Being an effective manager necessitates a distinct set of skills and tools to lead a team towards achieving its objectives. In an ever-changing work environment, this demands considerable effort and often entails responsibilities that are frequently underestimated.
This article explores the role of a manager and the qualities to cultivate, the approaches to adopt, and the tools to employ to become a proficient team manager.
What is the role of a team manager?
A team manager’s role is to supervise team members and guide them in aligning with the organisation’s strategic objectives. It is essential for the manager to have a comprehensive understanding of the initiatives and strategic goals of their superiors. Additionally, they must design and implement processes and workflows for their employees to follow, which outline the collective and individual actions necessary to achieve these objectives.
Furthermore, the team manager is responsible for skillfully directing staff to ensure task completion, performance, well-being at work, and the ability to meet specific objectives.
What makes a good manager?
To be a good manager, one must cultivate qualities that enable the effective leadership of colleagues towards achieving specific goals, while also ensuring their job satisfaction. These qualities include:
– Leadership: The ability to inspire, motivate, and unify team members around a shared vision, while taking initiative and making objective decisions. Leadership can be assessed through various leadership tests.
– Empathy: By being empathetic, a manager becomes more approachable and better able to understand their colleagues’ feelings. This fosters a strong bond with the team, enabling more effective leadership.
– Decision-Making Skills: Developing these skills is crucial for making swift, well-considered, and objective decisions that aid in achieving the company’s goals.
– Humility: This quality is vital for overcoming biases about leadership, fostering good relationships with colleagues, and creating a harmonious working environment where everyone feels valued and respected.
– Problem-Solving Skills: These skills enable managers to analyse business issues, identify their causes, develop effective strategies for resolution, and mobilise the necessary resources to implement these strategies.
– Conflict Management: Being adept at managing conflicts is essential for strengthening team cohesion, encouraging open communication, and fostering collaboration.
– The Ability to Reflect: This quality enables a more strategic and effective approach to team management and helps in reducing stress when faced with challenges, thereby contributing to long-term team success.
– Emotional Management: By developing this quality, a manager maintains a positive work environment and makes more objective decisions, ensuring better performance from their team.
By cultivating these and other qualities, a manager can create a conducive working environment, motivate their team, and ensure collective success.
How to be a good manager for your teams
In addition to possessing certain qualities, being a good manager involves adopting habits and practices that enable you to manage and guide your teams towards achieving their goals.
Leading by example
A good manager exemplifies positive leadership and serves as a role model for their colleagues. This involves demonstrating an exemplary work ethic and embodying the behaviours and values expected of team members. Adhering to a high standard of conduct inspires employees and earns their trust, motivating them to follow their leader’s example and engage more fully in their work.
Avoiding micromanagement
The urge to control everything can undermine trust and stifle creativity within a team. Therefore, a manager should practice delegative management, granting employees the autonomy they need to work independently. By delegating responsibilities effectively, the manager shows confidence in their team and fosters a collaborative work environment. This approach encourages initiative and helps team members develop their skills. By relinquishing control, teams can thrive and reach their full potential, ultimately achieving the desired work objectives.
Cultivating transparency
Transparency involves communicating openly and honestly with employees about the organisation’s objectives, decisions, and challenges, while also providing constructive feedback. This approach helps managers keep their staff informed about the context in which they operate and allows them to understand their contribution to overall goals. Transparency builds trust and loyalty, creating a healthy and productive work environment where everyone is aligned with the same objectives.
Listening to employees
Active listening is one of the most crucial skills for a good manager. It allows managers to fully understand the needs, concerns, and ideas of their team members. Additionally, by listening, managers demonstrate that they value their employees’ contributions and care about their well-being. Active listening fosters open communication, increasing employees’ commitment to contributing positively to the company’s objectives. It also enables managers to consider different perspectives on critical situations, leading to more informed decision-making.
Fostering team cohesion
Team cohesion is essential for achieving common corporate objectives. A good manager encourages this cohesion by creating opportunities for positive interaction, such as team-building activities or collaborative projects. It is also important to recognise and celebrate individual as well as collective successes to reinforce the sense of belonging within the team. These strategies foster a harmonious, dynamic, collaborative, and motivating work environment, making the team more united and supportive. They also enhance team performance and contribute to the company’s overall success.
Accepting mistakes
Mistakes are a natural part of the learning and improvement process. A good manager understands this and deals with colleagues’ mistakes constructively. This involves viewing mistakes as opportunities for progress and allowing employees to acknowledge their errors without fear of negative repercussions. Such an environment promotes better learning, continuous improvement, and the exploration of new ideas without the fear of failure.
Learning to say no
Knowing how to say no appropriately is a valuable skill for a manager. It allows you to focus on your objectives and important tasks, manage your resources more effectively, prevent overwork, and reduce stress. This might involve declining certain requests or delegating non-priority tasks, while clearly explaining the reasons for doing so. This approach contributes to a more balanced and productive work environment.
What are the tools of a good manager?
To be an effective manager and optimise team management to achieve your goals, certain tools are often necessary.
Feedback
Feedback is a crucial tool for supporting employees in their tasks. Providing constructive feedback on performance helps team members improve and align their efforts with the organisation’s objectives.
360° Assessment
The 360° assessment is a comprehensive team performance evaluation process that gathers feedback from a variety of sources, including colleagues, subordinates, and superiors. It provides a holistic view of each employee’s skills and behaviours, helping to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Managers can then use this information to design and implement effective, personalised development plans for their team members.
Group and individual interviews
Individual interviews help managers understand the specific needs of each employee and align their personal objectives with those of the company. They also allow close monitoring of each individual’s work progress. Group meetings, on the other hand, promote communication within the team and help resolve collective issues. Employing both types of interviews enables managers to quickly detect any problems and find appropriate solutions.
The SMART method
The SMART method is a goal-setting tool that helps managers set clear, precise objectives for their colleagues. It significantly improves team performance and productivity by enabling team members to focus on specific, time-bound, and measurable tasks. SMART stands for:
– Specific
– Measurable
– Achievable
– Realistic
– Time-bound
By applying this method, managers can set goals that are clearly defined and achievable, helping their teams to focus on what’s most important.
The DISC tool
The DISC tool is a behavioural assessment model that helps managers understand the different personalities within a team. By using DISC, managers can adapt their communication style to suit each team member’s behaviour, improving cohesion and reducing conflict. It also aids in task allocation and optimising team performance.
Collaborative tools
Collaborative tools enhance the efficiency and productivity of teams by facilitating communication and coordination. They make it easier to exchange information, share documents, and track projects in real-time. It is advisable for managers to master tools such as Slack, Trello, Microsoft Teams, team calendars, dashboards, and activity monitoring to be more effective.
The Ishikawa diagram
Also known as the cause-and-effect diagram, the Ishikawa diagram is a problem-solving tool that helps identify the root causes of a problem and categorise them to find effective solutions more efficiently. Using this tool makes managers more adept at preventing problems or analysing complex situations.
What does it take to be a good manager?
Being a good manager means establishing and adhering to clear work processes that guide your team’s actions towards achieving set objectives. It requires a deep understanding of the organisation’s initiatives and strategic goals. To fulfil this responsibility effectively, managers must cultivate qualities that foster communication, team cohesion, and better management of colleagues.
Similarly, adopting management practices or techniques that enhance team effectiveness and commitment is advisable. By combining these practices with the right tools, managers can lead their teams effectively and ensure success.
