A manager is a person whose task is to oversee one or more departments and employees for ensuring that these people carry out their responsibilities. Depending on the size of the company, there can be single or dual managers for every level. Initially the manager will be responsible for a small team or a small project. A senior manager will be monitoring his or her work. A manager will not be responsible for handling money issues and will only have little authority for approving expenditures. Learning how to be a manager can be a bit tricky, but not difficult.
For becoming a good manager, you must have leadership qualities since day one. However, you must never remember that you are not there to rule the employees. Here are some simple tips on how to be a manager.
Steps:
- Motivate people. There are various reasons why employees would want to stick in your company. Never assume that it is money, because most of the people are not that one-dimensional. On a regular basis, keep asking your employees if they like their job. Ask them to be honest with you and then take action based on what they tell you. If they need to go away during the lunch break to pick their kid from the school, then grant them the permission to do so. Remember that if you value your team, they will always give you max effort.
- Delegate. You have become a manager, because you are good at what you are doing, but this does not mean that you have to do everything. Your main job as a manager will be teaching people how they need to do their job. If you are not comfortable with delegating the job, then start giving small jobs to people, which can be fixed if it goes wrong. Take some time out to teach and empower your employees. Later you can start giving them tasks that have a greater responsibility, once you come to know are their strengths and weakness are. You must learn to anticipate their problems, so that you can coach them easily before they start.
- Keep the door open. Always inform the people that if they are facing any kind of problems or if there are any concerns, then you are willing to listen to them. Never become like one of those managers, who act as if the employees are bothering them with their questions and concerns. Instead of looking at it like another crisis for managing, you must take it like an opportunity for showing the employees that you are making this a fulfilling place to work. Always remember that you must never dismiss or minimize their concern and ensure that you answer their questions and solve the problems.
- Allow people to make mistakes. As a manager you will have to take responsibilities for other people’s actions, so the last thing will be you being responsible for someone else’s mistake. When you are attempting to be proactive and trying to prevent the mistakes, you will have to give strict instructions and setting clear standards. If your team members ask you before taking every little decision and check with you for everything, then your team members lack confidence. In order to learn, everyone is entitled to make mistakes; therefore, you must trust your employees and give them a fair margin for making errors.
- Learn from your own mistakes. When things do not happen in the expected way, identify the mistake and communicate the problem with your employees. This will show them that even you make mistakes and how they should tackle the mistakes that you have made. Whenever you do something correctly, after having done it in the wrong manner then let the employees know.
- Treat everyone equally. Many of us are not egalitarian, as we want to be. Most of the times favoritism will happen only on a subconscious level. The tendency will be giving recognition that is more positive to people who have reminded us of ourselves somewhere and people who actually like us, instead of those people who make the biggest contribution in the organization. In the long run, the latter group people will make the maximum progress in reaching the goals of organization. Therefore, you will have to monitor your own nature always give positive comment and motivate people to work harder.
Tips and Warnings:
- Always celebrate success with all your team members, whether it’s appreciating them, taking them out for lunch or giving them one afternoon off.
- Try to avoid making them stay after work hours. You must respect their personal time and commitments and they will always reciprocate by good results for their company.
- You will have to forget about your credentials; education will not make you a good manager. However, experience will contribute a lot in making you a fine manager.
- As a manager, your work will be communicating with people in the best possible way and never let them feel down.
- Being a good manager does not mean that you have to be a people pleaser. If the employee fails to meet the expectations or is crosses the line, then use a nonviolent form of communication for correcting the situation. If this fails, then you will have to fire them.
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