Author: Pooja Verma, Manager – Digital Strategy & Automation, Ernst & Young
I’ve met many managers throughout professional career, but very few good ones. It’s an irony that there is a high number of managers with extensive management experience yet with very limited management skills, nevertheless I am indebted to all the Managers I’ve met since they taught me what kind of manager I don’t want to be.
“How people treat other people is a direct reflection of how they feel about themselves.” — Paulo Coelho
Management is not about managing tasks but managing people. There is a fundamental skillset that enables a manager to lead a team effectively and to become a good manager, the fundamentals are simple like empathy, vigilance, active listening, an ability to read others and most importantly being humble. I believe most Managers inherit bad style of leadership from their managers and the chain continues, most are still stuck in authoritative style of leadership where they use ‘one size fit all’ strategy to manage and work with their team, I believe this style is redundant as each member of your team is unique and brings something different to the table. Managers who follow participative style of leadership make themselves dynamic and create a diverse team so that ideas can thrive , role of a manger here is to channel all these ideas and convert them into knowledge that will help business.
Here are few practises which I follow not only in my professional career but also in my life because at the end of the day you bet on people, not strategies
1. Empathy: Empathise with your team, have open and candid conversation with them, try to know who they are – not just professionally but in person. What motivates them? What inspires them? and who they really want to become in their life? Know about their hobbies, family etc. and listen to them carefully. Be fully present and assure them that whatever they need they have your back.
2. Empower: Set right expectation from the beginning as you are surrounded by different minds with different expertise. Leverage them to their full potential, trust them, empower them this helps a manager in creating a value chain and also creating a successor. Most leaders don’t plan their teams succession but that’s an important trait of a good leader, empowering your team makes them ready for the next stage. MS Dhoni is hailed as a great leader since he empowers his teams and created successors in Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma
3. Simplify Everything: Simplify things and task and be realistic about timelines. Don’t leave opportunity for any ambiguity; this helps a manager to deliver projects on time and save the efforts and time wasted in multiple iteration.
4. Appreciate your team: A little appreciation goes a long way: appreciate your team for all their big and small achievement and reward them contributing towards your larger objective.
Last, but not the least, have fun with your team more often. Don’t be afraid to admit if you don’t know things and don’t have answer for everything. Be ready to learn from your team. Therefore, I always surround myself with people who just don’t appreciate but challenge me. This keeps me on my toes and pushes me to keep learning and evolving. Different people help you bring different perceptive for challenges and opportunities. So being a manager is not just a title but a responsibility.
“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.” ― John C. Maxwell
