The 7 Stances of the Marvellous Manager
What makes a marvellous manager?
Many ambitious employees want to become managers and believe they will make excellent managers. After all, if they are successful in their current role, it’s obvious they will automatically excel in leading a team, right?
It is often said that people don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad managers. As the Great Resignation highlighted, employees want substance from their managers.
Rather than fancy coffee machines at the office, employees want managers that can communicate goals effectively and set the future focus. Employees want to be coached and empowered to achieve their goals and work for managers that make sure the organisational environment is supportive to delivering success.
No-one becomes a great manager overnight, however too often people are promoted into management roles because they have the right technical skills for the department. What is forgotten too often are soft skills. Does the manager have the capability to manage their team well? Has their ability kept pace with their role?
The world has changed, the rigid hierarchical management practices and bureaucratic processes of the past has no place in today’s modern working environment. Here we identify seven characteristics of a great manager.
Thinker
“It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.”
Great managers know that the ability to think, assess and understand an issue is vital to resolving it. However, sometimes it is important to act even in the absence of complete understanding. This is where good intuition coupled with rational thinking is invaluable and it is vital that managers recognise that the ability to think is a critical asset. It needs to be developed, through training and practice, in the same way as any other business skill.
Coach
Just like sports coaches help their team to get to peak performance, great managers know that to help their employees achieve next level effectiveness they need to coach them. That means asking questions instead of delivering answers, supporting rather than judging, building rapport and relationships with your team and providing constructive feedback.
Enabler
For a team to be successful it needs to understand its part within the organisation and the wider ecosystem including customers, suppliers, and competitors. A good manager knows this and focuses on building networks and relationships with this ecosystem, anticipating challenges and opportunities, to enable their team to effectively perform.
Facilitator
The manager as a facilitator creates the conditions for the team to work collaboratively, developing mutual understanding, learning, insight, and action. Facilitation goes hand in hand with employee empowerment, bringing out the team’s collective skills, knowledge, and creativity to complete goals.
Empowerer
Effective empowerment creates the right environment for high performance, and a great manager knows this. An empowerer builds each team member’s confidence in their ability, and the team's capacity, to execute the mission and achieve the desired goals. Empowered employees have greater self-confidence, are keen to develop their skills and use these for the benefit of the team and the company.
Decision maker
Making decisions is part of the role of a manager, in fact, it’s a fairly big and crucial part. Effective decision-making involves understanding what information you need to inform your decision and applying your skills to select the most appropriate approach going forwards. Great decision-making is about understanding the risks and uncertainty involved, whether they are acceptable and the impact on your team and organisation’s objectives.
Environment setter
Great managers create the right environment for employees to learn, develop and thrive. They give people the tools and resources to learn the things that they need to learn, to perform well in their roles and grow in their careers.
Great managers shine – because their team shines
“A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”
Great managers put their team first. They set the direction then manage relationships, generate engagement, develop people, innovate, and generate positive change. They lead from underneath and act like a supporting mesh – scooping people up and pointing them in the right direction. Being a great manager is about getting the right balance of support and challenge to motivate and inspire each person to contribute fully and make a lasting difference towards the success of the business.
Raise the Bar
Employees contribute more when they are trusted, given meaningful goals, and empowered to look beyond short-term tasks. When people are empowered, they look at the wider ecosystem of a team, company, customers, suppliers, and the market sector. They ensure their contribution is making a difference, which is good for company culture, productivity and efficiency.
Improving the Contribution of Managers
The Treehouse Contribution Programme helps organisations, and their employees realise their full potential and become better contributors. Find out more on how Treehouse can help your company can increase opportunity, productivity and develop a sustainable culture fit for the future.