What makes a great manager?

All of us have worked for managers ranging from "absolute best" to "utterly terrible". A good manager makes a world of difference. A manager defines our happiness; not only at work, but also at home.

I got promoted recently and I seek your help in my efforts to be a good manager. Can I request you to think about a manager whom you considered exceptional. What are the things that she/he said or did that made you consider him/her an exceptional manager? I can learn from your feedback and try my best to be a good manager. I truly appreciate your help!

Nitu

Interesting question. Its a tuff question too. from my experience, its a real challenge. Primarily I see 3 kinds of managers, one who are pro team-managers and other who are pro boss-managers. The pro-team managers think a lot abt the team they manage, are considerate with them, work closely with them and always support them. The pro boss managers are bothered abt impressing their own bosses and are less keen on what their team thinks abt them, that is of least importance to them. This attitude drifts them to ignore their commtnts, their concerns.........

A balance between the two is the most imp. The first kind def becomes a managers loved by the team but managers might feel he is too loose, and team also might take him for granted at times........and the other kind might grow too fast but the team would hate to work with him.

Its really imp to understand that we need to be firm, strong, dynamic, considerate with the team, understand their problems, support them, and in the same way also be able to discuss and come to a good decision with the manager in all issues without making him angry.......................basically it all comes with experince ............be a good visualiser initially, analyse..........and then emerge........dont think u can be a great manager from day 1. every style has its pros and cons, u hv to choose the best.......

All the luck.

Management is defined as getting things done and thus a manger is the person who gets things done. Many of the managers try to stick to the definition and concentrate only on getting things done, while they ignore the ways and means of getting things done. A good manager is one who can get things done in a way that is beneficial to the organisation as well as the workers. First he has to concentrtate on ways to harness the potential of the workers. Then, things will fall into place automatically. These may seem just words but the importance is high. All managers have to follow certain principles of management. I found this article good. Peruse them to see if u can polish ur managing skills. Discussion is open.

Good Manager Has The Skills To Bring Out Staff Potential
Supervisory or management staff can bring out the creative and productive potential of support staff if they have specific skills.



If you empower a staff member with a new responsibility for supervising staff, don’t necessarily expect a smooth transition to the role. Essential new competencies must be developed if the supervisor is to realise the creative and productive potential of support staff.

With the fast-paced changing workplace even an established supervisor will need to regularly consolidate and update skills to facilitate support of workplace initiatives.

An effective supervisor will need to:

• Adopt a leadership role which emphasises performance management, and the facilitation and empowerment of team members;
• Apply motivational techniques which encourage and reinforce desired performance;
• Identify barriers to communication and be able to overcome them;
• Plan and facilitate effective team meetings;
• Conduct face to face counselling, discipline and performance improvement interviews;
• Recognise differing behavioural needs and expectations of people and be able to deal with these differences to develop satisfying and productive work relationships and teamwork.

Establishing yourself as a supervisor or manager is not an easy matter. All supervisors must be leaders.

EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE LEADERSHIP

Leadership is all about using appropriate interpersonal styles and methods in guiding individuals and groups towards task accomplishment.

Every supervisor must be able to influence people to work willingly towards organisational goals and encourage high quality results. What is often required of a leader is balanced and strong concern for both people and task.

Leadership styles are categorised in relation to how control is used:

Authoritative:	Exercises strong control, giving orders and directions and encouraging staff to follow rather than gaining participation from group members. In relation to the leader's concern for people and/ or task, the authoritative leader tends to be more concerned with task achievement than with caring for people.
Participative:	Shares control encouraging involvement through the participation of group members and by fostering commitment
Laissez-faire:	Lets the group members take control. Participative and laissez-faire type leaders may be so concerned about caring for people that the individual task is not given enough attention.

Viva la difference!

Groups and individuals differ in their tolerance to control. Some need tight control whilst others respond more positively to a participative approach.

A leadership approach that is effective in one situation may be totally inappropriate in another. Generally, workers appreciate a leader who has a style that suits the particular situation.

Hi Sumok,

Thanks for your wonderful message. Your message defining the extremes (pro-team and pro-boss) really helps me in thinking through a middle path that rightly balances the two. What I find is that it is hard to follow the middle path for all situations. I find myself being more pro-team on a certain situation and more pro-boss on some other situations. But the helpfulness of your concept is unbelievable. Thank you.

Nitu

Hi Prathi,

Thanks for your detailed message. There were a lot of ideas in your message which were all very helpful. I used to think that there are 3 to 5 crisp ideas that makes a great manager. But now I have given up on expecting such clean recipes for being a great manager.

My current belief is that I should have a collection of good management ideas which I can apply based on situation. Fitting the correct idea to the correction situation is going to be a challenge. But that is something that I should try, fail/succeed and learn.

Your message helped me build that collection of management ideas. Thanks Prathi.

Nitu