5 Qualities of a Great Manager, according to the VP of Growth at ChowNow

The VP of Growth at ChowNow, Neil Rongstad, didn’t get where he is by accident.

Neil has had multiple leadership positions from leading a global team at Rockwell Automation and LinkedIn.

He is well respected with his peers and his reports.

The reason why I took the job at ChowNow was to learn from a leader like him.

So I decided to ask him.

What five qualities do you believe make a great manager?

He didn’t take this question lightly.

He pondered long and hard on this.

Here are the top five qualities that he believes make a great manager (note: these aren’t a one size fits all):

Great managers:

1. Are transparent about their weaknesses and focus on their strengths - he believes that being open and honest about things you aren’t great at is critical to building a great team around you.

2. Help your team to focus on their strengths - It doesn’t mean you don’t have a common standard for things, but don’t expect every team member to be good at the same things.

This allows the whole to become better than its parts.

From experience, Neil has seen when a member of a team sees and feels that they are adding value and are a unique piece of the puzzle. When this happened, they are far more motivated to perform

3. Dive in and get their hands dirty - this means if you as leader have the expertise to finish a task you do it.

He found that a team does not respect a leader that is not willing to get his hands dirty with the team.

4. Focus on outcomes that will impact the success of the team - “all boats rise with the tide”

If a team is not hitting their goals, nobody is happy. Make sure the important things are getting done. In some cases, that means letting other fires burn.

5. Most importantly, demonstrate courage.

Courage to stand up for what they believe in and be honest and candid with your team regardless of how painful it is.

Quite simply people follow leaders with courage - especially in times of change

Displaying courage to your team is the only way Neil knows how to make it happen.

To summarize, Great Managers are:

• Transparent about their strengths and weaknesses
• Help their team focus on their strengths
• Dive in and get their hands dirty
• Focus on outcomes that make their team successful
• Lastly, they demonstrate courage.

Thanks, Neil! Thrilled to learn from you everyday.