Don't be a L.O.U.S.Y manager

Being a manager especially of people is a difficult job that requires a lot of learning day to day. That said to be effective, every manager must get some basic tasks right and that demands that you avoid the following;

LEAVING YOUR TEAM TO THEIR OWN DEVICES: As manager, you must provide direction to your team and guide them daily in a way that is helpful to each individual. Sometimes, managers can shirk this responsibility for fear of coming across as micro-managing. A good approach is to understand the needs of individuals and coach accordingly as one person may need close guidance whilst another may not.

OVERLY CONCERNED WITH YOUR OWN WORK: Sometimes in addition to coaching your team to be highly productive, you most likely have other assignments unrelated to this role. But don’t get so engrossed in this other work that you ignore supporting your team. By being an attentive manager you can understand how your team is doing, what help they need and how best to provide it.

UNDERMINING EFFORTS OF THE TEAM: Make sure that as manager there is fundamental trust and respect between you and your team and you demonstrate integrity in all your actions. Don’t operate by rumours, hearsay or favoritism. Work with your team to create an environment where everyone feels they can do their best. Don’t take credit for their ideas and accomplishments.

SCARING THEM BY BARKING ORDERS: Some managers see this as a way to show their authority and ostensibly to get things done. But we all know that hardly achieves anything except to make others feel unappreciated and disrespected. If the team fails, you fail so it’s in your interest to work WITH them rather treat them as people who work FOR you.

YEARNING FOR PERSONAL RECOGNITION: To the extent that you for example pay more attention to doing the things that you feel will benefit you personally like pleasing your own boss at the expense of your team. Your team wants to know how they are doing, so give them feedback that they need to keep delivering results, to improve and to get the recognition they deserve from decision makers.

Now take action: Identify one way you can be a better manager to your team.

Stop the career cobwebs

Cobwebs are a sign of staleness and usually found in ceilings but trust me cobwebs can grow in your career too if you ‘stay put’; content to do what you’ve always done day in day out. Here are some tips for preventing cobwebs from stalling your career.

AVOID THE DAY TO DAY APPROACH: When you think about your work-life only day to day, you lose sight of what you need to do today to better your future or indeed what the long term impact of your day to day decisions are likely to be. For example, if you are a supervisor wanting to become manager, you need to understand what is required of a manager and start demonstrating potential at that level; even find a mentor to guide you so that when an opening comes you’re ready to apply. Be smart day to day but strategic in planning your advancement long term.

DON’T SIT ON YOUR LAURELS: If your proudest achievements happened more than two years ago, you’re courting cobwebs. Be proud of your successes but don’t stay stuck reminiscing over them. Research shows that employers look at a CV for an average of 10 seconds so you’ve got to make sure you have fresh accomplishments to include annually. Never settle, demand more of yourself and move to your next level so that you can present yourself always in a positive light.

DEVELOP A SPIRIT OF EXCELLENCE: Learn to do a couple of things very well so that you can always reflect excellence in some aspect of what you do. Continually learn and acquire new knowledge so that you demonstrate you are abreast of trends or developments in your field. Be known as a person who’s principled, does their best and learns from their mistakes.

TREAT EVERYONE WITH RESPECT: As they say’ what goes round comes around.’ The power of what others have to say about you can sometimes make or break you. If you don’t like someone for whatever reason don’t let it show and don’t say bad things about them behind their back- it could come back to bite you. Be gracious and generous with your comments about other people.

Now take action: Where in your career do you need some new successes?