Nowadays management when "the only constant is change" is not only more difficult, but also more responsible and requires highly developed soft skills from the manager. Today managers play a key role in the organization they are responsible for bringing profits to the company, internal and external communication, as well as for the development of people in their teams. How do you know a good manager? I answer this question in this article.
Vision for a team
A manager must have a clearly defined direction for the development of his area, which is consistent with the overriding goal of the organization and in line with its Mission and Vision. A direction that will not only bring profits to the company but also develop people’s careers.
Manages through values
Management by values ​​is the only so moral and people-oriented way of management. Nothing motivates us to act as much as the opportunity to pursue personal values, which may be, for example, career, development, passion or creativity. When we can carry out important things at work, we are more willing to engage in work, we are more effective and we avoid the phenomenon of “burnout”, because values ​​are our driving force for action, ensuring long-term motivation. Hence, it is so important for the Manager to know the personal values ​​of his employees, to be able to combine them with the values ​​of the organization and to organize the work of the team in such a way that people could make them come true.
Managing by the goal of good influence
The work of a manager is largely based on strategic and operational goals for the entire team and for each individual employee. As a boss, he must ensure that his employees know what to do and the most important thing: WHAT they do it for, i.e. what greater purpose (beyond their personal identity) their actions serve. He is able to combine the personal goals of people with the goals of the organization and properly communicate them in the team. He has every day, month, quarter, year planned – he works on short-term, medium-term and long-term plans, thanks to which few things can surprise him on the way to his goal.
Has an attitude of certainty in action
A high-class manager has a clearly defined professional identity: he knows who he is, what he is doing and where he is leading his team. He takes responsibility for his own actions and mistakes, without looking to blame for them. It also has a well-defined system of values, which is a set of principles that guide her in her daily work. His employees know what to expect from him – what he requires and what he does not tolerate in the team. A manager is a person who implements the values ​​of the organization and works in a moral manner, knows the industry in which he works, follows changes in the market and the actions of competitors. With his behaviour and attitude, he sets an example for others, thus he is a model for the team to follow. Always and everywhere speaks well about the company and its employees.
Develops employees
One of the basic tasks of a manager is the development of employees in his team, and thus the readiness to delegate difficult tasks to them, despite the temptation to do it “faster” yourself. People learn the fastest through experience when they come up with an answer, a solution and precisely when they do difficult things. Instead of offering ready-made solutions, he encourages his employees to search for them on their own. It challenges employees, makes them think, questioning their own assumptions and routine ways of doing things. It shows that they can achieve more than they previously thought. The manager should also be open to the innovation and creativity of his employees, ready to implement these ideas and delegate some responsibility to his employees.
The mechanisms of motivation
Today, team management is primarily about highly developed soft and communication skills, the ability to recognize mechanisms that drive people’s behaviour and the way they motivate themselves to act, and a lot of knowledge about people. A good manager knows the people on his team very well, their personal value as well as their mechanisms of action. He knows how to react to various messages and can adjust his language to each recipient. He knows the motivational mechanisms of his employees – whether the employee is motivated by “escaping from punishment” or “going towards the reward” and also fluently uses communication appropriate for a given mechanism.
Never stop developing
The manager must constantly improve his competencies, learn new things, be up to date with new knowledge on the market and follow the news in his industry. If his team works with a client, he must teach employees modern forms of sales and customer service so that his team works with the most up-to-date tools. Pay particular attention to the development of their soft skills, including communication skills, because they largely determine the quality of their work with the team.
Anna Modrzewska
I am a cross-cultural psychologist, business trainer, coach at Infinity Power International, a specialist in brand management through vision, mission and values. I graduated from the SWPS University of Humanities in Warsaw and Stanford Graduate School of Business. I built my knowledge and many years of experience in management in cooperation with managers in Poland and abroad, and during research that I carried out in China. I conduct training and managerial coaching for corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as open training in the field of Neurolinguistic Programming at the Infinity Power International Academy.
During training and coaching, I work on the assumptions that we were created to develop, improve and achieve success. In my work with curiosity, professionalism, responsibility and reliability, I accompany all training participants and individual clients on the way to discovering and using their potential. I help them in exploring their unique “matrix of success” the way to achieve the goals. I know that everyone, no matter what he is doing right now, can make art of his life and create streaks of our successes.
