What makes a great manager?
Google analysed 10,000 data points on managers and concluded that their number one criterion for promoting people to manager—technical proficiency— ranked dead last on the list of qualities that define the best managers in their company. This finding aligns with our decades of work studying and coaching managers and leaders.
Too often, companies promote the best individual performers to management roles without assessing their ‘potential’ for highly effective management and without providing any ‘training’ on how to be a great manager. That is a recipe for failure. The best manager might be only an average individual performer or technical expert because great management involves optimising the performance of ‘other people’, which requires a separate set of talents, skills, and priorities from those that optimise one’s own performance.
What defines great management, then? The short answer is: A relentless focus on people. Here are key priorities and practices that are common among the best managers, along with advice on how to incorporate them into your own approach to management and leadership.
Cultivate great relationships
This story is from the August 2017 edition of Indian Management.
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This story is from the August 2017 edition of Indian Management.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Trust is a must
Trust a belief in the abilities, integrity, values, and character of any organisation is one of the most important management principles.
Listen To Your Customers
A good customer experience management strategy will not just help retain existing customers but also attract new ones.
The hand that feeds
Providing free meals to employees is an effective way to increase engagement and boost productivity.
Survival secrets
Thrive at the workplace with these simple adaptations.
Plan backwards
Pioneer in the venture capital and private equity fields and co-founder of four transformational private equity firms, Bryan C Cressey opines that we have been taught backwards in many important ways, people can work an entire career without seeing these roadblocks to their achievements, and if you recognise and bust these five myths, you will become far more successful.
For a sweet deal
Negotiation is a discovery process for both sides; better interactions will lead all parties to what they want.
Humanise. Optimise. Digitise
Engaging employees in critical to the survival of an organisation, since the future of business is (still) people.
Beyond the call of duty
A servant leadership model can serve the purpose best when dealing with a distributed workforce.
Workplace courage
Leaders need to build courage in order to enhance their self-reliance and contribution to the team.
Focused on reality
Are you a sales manager or a true sales leader? The difference, David Mattson, CEO, Sandler® and author, Scaling Sales Success: 16 Key Principles For Sales Leaders, maintains, comes down to whether you can see beyond five classic myths that we often tell ourselves about selling.
