Nothing compares to having a great boss. More engaged, productive, and overall happy workers are those who believe their managers are treating them fairly. The top managers in the world explain how to lead effectively and deal with change. On the other hand, the opposite is also true: workers who believe their manager isn’t managing them properly don’t usually perform as well and are more likely to leave their current organization.
Great managers defy every rule considered to be accepted knowledge when it comes to their employees’ recruitment, inspiration, and professional growth. In “First, Break All The Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently,” Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman make this claim about the findings of their interviews with more than 80,000 great managers for Gallup Press (Gallup, Inc.). Let’s take a dip into these findings and see what distinguishes a decent manager from a great manager.
5 key actions that set great managers from all the others
1. Clever Hiring
It’s imperative to surround yourself with the appropriate people if you want to succeed in business. Great managers go above and beyond to make sure every new team member is the greatest potential candidate. Thus, they know how important it is to trust and have confidence in their employees’ skills to perform their tasks properly.
Great managers choose their employees based more on their talent than on their background, education, or level of intelligence. Gallup examined the competencies required to succeed in 150 different roles when defining talents. They recognized the following skills:
Striving: a want to succeed, a hunger for knowledge, a desire to put principles into practice
Thinking: self-discipline, attention, and accountability
Empathy: sensitivity to individual differences, and persuasion
If human resource specialists suggest techniques for talent identification, line managers receive more effective support. A couple of options include behavioral interviews and realistic testing. For instance, If human resource specialists suggest techniques for talent identification, line managers receive more effective support. A couple of options include behavioral interviews and realistic testing. For instance, examine your background for any indications of talent application trends. A candidate has a great capacity to apply her talent if she created every new post she ever held from scratch.
2. Maintaining the flow of communication
Any group’s success depends on effective communication. When it comes to their jobs or working conditions, employees want to feel like they have a say. Therefore, it’s crucial that every employee feel at ease communicating openly and honestly with management. Excellent team leaders go above and beyond to ensure that members feel free to express any issues or concerns.
A great practice is committing to one meaningful weekly conversation with each team member. Some managers concurred that they communicate with their teams once a day or once a week. Surprisingly, that’s surprisingly uncommon in the majority of workplaces. Only 20% of American workers strongly agree, according to Gallup, that they have spoken with their manager in the past six months about the steps they can take to achieve their goals.
These discussions don’t necessarily have to focus solely on getting things done, though. Managers should pose questions that encourage employees to open up and honestly express their wants and frustrations.
3. When necessary, getting hands-on in the trenches.
Every now and then, despite everyone’s best efforts, things will go wrong in business; it is inevitable. The great and the average are genuinely separated in these periods of crisis. Therefore, great managers step in and work side by side with their staff to keep things going smoothly under these circumstances, quickly gaining the respect of their staff.
Managers must recognize that their staff members are real people with real lives. A manager needs to have a reasonable understanding of the circumstances affecting each employee because sometimes there are human errors happening. In the end, a manager’s responsibility is to maximize their workforce. However, excellent managers figure out how to customize, modify, and individualize positions to meet the demands of workers. Small adjustments can have a significant impact on how much a worker enjoys their work. Additionally, workplace engagement is strongly correlated with just knowing that your manager is concerned about you.
4. Giving credit where credit is due
Employees desire to feel valued by their employer, which is almost equally vital to having a voice. There isn’t really a motivation to go above and above if no one notices and it doesn’t seem to be having an impact. Excellent managers take the time to acknowledge and show their gratitude for their staff members, both individually and collectively.
How many workers report to work every day for years without ever feeling like they matter? Only 3 out of 10 American workers strongly agree that they got praise or acknowledgment for their hard work in the previous week.
Finding the reason for a team’s discouragement may take some time if you are a novice manager. They need to know that you value them and that their opinions matter. Even if they seem little at first, successes must be recognized and celebrated. Even if no one else has faith in your team, you must frequently and sincerely encourage your workers. All of these characteristics make a superb manager.
5. Always be on your team’s side
Nobody enjoys being thrown under the bus, and doing so by a manager to one of their staff members can feel especially betraying. Employees won’t speak up or be inventive if they don’t believe their management supports them; instead, they’ll stick with the status quo. Moreover, the trust of their employees allows great managers to assume responsibility for mistakes made by themselves or by those under their supervision.
Finding a truly outstanding manager is like finding a needle in a haystack if just 30% of people are capable of being excellent managers, and most of them need significant investment in staff training to accomplish so. This could explain why Gallup’s research indicates that 82% of the time, businesses fail to choose the best applicant for a managerial post. Not a good idea for companies who are presently hiring for open manager or supervisor positions.
It could be time to hire an expert if your business has faltered due to subpar management or a dearth of highly competent managers. We can help! Schedule a call with us.
About Phaxis
Founded in 2002, Phaxis is now one of the country’s leading recruitment firms. Specializing in healthcare, information technology, accounting, financial services recruitment, office support, legal, HR, and marketing, Phaxis partners with highly qualified talent and top employers to create rewarding career opportunities that result in long-term success for candidates and employers. Visit us at www.phaxis.com.
