You are currently viewing 6 things a great Manager will never do
Share this story

We hear people say that great managers are few and far between. But it’s not easy to deal with constant challenges that come with navigating the complexities of human behavior within their teams. The late Steve Jobs once said, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.” Great work involves employees promoted to a management position, fully invested in their employees. Company culture, employee happiness and the bottom line stem from how well managers lead and delegate.

Managers Who Master The PsychologOf Leadership

According to Cameron Nott, chief international markets officer of The Myers-Briggs Company, some leaders seem to possess an instinct for understanding their people, others struggle. To empower leaders and build high-performing teams, the psychologist lists five qualities leaders must have to master the psychology of leadership:

  1. Integrity. Being an authentic leader is an important foundation for building team trust but leaders must develop the ability to express their authentic selves in ways their teams perceive as genuine.
  2. Influence. Strong communication skills help leaders remove roadblocks and gather the resources to support their teams.
  3. Agility. Leaders need to be open to learning and change and have the courage to drive the right change.
  4. Empathy. Empathy, key to effective leadership, is ultimately a building block for inclusion, which leaders must infuse within their culture to tap the full talents of their team members.
  5. ‘Active’ self-awareness. Leaders can only improve if they understand what needs improvement, therefore it is equally important for leaders to understand their strengths and areas of development and act upon them.

Actions A Great Manager Would Never Take

While it’s debatable that great managers are few and far between, one thing is for sure. There are six actions a great manager would never take.

Advertisement

To order your copy, send a WhatsApp message to +1 317 665 2180

  1. Give only negative feedback. Employees need feedback for professional development, but managers with integrity never verbally abuse or condemn employees when giving feedback. They don’t over focus on weaknesses or critical comments but provide a balance of both constructive and meaningful feedback, focusing on strengths with suggestions of areas for growth. A great manager has a positive attitude, a good sense of humor and their team’s back.
  2. Micromanage. A great manager never gets involved in the details of every problem the team is facing. While it’s important to be hands-on, great managers make sure team members have enough autonomy to make decisions and grow professionally. They are honest and trustworthy and know that leaving team members alone to carry out their responsibilities builds reciprocal trust and respect.
  3. Develop impersonal connections. A great manager never develops impersonal relationships and is never cold and uncaring toward colleagues. They never try to motivate employees with threat or intimidation. Studies show that that iron-fisted mandates have led to employees hiding their work habits from upper management. Great managers possess strong interpersonal skills and care about team members on a personal level. They are cognizant of team members’ workload and accommodate them for their work-life balance.
  4. Provide unclear communication. A great manager would never devalue or dismiss the opinions of their team members—even if it differs from their own. They listen to their team members’ voices and factor them into their decisions. They want employees to feel listened to, heard and appreciated and they take their opinions into consideration to grow together as an organization. Great managers prioritize building a culture of transparency and trust and possess a clear vision for their teams and spend as much time as necessary to clearly communicate individual and team objectives even if the time spent explaining bleeds into their own managerial work.
  5. Create non-inclusive cultures. Company leaders who fail to prioritize the mental health of their employees cultivate a toxic work culture. Great managers would never discriminate against, ignore or oppress a team member, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or disability. A recent example is how managers can accommodate 15-30% of highly sensitive employees who have heightened emotional sensitivity, stronger reactivity to both external and internal stimuli—pain, hunger, light and noise—and a complex inner life. “Building a strong culture starts by valuing everyone’s humanity and recognizing that we’re leading people,” according to Eran Ben-Shushan, co-founder and CEO of Bizzabo whose leaders support employees as whole humans and fully-funded access to mental health services.
  6. Consider emotional intelligence a weakness. Managers who allow or foster workplace incivility—such as bullying, rude interactions or unbridled criticism—create a vicious cycle in which employees are more likely to engage in these uncivil actions. Great managers recognize that emotional intelligence is just as important as business intelligence. Humility, civility and empathy are among the most valued leadership traits. A long-standing body of research shows that leaders who have soft skills and show emotions (such as empathy and caring) are more effective than those who demonstrate negative emotions. Plus, a leader’s emotional expression has a trickledown effect in the organization, impacting employee engagement, performance and the company’s bottom line.

A Final Word: Employees As Renewable Resources

Effective leaders acknowledge and reward employees for hard work, provide a degree of work independence and refrain from unreasonable job demands and deadlines. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that a non-stressful workplace is essential for job engagement and productivity as well as company profitability.

Employees are human beings, not disposable resources. Great managers consider employees to be renewable resources and prioritize their well-being, always finding new ways to invest in them to future-proof talent acquisitions. A manager’s mindset, emotional intelligence and the work culture they implement impacts employee engagement and performance at every level of the organization, including the company’s bottom line.

www.forbes.com

Do you have an important success story, news, or opinion article to share with with us? Get in touch with us at publisher@thepodiummedia.com or ademolaakinbola@gmail.com Whatsapp +1 317 665 2180

Join our WhatsApp Group to receive news and other valuable information alerts on WhatsApp.


Share this story
Advertisements
jsay-school

Leave a Reply