Lead Like A Pro: How to Be A Good Manager

The stories about folks getting promoted to management roles with little to no guidance, training, or a clear understanding of how to be a good manager are endless. Why?

Some companies see management development programs as an expense rather than an investment, despite all the data out there that support the real impact training has on organizations.

If you let your new managers fly solo, you risk a lot. They may be exceptionally good at accomplishing specialized tasks, but now they need to become experts in delegating, building trust, coaching, setting goals, and so many other management skills.

Managing people requires another set of skills that most individual contributors don’t have. They’re now in charge of a team, and their success (and the organization’s) depends on their team’s performance.

If you don’t know how to support your team in their journey to become good managers, let me share five essential skills that make a difference in people’s management styles. Training people before they take on the challenge of managing others is a worthwhile investment every company needs to make.

5 Tips On How To Be A Good Manager

1. Bring Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another without judgment. It was considered (maybe still is) a soft skill, but many theories suggest it’s foundational to leadership and imperative to drive significant business results. Caring about your people and their well-being is the key to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace and, therefore, a more productive team.?

If you’re not a naturally empathetic person, I have good news for you! Empathy is a skill that can be learned but requires intentionality and real work. By simply “walking a mile in the other person’s shoes” or exposing yourself to situations or conversations you’re not familiar with, you can understand people who are different from you and open the doors for empathy.

2. Transitioning to management

If you, as a new manager, don’t understand your new job, you’re not alone. It’s challenging to go from accomplishing specialized tasks and working in relative independence to being highly interdependent and getting things done through others.

The first thing you need to do in your transition to management is change your mindset. The skills that made you successful in your individual contributor role are possibly not related to the knowledge and skills you’ll need in your new position. As a manager, your job is no longer about you; you need to put your team first.

Once you do that, you need to develop capabilities beyond the technical abilities you needed in previous jobs, build honest relationships with your team members, learn to delegate and set goals, and much more.

3. Goal Setting

This is a critical skill you need to develop so everyone knows where you’re all heading as a team. Otherwise, everyone will do what they think is right, which may not be aligned with the company’s mission. The result: You work hard to get things done but achieve very little, leading to frustration and burnout.

How do you set effective goals? Good goals always specify four components: Who – Does what – How much – By when. I use the SMART goals framework to clarify my ideas, focus my efforts, and keep track of my responsibilities.?

SMART goals stand for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Once you learn how to set goals this way, you will increase your team’s motivation by clarifying everyone’s objectives and promote better decision-making by breaking down complex goals into smaller steps.

4. Delivering through others

If you’re simply assigning tasks to your team members, you’re not really delegating. Real delegation comes from giving your team autonomy to do what is needed to successfully complete a job on time.

Developing this skill will help you distribute your workload and avoid burnout while simultaneously improving the productivity and efficiency of the entire team, leading to business growth. Delegation also allows your team to develop new skills and gain more experience.

Delegating work is an investment in your people’s capabilities that, in the long run, will save you time that you’ll definitely need to focus on the job you were hired for: Managing others and delivering results through your team.

5. Coaching and feedback

Coaching and feedback are the best tools to assess and tweak your team’s performance. When done consistently, you can observe your team’s progress, delegate with more confidence, and redirect efforts if needed.

It doesn’t sound so complicated, does it? However, Michael Bungay Stanier, in his book The Coaching Habit, says that nearly 75% of managers have received training on how to coach their team, yet 73% of employees never receive coaching.

Feedback, on the other hand, when delivered at the right time, creates a more supportive and effective work environment. It also helps employees to improve their performance, achieve their goals, and feel more engaged and motivated in their work.

These may seem daunting responsibilities, but these all involve skills that can be learned. I’m just scratching the surface here, but these five essential management skills will give you a jump start in the process and get you on your way to becoming an effective, respected, and valued manager.

If you want to develop these skills and learn more tips on how to be a better manager, check out my new book, Lead Like a Pro, The Essential Guide for New Managers. In it, I share the best information available for the modern manager — today and in the future. Grab your copy now!