What Makes a Good Manager?

For over 10 years, Naureen Aziz-Wani has been developing and implementing knowledge and communication strategies to drive business outcomes at the World Bank. She also has worked for the Regional Office of the World Health Organization and helped establish the virtual collaboration strategy to facilitate learning and knowledge flows across the organization.

Middle managers – especially those promoted within technical roles, often face challenges in managing teams effectively. We have heard terms such as people skills, soft skills, power skills, and how important these are to create an inclusive environment where employees are fully engaged and feel valued, yet they are not always fully recognized.

Have we not all experienced this in our careers at some point or the other? Working for managers who bring joy to the team, boost morale, and inspire team members to deliver their best versus those who, knowingly or unknowingly, bring stress and anxiety, which lowers team morale and productivity.

Think about when you felt fully engaged in your work; it gave you energy and made you genuinely happy. No matter how hard you had to work, you kept going because you wanted to. There could be several reasons for this feeling – personal value and passion, a sense of purpose, clear linkage to the broader goals, autonomy to shape the work and healthy team dynamics.

When you work in such an environment, there is less chance for you to get discouraged when confronted by obstacles. On the contrary, you try harder and keep going; you count on each other as a team; your eyes are on the goal! It isn’t about individuals; it’s about a shared vision and shared ownership – you really are in it together. Underlying that is meaningful connections that help create trust.

A critical factor that can discourage, dishearten and even disengage you is how people interact with each other – the team dynamics – much of which depends on how the team leader or manager is defining and reinforcing norms.

What do good managers do differently?

While much good research is out there addressing these issues, I find that one of the most important aspects is meaningful connections, which are even more critical in today’s world where most of our interactions are virtual.

Managers need to invest time in creating a space that demonstrate inclusiveness, where team members or employees can connect in meaningful ways. The role that managers can play here is critical. When meaningful connections occur, the actual exchange of information about each other occurs and helps break any preconceived notions or unconscious biases we may have about others. When we connect in a meaningful way more than just a Tour de table, we are listening, learning and absorbing information in a different way that helps us emotionally connect to others. While the manager must create a meaningful and emotional connection with team members, it is also crucial that they foster that within the team, setting standards and reinforcing the behaviors necessary to understand and respect the way of working together. Being fair and transparent then helps create a sense of trust and a sense of belonging and inclusiveness, critical for engaged employees.

Effective managers know the art and science of building strong teams. From providing a safe space for team members to express themselves and share their concerns, to recognizing and resolving issues that cause stress for their teams, managers can help establish shared values and norms. Often, middle managers find themselves squeezed between managing up and down. When they focus more on managing up rather than putting their teams first, it leaves them with less opportunity to create connections and foster relationships with their teams across multiple levels. So how can managers build the necessary skills to create an inclusive environment? Here are ten tips for managers to work on and enhance these set of skills:

1. Be genuinely curious –  Listen with full attention and constructively ask questions. Make it a dialogue, not just a one-way interaction. Engaging will help people open and connect better.
2. Stay in touch; don’t disappear – Don’t just appear when you need to assign a task to the team, monthly department meetings, or time for formal feedback meetings. Put in place regular touchpoints to ensure continued interaction with the team. Check-in with them to see if all is going well or if they have any questions.
3. Be clear in your asks – Teams can be left puzzled if they do not clearly understand the demand and how important it is. Prioritizing tasks and giving clear instructions can help teams adjust their approach in getting the job completed. Leaving a team puzzled will create confusion and delay deliverables.
4. Provide regular feedback – Make sure to provide team members feedback constructively and regularly. Make it useful for them, something they can build on to grow in their careers. Don’t reserve it until the annual performance meeting. If you are genuinely invested, you will find ways to share that early on and throughout the year to help them succeed, not corner them.
5. Recognize team and individual efforts and celebrate success together – Team members who put in their actions and commitment into the work feel encouraged when they are recognized. When they feel appreciated, they want to do even better. It can be a win-win situation. Something as simple as a heartfelt thank you and shoutout can do so much.
6. Don’t micromanage – No one enjoys working for a manager who continually constraints others. Giving them the freedom to deliver quality work will encourage them to live up to the expectation and get the job done as effectively as possible and be a great way to build trust.
7. Show empathy – Showing consideration for others’ situations is a great way to show that you care about them and trust them to do the job. Again, it could be a great way to build trust.
8. Make this part of your work style –  Practice, practice, and practice. Doing it once will not change the perception team members have or influence the way the team behaves. Being genuine, transparent, and honest about everything helps build trust and create an environment where everyone is happy and motivated to do their best.
9. Seek feedback – Don’t be afraid to ask team members for feedback. It could be as simple as asking them if they found a meeting useful or if they thought a task went well. Being open to viewpoints from the team will make them feel heard and valued. Don’t do it as a formality, do it because it matters.
10. . Learn from others – We’d be fools if we thought we know it all. Find managers who are exceptional in their roles because of what their teams say about them, connect with them, hear their stories and learn from them. How do they do it? Why do their teams give them such recognition?

Being a good manager can be a bit of an art and science. Through self-reflection and learning, a positive attitude and commitment to investing in the success of the team, managers can change their weaknesses into strengths. Don’t we all want a happy and productive workplace? Don’t we all want to flourish and achieve our personal goals as well as organizational goals? For most of us, the answer would be yes. Working together in a team can be fun and productive, given the right work environment. Good managers create that environment and make that journey fun and fulfilling for everyone.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any other person or entity.