delegates the work among his team members. He does what he is supposed to do, coach his team members to improve their efficiency, does resource planning, resolves conflicts, and engages stakeholders and customers. Because it is their objective to add value to the overall operation of business, the ability to delegate is one of the most important qualities of a good manager. Their goal is to have a global vision and contribute to the business operation in a more inclusive manner. That being said, the good manager should be able to delegate the day-to-day tasks of the business effectively; especially those that are more bureaucratic in nature, or are less analytical and complex. Being able to delegate does not only make a more efficient and effective manager, but it can also create a more productive team. Giving your team members additional responsibilities and accountability make them feel more motivated and empowered. Good Managers hold regular one-on-one meetings with their direct reports and reinforce the outcomes they and the team are responsible for. They are vested in driving solution-based cultures and strive to build an environment of continued learning (versus finger pointing).

Remarkable Planners–Parul is one of the finest planners in the organization. She plans to the minute possible details. She analyses probable risk factors. She defines all milestones, very clearly and accurately. If a project needs to be completed in 100 days, she takes 25 days for planning and then hands it over to her team for execution. She never lagged in the delivery of her projects. All her projects get completed within 80% of allocated time. Good managers, like Parul, are organized. They know what needs to be done.  They know and understand the goals of the business and what supervision employees need, to achieve that goal. If you give them a task, they can plan the steps involved in reaching this target and communicate the steps to the employees who need to carry those steps out. Exactly what needs to be prepared varies depending on the type of business. Typically, good managers should be able to plan out schedules, inventory, and departmental budgets.

Empathisers – Good Managers strike a connection with their employees.  Business may ultimately be about results, but it is still an exchange between individuals, and it has a very human component.  An important part of what makes a good manager is their ability to connect with others and build a rapport and trust.  Good managers know how to be authentic, open and friendly with other people, especially their subordinates.  They demonstrate an interest in others, and they can make interpersonal interaction informal and relaxed.  They find out what motivates each to do a good job so one can capitalize on it.  Instead of micro-managing everyone else's work, they explain to them the bottom line and assign them a certain amount of authority to take charge of the task at hand. 

Conflict Resolvers–Yogesh is a different kind of Manager. He is a task master. He doesn’t get involved in workplace gossip. Whenever an issue arises, he doesn’t wait for an issue to become a monster. Instead, he reaches out to the concerned person and gets it resolved. He doesn’t run away from conflicting situations but rather hold them from horns and get them resolved at the earliest. He understands that workplace environment is a fertile breeding ground for conflict.  Interpersonal issues, compensation, recognition, cost-cutting, layoffs, management-employee relations, there’s never a shortage of emotionally charged issues that can lead to conflict. Contrary to weak managers, successful managers aren’t “conflict avoiders” – they address problems quickly and justly.  Employees respect managers who confront difficult situations, just as they loathe those who chronically avoid them. If the boss gives and takes feedback well, everyone else will too.

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