Becoming a Great Manager Tips From The Manager’s Answer Book

It happens all too often. Someone is hired or promoted into a management role without being prepared for the people management responsibilities that accompanies the position.  They were a good engineer, sales professional, or financial guru—all the best technical skills. Often overlooked when these hiring decisions are made is the people side of management.  This can cause a new manager to struggle, and those struggles affect the whole team.

Manager’s Tips: Managing people is challenging. No matter if you’re a new or seasoned manager, you should always be working to sharpen your people management skills. That is exactly why we included a question in The Manager’s Answer Book on how to up your managerial game.

Here are a few of those suggestions:

• Take advantage of books, webinars, podcasts, YouTube videos, and so many more ideas from experts
• Get to know your employees so that you understand what motivates them
• Listen carefully to your staff
• Reward successes and learn from failures
• Be a positive role model—live your values
• Find a mentor and be a mentor

We also think it is important for managers to be able to show vulnerability. Many managers make the mistake of thinking they need to have all the answers. They feel that if they admit they don’t know everything, they won’t be respected. In fact, the opposite is true. Letting your employees see that you are human actually builds respect and loyalty.

For more information, check out page 114 of The Manager’s Answer Book.  Remember that management development begins with you, so take charge of your own development.