The job of a Manager is not an easy one. He is the one who is responsible for everything happening in the institution.
He is answerable to his higher authority for every mishap in the concern. He also has to tackle all the subordinates in such a way that they bring out the best in them. He has to encourage them to do better than what they are doing.
A Manager has to constantly strike a balance between his higher authority and his subordinates. This is not at all easy. You have to have a lot of good managerial skills to become a rewarding Manager. Here are some useful things that you must keep in your mind to be a successful Manager.
- You must be a guiding light to your juniors and not a supervisor or a dictator
You can never be called a good Manager by your juniors if you restrict yourself to a supervisor or a dictator. You cannot expect your juniors to love you if you keep on constantly correcting their mistakes and try to discipline them. You have to guide them and be a good teacher who can impart his knowledge without being too strict to his students.
You have to make your team members realize their role and understand the objective of the project or assignment they are working in. As a good Manager, you should work as a bridge between the higher management authority and the workers of the company.
You should make the company’s strategies and policies more understandable to your juniors so that they can work accordingly.
You should encourage your team members to bring out new ideas and explore their inner talents. You should motivate your team to take up challenges and take the right decisions when they are in a dilemma.
- Create a very healthy environment in the office for your juniors to work freely and enthusiastically.
A healthy environment does not imply to the physical health and hygiene of the work space. But it denotes the cultural environment of the office. The physical health and hygiene of the office are very important for the workers but what affects more is the cultural environment.
It is very important that every worker gets their due value and respect. They should be treated nicely so that they never feel left out. You should be fair to all of your subordinates and never be biased to any particular employee.
No employee should have any kind of hesitation or intimidation within them. They should work freely because it is only then they can give their 100 percent to the job and bring out their maximum creativity.
Each and every employee should get their share of appreciation for every good job they do for the benefit of the company.
They should be valued for their contributions and commitments towards the company. They should also have full confidence in their Manager that he or she will support and defend them in times required.
You have to weave very carefully a healthy working environment in the office where your employees will find no barrier to blossom.
- Do not try to be a disciplinarian, instead focus on giving more importance to talent.
In today’s corporate world you cannot showcase your managerial skills by only following strict discipline and forcing your juniors to do so. You cannot expect to have a good impact on the employees by keeping an eye on what they are doing in the office. Instead, you will have to nurture their talent.
You have to look out for those individuals who have the talent and the potential to do something extraordinary. You need to help them grow by encouraging their talent and giving them the required support.
You will have to help the employees recognize their talents and abilities and accordingly give them the opportunities which will help them to showcase their talent.
You need to give them your valuable feedback which will help them to be better in their craft. You need to become their friend and philosopher whom they can bank upon. You need to check each and every aspect of theirs which can distract them from growing. You will also need to guide them so that they can grow in their careers apart from contributing to your company.
- Reflect back on yours and your team member’s achievements at regular intervals
It is good to look forward and move ahead but it is equally important to reflect back and appreciate the path that has got you this far. This will surely encourage you and your employees to do even better. It is important to appreciate the hard work that your team has been doing which has got your success.
By reflecting back you value the achievements and the journey of your team members which will always motivate them. They will learn from their mistakes and strive to improve. They will try to do better than what they have done previously.
Looking towards future goals and trying to achieve them can seem a burden to the employees at times. They may not feel the zeal to work with more power. But if you help them to look in the rear-view mirror and show them their achievements along with their discredits then they will surely feel more enthusiastic to achieve more. It will be easier to digest the pressure of the future goal along with the appreciation of their past efforts.
- Never carry the baggage of your ‘today’ to ‘tomorrow’.
You will always have bad days in your working career. It may be a problem with the juniors or immense pressure from the seniors. There will be days when you will feel terrible to be in the workplace. Those are a part and parcel of the job. But remember that a good Manager is the one who knows to handle his bad days magically.
Always remember that the darker is the night, the nearer is the dawn. You can always have a fresh start the next morning after having a very bad night the previous day.
Don’t carry the tension of your ‘today’ to your ‘tomorrow’. It not only will affect your work, but also will affect your employees. Remember one thing, that you are their mentor. So they will look up to you in every situation. So it is very important to stay positive as it will have a direct impact on your employees.
- Brush up your communication skill.
A person with good communication skill is always a winner. If you can establish good communication between you and your employees then half of the battle is already won.
This aspect is often overlooked. But this is a very important quality that you should have in yourself to excel as a Manager. Your job often requires you to convey the ideas and agendas of the management authority to the employees. This can only be done properly if you have good communication skill.
There are various policies that the company slams on the employees. It is the manager who has to take charge of translating those policies to the workers and make them understand the need for those policies.
The manager is also subjected to any kind of question that is asked by the employees regarding those policies. So you will have to answer them very patiently and also explain the details of the policies very clearly.
- Plan your weekly jobs and make a to-do list for every day
Start your every week with a proper plan. You should step into your office every Monday with a clear idea in your mind of what are the tasks that need to be completed by that week.
Start planning for you coming week in advance so that you can start the new week with a very fresh mindset of what are the things to be done. Also, make a to-do list for everyday. You should not go to the office with a blank mind and then start panicking after seeing so much work left to be completed. Instead, make a list of tasks that need to be completed each day which in turn will help you to reach your weekly target.
Make a priority list of the tasks to be done. You need to understand that you do not have any superpower to complete a hundred different tasks simultaneously. So make a priority list of few jobs that are urgently required to be done and once they are completed head on to make the next priority list. In this way, you will be able to handle all the tasks very easily and there will be no backlogs.
Also, go for a weekly review. At the end of every week check all the jobs that are done and all the jobs that are left to be done. Set the unfinished jobs in your priority list for the next week. Assign them to your trustworthy employees who can surely get them done on time. So in this way, you will be able to enjoy your weekend without any work tension and also help your employees to have a sorted idea of their work.
- Maintain your cool in every situation.
Being a Manager does not give you the authority to boss over your employees and abuse them whenever you wish to. Always maintain your composure and control your temperament. You may come across very bad situations but try to digest that yourself.
There will be many employees who are slow learners. It does not make them less talented though. Many need more time to perceive before they can deliver. You need to give that required time to your employees. Abusing them will surely not help.
There will be many who will do some serious blunders unknowingly. You need to help them rectify those. You need to guide them to reach perfection. Shouting at your employees at their mistakes will only pull you down in the eyes of your employees. You will surely lose all the respect that you gained for the postyou are holding.
Instead, keeping cool and helping them overcome their problems will fetch you more respect and affection from your juniors. You will be able to tackle every employee and every situation very easily. The employees, in turn, will work harder to impress you.
- Emphasize on your decision-making skills
The chair you are sitting on requires a lot of decision making. Your decisions can decide the future of your company and also the future of your employees.
You need to be very careful while taking any sort of decision. You need to judge the pros and cons of every decision and decide accordingly. Make such decisions which will prove beneficial for both the company and the workers. For this, you need to take out time and brush up your decision-making skill.
Your decisions are not only limited to your employees, but it is also extended to the clients of your company. So you need to be able to make fair and quick decisions that are healthy for everyone and also for yourself.
Remember that your company’s profit or loss will depend on the decisions that you make. Your decision of which vendor to work with or which clients to take a contract from will decide the future of the company. So be very wise in taking those decisions.
So to sum up, you are not going to just sit on a prestigious chair of a Manager but also have to face many challenging situations and challenging people every day. But remember to keep your calm and maintain fairness in your job. If you respect your employees and give importance to their talent, then you will surely get respect in return.
Author bio:
The author of this wonderful piece of writing is Michelle Johnson. She has an MBA degree and has been working with Yale University for the past six years. She has a profound knowledge of Management studies and is very helpful to the students who seek her help regarding any study related issue or any assignment.