Article: What great managers do differently?

Leadership

What great managers do differently?

The key to success of great managers lies in their ability to identify and deploy the differences among people besides challenging and ensuring that each employee excels in his or her own way.
What great managers do differently?

Great managers are integral to the growth and evolution of an organisation which is a complex and dynamic process that requires the best out of each and every employee. Organisations and their respective HR teams spend tremendous amount of time in nurturing talent, matching talent to task and analysing individual strengths as people’s talent can be turned into performance only by putting the right people at the job instead of changing people to fit the job.

Great managers possess highly developed communication skills to play their designated role of a facilitator in the growth process of an organisation. Traits like good negotiation skills, leadership skills etc. further enable them to perform varied roles and motivate employees to embrace change with least possible number of conflicts and issues.

Great managers come with positive attitudes towards their task. These traits and abilities can be learnt and developed over a period of time through training, mentoring and experience. It is an evolutionary process which requires clear path, methodology, set roadmap and resources.

The key to success of great managers lies in their ability to identify and deploy the differences among people besides challenging and ensuring that each employee excels in his or her own way. They know and value the unique abilities of their employees, and effectively integrate them to achieve business goals.

Transparency is another key trait of a great manager. They are direct, factual and straight forward while speaking to their reports and managing critical situations. Their direct communication encourages solution-based thinking to promote a transparent culture and encourage their team to share meaningful feedback. 

Great managers realise the fact that their behaviour represents and serves as an example of the company’s values. A flexible positive attitude also differentiates them from a mediocre manager. Their ability to appreciate the fact that it is not about them but about people allows them to embrace ambiguity in certain situations and make others comfortable in dealing with change. Great managers apply different rules to different employees as they realise each employee is different. They take time out to know their reports, discover what motivates them, and find a good mixture of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. They encourage their reports to see the big picture and explain to them how their assignments and projects fit into the company’s larger goals and overall objectives thereby motivating them to work towards the company’s goals.

Great managers seek accountability from their reports. They realise that their success depends on the success of their reports and believe in motivating them to reinforce the outcomes they and their reports are responsible for. To achieve this, they promote solution-based culture and build an environment of continuous learning, thereby effectively managing accountability related conflicts.

Great managers pursue a participatory management style and don’t just restrict themselves to sharing feedback. They go a step ahead to help the team find and implement solutions which are beneficial for the growth of the organisation. 

Talent management is another area where great managers are making huge contributions. Towards this, they contribute by hiring the right people for the right roles at the right time. They also play the role of a mentor and take keen interest in the career development, needs and desires of their reports. These steps act as a positive reinforcement for their reports and motivate them to work towards the organisational goals with vigour. 

To win the global battle for the best customers, it is imperative for companies to engage both its customers and employees more meaningfully and effectively. Organisations therefore must choose great managers based on their innate talent to develop and engage their employees, create enthusiastic teams that build highly successful organizations and create an overall positive perception of the organisation to effectively engage its customers.

 

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Topics: Leadership, Culture

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