Being a manager can sometimes be a big challenge. The people that you manage have expectations of you. Your boss has expectations of you in terms of what you should deliver. The chances are you will also have expectations of yourself.
At the same time, I believe there are some key roles that a manager needs to perform:
Deciding what needs to be done
There are always a lot of things that need doing. At the same time, you need to make sure that you are focussing effort appropriately. As the manager, you need to decide what needs doing.
Get things done through others
No matter how great a manager you are, what you can achieve alone is limited. As a result, you need to be able to get things done through others. A core part of this is knowing what people on your team do best and getting them to focus on this.
Making use of resources at your disposal
People are obviously one of the most important resources that you have at your disposal. As a manager, there are also many other resources at your disposal such as IT, equipment, buildings etc. Your job as a manager is to make the best use of all the resources that you have available.
Handling obstacles and problems
A lot of the time when you are in a management role you have a big role to play in responding to problems. It can be tough but comes with the territory of being a manager. This requires a whole host of skills ranging from being clear about what you want to negotiating the way forward.
Delivering results
Last of the list of the five key roles but by no means least is delivering results. As a manager, how you are viewed is to a large extent influenced by the results you deliver.
The Bottom Line: The role of the manager is broad and diverse but there are some key roles to achieving success as a manager.
Duncan Brodie helps accountants and business professionals to become highly effective managers so that they can achieve the career success they desire. He invites you to sign up for his free management mastery e-course
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.