- You are here:
- Home »
- Blog »
- Management Qualities and Traits »
- 10 Actions To Becoming An Even Better Manager
10 Actions To Becoming An Even Better Manager
If you are good at what you do and are the type of person who gets things done, sooner or later you will find yourself in the position where you have to manage others. While some make that shift from being the doer to the manager with easy, others find it a struggle.
So what actions could you take to become an even better manager?
Action 1: Be Honest With Yourself
It is really easy to fall into the trap of believing that because you are the manager you need to be the best at everything. The reality is you don’t and cannot be the best at everything. Stop pretending that you know it all.
Action 2: Invest Time To Save Time
One thing so many managers complain of is having too much to do and not enough time. However unlike a computer you cannot buy an upgrade in the amount of tome you have. So what’s the answer? Make a one off investment of time to train someone else and then assign responsibility for a task to them.
Action 3: Find Out What Motivates
On just about every management and leadership course I run people bring up motivation as an issue. When I ask them when was the last time they asked employees what motivates them, most acknowledge it was no time recently. If you don’t know what motivates others you are always going to find it a struggle.
Action 4: Don’t Avoid Problems
It might be tempting to avoid problems in the hope that they will somehow disappear into thin air. In reality this never happens. The problem just gets worse. Deal with them rather than letting them hang around like a bad odour.
Action 5: Show Trust
Trust takes time to gain and can be lost in minutes. Truth is the best way to gain trust is to show others you trust them.
Action 6: Never Forget What It Was Like At The Bottom
As people climb the career ladder it is easy to lose sight of what life was like when you were just starting out. Always try and stay connected to what it is really like at the bottom of the hierarchy when you had little or no experience.
Action 7: Delegate A Lot
Delegation is vital to your success and has many benefits in terms of developing and growing others. It also gives a huge message to others that you really trust them.
Action 8: Try Not To Criticise In Public
Yes this requires a lot of self discipline but when you criticise in public you run the risk of losing the respect of the individual and potentially your whole team.
Action 9: Praise and Acknowledge
When you praise someone it lets others know you are noticing and care about them. Remember too that you can acknowledge effort as well as results.
Action 10: Accept That It Is Ongoing Work In Progress
Despite what you might read you never reach the point where you are the perfect manager. You have to keep learning and growing in order to continue to deliver success.
Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps highly rated professionals to become high performing leaders and managers. He invites you to sign up for his free management mastery course
About the Author Duncan Brodie
Since 2006 I’ve worked with in excess of 8,000 accountants and professionals in workshops, seminars and one to one helping them land their next jobs and become better leaders, presenters and business partners. Before that I spent 25 years in accountancy climbing the career ladder from Payments Clerk to FD. I’m a CIMA Fellow, Certified Professional Coach and Team Coach Facilitator.