How to Become a Great Manager to Lead Your Team from The Front (10 Mind-Blowing Tips)
Great managers are never born, they get created. So if you are asking yourself how to become a great manager then first of all you would need to get this fact into your head. Whether it is by a professional course or learn it from your life's lesson, being a great manager will always require some built-in qualities in you to truly achieve that tag.
And it is also true that you can't just force yourself to be a great manager as some people simply don't have it in them for obvious reasons.
As the in-built qualities & potential of being a great leader or manager are always visible and one has it better than the other. And sooner you understand that you are born to be a great manager the quicker you will be able to be one in your life.
Great Manager Vs Great Leader
Now many people make the mistake of mixing a great manager with a great leader. Both leader and manager have their own style of doing things & achieving goals. Leadership and managerial skills serve purposes in a team in two different ways.
And we shouldn't have the misconception about its clear responsibility divergences for each of them. So here is how a great leader compares with a great leader in the real world.
Related Article: Common Differences Between A Leader & A Manager
Secret Tactics to Become an Exceptional Manager
Whether it is for a game, battle, business, or any other important task, making a strategy is the foremost thing that you need to think about. So this is no different in the case when someone is looking to become an eminent manager.
So here are the top tactics that a person should follow if they really want to become a fabulous manager.
Related Article: Top Tips For Managers To Build An Efficient Team At Workplace
What does It Take To Become a Great Manager?
If you are playing the role of a manager then you have no option to rest or let things slide. You will always need to stay on your toes and up for any challenges that are thrown your way. Remember that your team looks up to you and if anything to go wrong then they would want you to make the right call to steer past it.
More so, to become the aspired manager that any team would want, they would have to keep in mind & do the things that include:
1. Knowing The Team Better Than Others
Now when you have a team to manage, you cannot just simply guide them without knowing them or getting emotionally connected with them better. Failing to do so, you might misjudge their capabilities, strength, weaknesses, emotional barriers, and more.
This could lead to several issues like misunderstanding their state of mind or you could simply become insensitive to the problems they are actually facing.
So you should have the mindset to give enough time to know your team better to build a good relationship with each of the team members. Play an entertaining quiz or games with them.
Observe the skills and talents that each of them possesses so that you can play to their strengths to utilize them when the time comes.
2. Having a Clear Goal & Mission In Mind
One can't go too far if they don't have a mission to complete and a goal to achieve in front of them. And in order to attain results moving in a certain direction with a definite goal in mind really essential.
Otherwise, you will be like a ship without a radar. So having a goal gives you focus allowing you to measure the progress of your task.
Walking with a definite mission inline keeps you locked in and undistracted. Moreover, a clear goal in mind will enable you to overcome procrastination and eventually giving you that extra push & motivation to do your job better.
Therefore a manager needs to have strategic thinking and should have the ability to set long-term goals.
3. Communicating Well & Regularly
For any project or task to succeed, maintaining regular communication with the team members needs to work together to ensure the goals of the company. Say for example if a manager shares any conflicting information with his teammates without communicating well with other managers or colleagues then they might have to deal with a number of unhappy members in the team.
So always make yourself available to easily communicate with your staff and co-workers. Make them feel that you are easily approachable at any time.
As with such an effective communication process, it is also very important for you to let them know about what their role & responsibilities are and how much is expected of them.
Related Article: Best Ways To Communicate And Collaborate With Team Members
4. Planning Ahead Fore-sighting The Big Picture
You will feel more in control of your day-to-day life when you plan for your task days, week, or even month ahead. But when you run around blindfolded without planning in advance then you always tend to miss something at the last moment. And when it is about your business or money then planning ahead will always allow you to feel safe & ready.
Leaving things for the last moment can cost you money, time, and most importantly your intelligence. Planning ahead can always help you to prepare properly and get things cheaper by taking advantage of the time you have in your hand.
This means you can make any adjustments in your plan with a great deal of time in hand. This would also enable you to lift the sights occasionally to look at the big picture. Such a skill is vital for getting results and it is something that distinguishes you from the rest of the team members.
5. Giving Credit Where It Is Due
One of the essential entities of being responsible and people's favorite manager is always giving complete credit to your team members when it is due. This not only grows an immense amount of trust for you but also makes them respect you more than anyone.
So this means if someone or the whole team does well on some task or achieves some significant milestones while completing the task under your project that you are managing, then you shouldn't forget to congratulate them or announce their accomplishment publicly.
If you realize some of the members are working hard in your team to meet the goals that you have set for them, then you can simply surprise them by sending over their favorite pizzas & desserts to their desk or even a simple email shoutout to the whole team acknowledging their performances would boost their morale to a great extent. These are definitely a few things that people with great managerial skills would think about doing.
6. Taking Risks with Confidence
‘No Risk No Gain', is the common proverb that we always hear in life as well as in the business world. And this is true for a daring manager too who doesn't shy away to take risks when necessary. A manager that doesn't have the guts to take risks upfront and those who always want to play safe may never get to feel the fun of achieving something big or noteworthy.
So, therefore, taking risks or being gutsy enough to experiment with the decision should be another attribute that a great manager should install in them.
Surely there will be failures and there will be a time when you will make a wrong risky move, but at least you will be able to learn from those mistakes and will be able to move forward with a better understanding of things in the future. And when you take risks, failures will come but at the same time, the chances of achieving something big are also higher if you can do all the right things at the right time. If not then do remember that making mistakes is the key element to learning and growing as a team.
7. Checking Results To Provide Proper Direction
There can be countless uncertain times out there when the situation would demand a manager to stay calm and seek precise direction for the team.
They would probably need to have to quickly judge the result within the situation to get clear about what is within their circle of management responsibilities including their next directional step.
And every manager should have the skill of giving appropriate direction. Make sure to follow up on the progress of the assigned task.
You may have set the goals and appointed the right person on it, but checking the performance and its result enables you to realize whether you are giving the right direction or not. As direction can work as a compass and guidance to the team members at all times.
8. Being Fair To One & All
Treating everyone equally with the same fairness improves the faith in you for any team. While managing a team as a lead manager one can't simply treat any of the teammates under them differently. This could very easily bring disputes and dissatisfaction within the team's morale.
And if you are not treating your colleagues fairly then sooner or later they would tend to notice that. They would start to compare how you treat each of the members based on their hard work, overtime, time-off, allowing leaves, and more.
So this is never a good sign when you are managing a team of equally talented individuals. Therefore, be sure to treat everyone reasonably within the team, if required take help from the time and attendance management system to regulate this process keeping it fair & balanced.
9. Challenging Own Managerial Skill
In order to stay at the top of your managerial game, you are constantly required to regularly measure your skills in business competitions. Otherwise, you may just stay outdated in your mindset and become incapable of knowing how to handle and resolve modern-day business problems.
It is always better not to stay in one place. Always look to upgrade your skills and keep an eye on all the latest trends that are going around you. So that you can adapt quickly and keep yourself ready for any upcoming latest challenges knowing what to do in such critical circumstances.
Therefore, constantly keep on testing your skills so that you can easily understand where you stand with the other managers within your fraternity. You may also participate in several contests or take sophisticated management skill development courses to find out where you need to improve.
10. Having Fun & Sharing light Moments
Due to the stress of continuous workload, any team could get bored and frustrated after a while. So, as a manager in such a situation, you would need to make sure your team is staying focused and feeling relaxed to enjoy themselves while working.
So make yourself available to pass some good time with them in-between working hours. Share a light moment or crack a joke with them. You can also plan happy hours, lunch/dinner outings, or field trips every other month to keep it light and entertaining for the team.
Always remember that the “All work no play” policy could very well backfire on you in the long run as having fun & enjoying themselves at work is an integral part that leads to a team's efficiency and success. And as a manager, you would surely want that, wouldn't you?
Read some nice tips about improving teamwork at the workplace.
Become The Manager That Your Team Desires
By now it is already well established that it's not everyone's cup of tea to become a great manager that their teams or they themselves want to be. Whether it is for managing a regular team at the office or a remote team working from home, you got to have those certain basic qualities and potential in you that were discussed above to actually turn out to be one someday.
But above all, before wanting to become a great manager, one should always try to find out what their strengths and weaknesses are. Based on that they can work on their managerial skills to improve for the future.
More importantly, once you become a manager, you should permanently remember you are always responsible for creating an environment where your team members can grow and achieve their goals in a way they have never imagined. And that is how you can become ‘A Great Manager‘ for your team instead of staying as ‘Just A Manager' for them.
Related Article: How A Manager Should Manage A Remote Team Smartly With The Right Tools
One Tool That Helps You In Your Journey of Being a Great Manager
Lastly, one can't also deny the fact that a manager good or great always needs to make sure their team maintains the right workflows and their tasks are being well taken care of.
So, many of them out there uses some kind of task or project management tools to assist them in this cause. And one choice for such an innovative project management tool could be WP Project Manager.
It enables a manager to help automate & organize his own task list including managing & tracking the team's tasks. Its task automation and time management features make the team collaboration better and help meet the deadlines more efficiently.
Not just for managers who are only managing their own tasks, but also anyone needing to create, organize, assign projects, tasks, to-dos or to manage their work with deadlines, milestones, subtasks, activities, progress reports & advanced insights can also smartly manage any number of teams with this interactive project management tool.
So do you think you have the potential to become a great manager for companies in the future? What manager-like qualities do you think a great manager should possess? Share your views and ideas about what it takes to be a great manager in the comments below.
