Top 8 Characteristics of Highly Effective Managers
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Have you wondered why some managers have the best team, with happy members, who meet deadlines and surpass project goals while others don’t? The secret ingredient is the attributes they have.
As a manager, you have to develop the leadership qualities that today’s highly effective managers have. Without further ado, here are the top 8 traits that set apart the outstanding manager, from the average one.
Inspire greatness
To be an effective manager, you need to inspire your team members to be at their best and get results. You should focus on each individual, noting their strengths and weaknesses. Put your team members in positions where their strengths can be utilized to the utmost while building their weaknesses.
In doing this, you ensure each person is striving for excellence. Infuse the desire to make a difference in your employees. Take them through leadership development training so they can make an impact, lead mini-projects, and run with the vision of the organization.
Bring Experience
Great managers have experience leading others. Experience is a wonderful teacher. It teaches you how to handle a project next time or build a working relationship with your team members. Efficient managers don’t wait for experience to happen by chance. They seek ways to gain experience so they can become better leaders.
If you don’t have experience, step up to lead when you see the opportunity.
Volunteer for management roles in and outside your industry. You can manage, organize events, or you can raise funds for an organization. You can build the attributes needed to become a great leader while volunteering.
Be Honest and Transparent
A good manager is an embodiment of honesty. Being transparent about how you handle your business will earn the trust of your team members. Make sure you’re always honest about all your efforts and own up to your mistakes.
This will create employee loyalty and enable your supervising executives to lead with confidence. Also, an equally important point of reference is to be transparent with your clients. As you may expect, this will have the same effect as being transparent with your employees.
Harness Creativity
Creativity separates the mediocre managers from the great ones. It enables a project to be executed perfectly and gets customers interested in your product. Creativity adds appeal to the work experience.
As a manager, creatively working out the results of your project and ensuring you handle each task in a unique manner will attract the attention of your target customers. It will also spur your employees to be innovative in their own right.
creativity
Work towards the Big Picture
You should understand the goal of the organization. Be a great visionary and propel your team forward.
While it’s important to work on the details of a project, focus on the big picture so you can achieve your goal and pull the different parts together into a whole.
Carry your employees along with your strategic view of the project. This will help them to make meaningful contributions to the project and into the vision of your organization. It will also nurture a feeling of relevance, since they get to know how their work fits into the overall goal of the company.
Communicate Effectively
Productive managers are effective communicators. They use words, text, and images that speak to people, give them a clearer understanding and help them take action. So how can you achieve the same result?
Start with your employees and team members. They should understand their job roles, expectations and what they are to contribute to a project. Listen to their input, their positive and negative criticisms and use them to improve your projects.
Work with them so they can produce maximum results. Tailor and adapt your communication to the situation at hand. The way you communicate with employees should differ from how you communicate with the board of directors or clients.
Ensure the board directors can understand the specific goals of your project/organization and how they will lead to growth and increased market share.
Ensure your clients or customers know the personal benefits of your product and why you do what you do.
Lead by example
It’s not all about giving orders and expecting them to be carried out. An excellent manager leads by example and you should too.
Work side by side with your team and show them how to handle tasks.
When you create a deadline for a project, you don’t just leave it to your subordinates to handle, but work alongside them. Answer their questions, guide them through the details and lead your team from the start to the end of the project.
Seek knowledge
The world is constantly changing and new ways of doing things keep showing up daily. The only way to keep abreast of situations is to upgrade your knowledge. Managers distinguish themselves from their peers by constantly upgrading their knowledge base, by finding new things to learn and apply in their day-to-day tasks.
You should ensure that you’re constantly gaining new knowledge on how to take your company forward. One way that has traditionally yielded consistent results is the traditional route of getting a business degree or a master’s degree in business development, leadership, project management, or human resources. You’re bound to find some degree of success with that investment, depending on your choice.
Moreover, do not be a lone learner. Encourage your employees to learn new skills and reward those who update their knowledge base. That way, your products, and company will stay relevant through whatever market changes occur. In addition to this, more people with better knowledge equals more novel product or service developments.
When you have these leadership qualities, you’ll excel in whatever career you choose and bring value to whatever team or company you’re in.
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